Polish Person

Alright, so I hate the way the stock wheels tuck so far into the fenders, but I don't have the cash for a set of new wheels just yet, so I am considering running some spacers. I've searched around the forums, but I've only found threads regarding Series I's with spacers.

My main question is what kind of offset do the stock SII wheels need to be flush. The SI wheels need about 25mm, but I don't want to just assume SII are the same and have problems with rubbing, or the wheel sticking out past the fender. I'm thinking 20mm should be fine, because I don't want to roll the fenders.

Next question is, are the stock (Sport) 18" wheels hollow or solid on the inside? I don't want my stock studs to rub the inside of the wheel and have to shave off threads, so I'd have to go with 25mm spacers to avoid clearance issues. Unless the wheels are hollow.

Last thing, I'm going to lower the car with some Tein's soon. Will the tires rub if they are sitting flush, or should it be fine? I forget which Tein's they are, but the lower ones, which I think are S Tech with a 1.5/0.8 drop.

Does anyone have experience with spacers? How would you say the handling changed? Is the car more stable and prone to understeer, or quicker and more prone to oversteer?

Thanks.

RX8R3Rod

Hi Polish Person,

I have an R3 (lowered about 20mm) with 15mm spacers with stock wheels and stock Bridgestones. They don't rub and you could, I guess, probably go to 20mm without rubbing

The R3 wheels are certainly hollowed out inside, and the 15mm spacer is the minimum I think you could fit without shortening the wheel bolts.

Hope this helps a bit.

wazup_shorty

Thanks for the info Rod, I was just looking for the same info, Im not planing to drop the car anytime soon and Ill probably have new mags by the time I do so With the R3 mags, do you think 25mm spacer would work with the stock suspenssion, im also planing on widening the rear tires to either 235s or 245s

RX8R3Rod

Hi, I have 245/35/19 Bridgestone RE050A Scuderia's on the car now, and with 15mm spacers on the stock R3 wheels they fit just fine. I would have thought with these size tyres on the R3 wheels you could probably go to a 20mm spacer, but I suspect a 25mm spacer would start to just stick the wheels a little bit outside the arches. Hope that helps. Rod.

reffect

I have a 2007 sport with Eibach pro-kit springs, stock shocks, and Ichiban spacers. 15mm in the front and 25mm rear. The rears are more inset than the front--hence the larger spacers. The factories do this for better aerodynamics, but I don't see the Euro companies doing the same thing--but that's a different subject altogether.

With the stock wheels/tire sizes, the wheels are flush with the fenders. The front height of the eibachs are a tad higher at 1.2" and even though the car is level, the wheel gap at the front is a bit larger than the rear, so you should be happy with your spring choice. I still want to clear parking pylons and curbs so I'm happy with the Eibachs.
Make sure you or your installer "pre-loads" the suspension before everything gets tightened up or the gap will be larger than intended. This forum saved me from spending $500+ on new shocks because of that.

moeswrx

iTrader: (2)

Hey, RX8R3Rod, can you post some pictures with the set up of the 245/35/19 tires? Do you think i can get away with it w/out the 15mm spacers?

RX8R3Rod

Hi, here's a picture with the 245/35/19's Scuderia's on and with the 15mm spacers, car is lowered by something like ~30mm.

I think you probably could get away without the spacers (though not 100% sure), as I don't think they'd rub on the suspension struts, but (IMHO) I think it will look a lot (and go a little bit) better with the spacers.

If you go that route I'd recommend getting hub-centric ones - I used Eibach Pro's and had absolutely no balance issues whatsoever.

Hope this is useful.

moeswrx

iTrader: (2)

Thanks Rod, it is useful. Your car is awesome and looks great!! Thanks for all the info. This will be my next tire size upgrade along with the Bilstein PSS9 when the stock tires need replacing.

RX8R3Rod

Hi, (and thanks for your kind comments!), the 245's plus Bilsteins should give you even more grip ... and there's a fair bit there already! Let us see some pictures when you've done it.