spacers

[roadsta]

Spacers?
Yes purely for cosmetic reasons.
I have standard alloys with AD08R's, 195/50x15 front and 225/45x16 rears, so in order to fill the arches a little more, I'm considering 20mm hubcentrics all round, opinions or experiences?
Cheers

[shnazzle]

Supposedly causes excessive load on the wheel bearing but other than that, you'll be scraping your arches on lowered springs unless you camber in and are on stiffer suspension. Remember that as you pull the wheels out, you increase the leverage arm on the suspension. So you need to be able to set your rear suspension stiffer. 20mm will make a noticeable difference in how effective your springs are. If you had 4kg springs, you'd need 6kg or so.
You're going to be loading the rear more on corners. So unless you balance it well, you have a chance of your rears running out of talent before your fronts do. Also you're increasing the positive scrub radius on the rear. Have a look at what effects that have.

Our A5 was on 20mm spacers the whole time we had it and I never even knew until I had a puncture and had to change a tyre  by the roadside. That was all round though. Drove great

[roadsta]

Cheers, had a 370z with them and no issues at all and many modified car owners use them, but I'm finding very little info on them for MR2s. Have seen differing reports saying u can use 20mm with no rolling or rubbing issues, some say 15mm. Barbarian racing sell their own 20mm which they claim can be fitted with no clearance problems.
Anyone out there currently using spacers?

[shnazzle]

In stock suspension you'll likely be OK. Until you hit a deep compression,then you might scrape. 
It's a finely tuned beast is the 2s suspension. If it's just to "fill the arches" then go for it. If it never gets driven hard you're unlikely to notice except for during braking a bit.

[1979scotte]

If you value the handling of your roadster above looks then I'd steer well clear.

 

[m1tch]

Supposedly causes excessive load on the wheel bearing but other than that, you'll be scraping your arches on lowered springs unless you camber in and are on stiffer suspension. Remember that as you pull the wheels out, you increase the leverage arm on the suspension. So you need to be able to set your rear suspension stiffer. 20mm will make a noticeable difference in how effective your springs are. If you had 4kg springs, you'd need 6kg or so.
You're going to be loading the rear more on corners. So unless you balance it well, you have a chance of your rears running out of talent before your fronts do. Also you're increasing the positive scrub radius on the rear. Have a look at what effects that have.

Our A5 was on 20mm spacers the whole time we had it and I never even knew until I had a puncture and had to change a tyre  by the roadside. That was all round though. Drove great

So spacers create extra load on the bearings but fitting wheels with a larger ET would be fine then?

[shnazzle]

Supposedly causes excessive load on the wheel bearing but other than that, you'll be scraping your arches on lowered springs unless you camber in and are on stiffer suspension. Remember that as you pull the wheels out, you increase the leverage arm on the suspension. So you need to be able to set your rear suspension stiffer. 20mm will make a noticeable difference in how effective your springs are. If you had 4kg springs, you'd need 6kg or so.
You're going to be loading the rear more on corners. So unless you balance it well, you have a chance of your rears running out of talent before your fronts do. Also you're increasing the positive scrub radius on the rear. Have a look at what effects that have.

Our A5 was on 20mm spacers the whole time we had it and I never even knew until I had a puncture and had to change a tyre  by the roadside. That was all round though. Drove great

So spacers create extra load on the bearings but fitting wheels with a larger ET would be fine then?

Same effect. So no. I added "supposedly" but that's not correct. What I meant was that it puts extra load on the bearings (spacers or more offset), but how many times have you seen bearings fail due to spacers or ET? I'm sure it happens but I've never seen it. We've had 3 cars now with either wider ET or spacers and never had bearing issues. 

We've had one car with bearing issues... and it was on stock setup.

[McMr2]

Spacers?
Yes purely for cosmetic reasons.
I have standard alloys with AD08R's, 195/50x15 front and 225/45x16 rears, so in order to fill the arches a little more, I'm considering 20mm hubcentrics all round, opinions or experiences?
Cheers

I'm running 16" wheels 7" wide with ET30 and, subjectively, I wouldn't say the arches look any fuller. The fronts protrude more for sure, but there's still a gap in the arches. Wouldn't it take larger diameter wheel/tyre combo or some serious lowering to achieve?
Personal choice etc but I wouldn't want to go down either of those routes for fear of ruining the handling.

[Petrus]

there's still a gap in the arches. Wouldn't it take larger diameter wheel/tyre combo or some serious lowering to achieve?

To get less gap you either take the wheel to the arch or the arch to the wheel.
The option not ruining the handling is fitting flares to the arches.

[105e]

Wheel spacers,   the devils work..

[shnazzle]

Wheel spacers,  the devils work..

Well now you're going to have to elaborate! Bad experience?

[105e]

No, just think they are bad idea, especially at the front, reasons already mentioned...

[1979scotte]

Wheel spacers,   the devils work..

Agreed anything done purely for looks that could be detrimental to the handling of the car is just plain wrong.

[Petrus]

Wheel spacers,   the devils work..

Agreed anything done purely for looks that could be detrimental to the handling of the car is just plain wrong.

On the other hand 10 mm. spacers are the same as mounting rims with ET30 instead of ET40 per example; when the ET value decreases, the wheels will protrude further out.

So, agaín, it all depends on how much, in combination with what and why.