I'm thinking about adding about 1/2 inch spacers to my stock wheels to move them out so the rims are more flush with the fender flares. Has anyone tried this? Has anyone tried this? Any problems? Do the tires rub? I really like how the stock rims look but I feel they are sucken too far into the wheel wells.

 

I would worry about some body roll and road bumps on the suspension that might cause the tires to hit the inner fender lip. I am not sure 1/2" would be much of an impact to appearance though.

 

Remember the affects on the steering geometry: Imagine looking down on it while it turns. The axis is in the center of the wheel (typical, not certain on the 8). So the wheels pivots around this axis. But when you change the backspacing or add a spacer, the wheel no long pivots on the axis; it basically "swings" around the axis.

I have no clue what impact .5" would have on things such as turn-in, spindle wear, etc. Admittedly, my experience with this is with Jeeps... and I've repaced countless steering parts, bearings, etc. because of mod's. The load on the steering with the 8 may be comparatively low enough to make little to no difference.

Oh, some people will warn that spacers come loose over time. Can't comment on that.

 

The guy at the shop said he would need to drill into the rim to fit the spacers, so maybe this would prevent them from coming loose? As far as changing the geometry, when you replace the stock rim with an aftermarket rim, the new rim will have a different offset, which I imagine is the same as you get if you added spacers. Spacers just changes the offset right? Are you sure the pivot point or axis is at the center of the wheel? I think its positioned to the inside of the wheel on most cars.