exactly. I have spacers and have had them for over a year with no problems. I am taking a huge risk though, as I need longer studs. (Come on tax rebate!) My Z isn't my daily driver, so I don't worry about it as much. It's still one of those things that needs to be done right. I just refuse to ride on wheels that are not going to look right. In the same aspect, I can't justify spending $3k+ on wheels and tires to get a "correct offset." I'll get my offset right by using spacers. It's not ghetto at all imo. It's pretty common actually.

 

Mine sit flush. I have 18 x 8.5 (rears) on all 4 corners. The 18x8.5 on the front sit flush as they are normally the rear wheels, and the rears have an H&R 25mm spacer to flush them out.



Just gotta make them work right...

 

Jim...those aren't flush. Not to burst your bubble...but your fronts aren't even close.

Hell I got +20 in the fronts and +15 in the rears and still have room to play w/

 

I've had my Ichiba 20mm front/25mm rears on for about a year now and had zero issues! I've even tried torquing them a few weeks ago and they did not require tightening (rears only, the fronts use longer studs).

With wheel offsets, it's still pretty much hit or miss. You can find some one with near perfect offsets and just copy them but usually those guys pay $$$$$$ for custom offsets. If/when I ever do decide to change my rims, I'll probably have to use 5mm spacers or something to get them "just right."

Oh, and yeah. Sorry 350z-Jim, but your fronts are pretty tucked in.

 

<sigh>

They are stock wheels which are 20x more flush than they normally are. I did not say there were perfectly flush and more flush than your aftermarket wheels. Lets put our dicks away please.

Let me re-phrase then... They are more flush than the track wheels are generally because of how they are set, vs a set of stock track wheels with 8" in the front vs my 8.5 and the rear without the 25mm spacer. Are are more flushish than they would normally be.

Happy?

Oh, the spacer has been on for a number of years and through a barrage of auto-x with no problem. Isn't that the point of this thread?

 

I guess everybody is entitled to their opinion. But, why is going with spacers ghetto? It accomplishes roughly the same thing as going with a wheel with desired offset, safely. How is that ghetto? Cutting your springs to lower a car is ghetto. I would not put spacers and cut springs in the same category.

I always loved the Rays 19" G35 wheels. I found a great deal and bought a set which basically has OEM offsets. The wheels look awesome but I wanted to move them out a bit more so I installed rear spacers for now. The look is now fantastic, car has a lower roll center and I haven't compromised my safety. I guess my 19" Rays are ghetto now even though they are probably one of the lightest 19" wheels you can get.

Blanket statements like this just rub me the wrong way.

 

I found that most members on this site go to extremes to get this "flush" look. The truth is, that's almost impossible to achieve without doing fender work. Personally, tires that are perfectly flush with the fender line do not look perfect to me. The proportions of the car become distorted and it actually stops looking good. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Take a look at the rear wheels on a car that has these 'perfectly flush' wheels. They stick out way past the fender line and look way out of proportion. Maybe I am the only one here that thinks that that looks odd. Sorry for the rant.

 

All they were saying is that your wheels are not flush... Which they aren't. It doesn't necessarily look bad, but your fronts are just as tucked as mine with my stock setup.

 

Dude I couldn't agree more. I dont really think I would want the front wheels spaced out more than they are. I like the fat look on the back which are almost flush with the fenders and the front sunk in a bit. They do stick out more than the normal 18x8 Rays wheels do since they are the 18x8.5 but thats far enough for me.

I see some cars with the wheels WAY out there and it's a bit to BAJA 4x4 for me lol. The VW guys do that with the 9.5" wheels and a 225 on them so the rim sticks out the and tires are stretched, I never understood that, but it look cool on the right car with the right mods, just not my car.

Yup, they are just offset more than the normal setup, thats all I guess.

Anyway either way, the spacers are not ghetto. They have been through all kinds of abuse and never had a problem so there isn't much to worry about that way. If you order wheels get the offset you want, if you have wheels that dont come in the offset, then make it, no big deal.

 

Jim,

Sorry if I came off as being a dick or trying to strut my "e-*****".

All I was saying was you are wrong if you think your wheels are flush. That's it, plain and simple.

But your car does look good bud.

 

+1, Jim. Kumbaya and all that jazz. I didn't mean to come off as arrogant or abrasive. But yeah, I agree, spacers aren't "ghetto!" It's just a cost effective way to have your car sit the way you want it to w/o shelling out $$$$$ for custom offsets.

 

Usually fender work will not be required unless you want to drop the car. Under the stock suspension, using spacers starts with taking the wheel off and ends with putting the wheel on. No other modifications necessary.

It might be the easiest modification on the site, second only to the "use a sharpie to repair tiny scratches on your black center console" mod.

 

imo, it almost looks better having them slightly tucked under like that. Some of these offsets on here look "skated," which is very close to becoming tacky.

 

 

so very true. it's another stupid fad for the Z that needs to go away

 

I just finished putting Kics Project Spacers 10mm Front & 20mm Rear on the car. I have the O.Z 3-peice Superleggeras F19x9.5 +29 /R19x10.5 +34 with Nitto Invo Front 255/35 Rear 305/30 tires.

I had to roll the rear fenders to get the wheels/tires flush with the outside of the fender well. With the suspension fully compressed the tire to fender clearance is about 3 to 5 mm at the top. I used the hub centric rings for the rears even though they said that it was not required. The wheels seemed to be a lot easier to line up with them.

As for the fronts I had to trim my stock studs to allow for wheel to spacer clearance. This was not that hard and I only trimmed 5mm off the stock studs. The hardest part was growing enough bawls to cut the studs. Finished product looks awesome and the wheels are flush with the fender wells.

I could have gone with 25mm or 30mm with a stretched tire setup, but I need the rubber.
Traction = Good

Previous Post

 

Jim ... sorry to go OT here... but did you buy FritZman's Z ? You got a wicked car if so

 

I had 20mm/25mm lowered close to 2" all around w/o my fenders rolled and i never rubbed. That is with stock tire specs 225/45 and 245/45. I then switched to 255/45 and my fenders were resting right on the tires lol. I then had to get the fenders rolled and now im running 25mm/30mm and it looks GREAT. On my next set of tires i plan to get 235/40 and 265/35. I don't see how wheel spacers are ghetto? Cutting springs and drilling holes in mufflers are ghetto, wheel spacers are completely fine. Saying using wheel spacers is ghetto, is like saying running aftermarket springs with stock struts is ghetto???