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I've seen various references to wheel spacers on here, can anyone advise what can be used with OEM wheels and 255/35 tyres, any downsides, and the best place to get them?
Thanks!

UNI555 wrote:I've seen various references to wheel spacers on here, can anyone advise what can be used with OEM wheels and 255/35 tyres, any downsides, and the best place to get them?
Thanks!

www.europerformance.co.uk usually have a good range in stock

Also, I need to replace my tyres soon and will have to decide whether to go up to 275, so would the wider tyre still need a spacer to bring it out to fill the arch?

If going to 275's I wouldn't have thought so but you could use 5mm hubcentric spacers if you wanted. H&R hubcentrics are good but you will need to replce all bolts with TUV approved ones and your locking nuts too.

Far easier and cheaper just to put on 275's

Hear are some pics of 275's on standard hubs to show:

I prefer the look of 265's and small spacers....

I prefer not to have scraped rims at the very sight of high kerbs so 275's are ideal. Cheaper too and more contact patch versus aesthetics.

Surely 265's with a 5m spacer will have the outer face of the tyre at exactly the same position as a 275?

10mm difference - 5mm on the outer face and 5mm on the inner face?

I hink he is talking in regard to the overhang or lip of rubber over the outer wheel. On 255's the spoke almost protrude in front of the rubber lip whereas on the 275's they have some protecton.

Saying that they will not fill the arches like 275's by 2.5 mm (like you'll know the difference anyway)

I will shortly need new tyres, so I could easily go for the 275 option and not bother with spacers, but I'm slightly concerned by some comments on another thread regarding handling, presumably due to the extra flexing, although most people on here seem to be running them without any issues. On spacers, the ones I've looked at seem to only be available in hubcentric above about 15mm, below that they seem to be only flat ones, is this the case?

H&R do 10mm hubcentric ones, with a 150mm face to suit the RS4.

I've just ordered my spacers and gone for 13mm either side on the rear as I want the rim to fill the arch, not the tyre, putting bigger tyres on is very dated in my opinion?

I used to have a VR6 with a slight stretch on the tyres and lowered and in my opinion it looks better to have the rim sitting level with the arch and the tyre slightly stretched, in the RS4 case, the 255/35 rubber works fine for this.

Getting them on next Saturday so will post before and after pictures...

Will

H&R do 10mm hubcentric ones, with a 150mm face to suit the RS4.

they do indeed but you should run 8mm on the front if on ss+ or aftermarket kit. if you feel with your fingers under the top of the arch you see there is a clip which holds the wheel arch liner in place and this will rub if your not careful.

Said it before, and will do so again, why upset the geometry (which it WILL) adversely by making this boy-racer mod...?

Front end stability will suffer, risk of flutter under braking etc etc.

Remember the wider your wheels, the higher the camber/toe, great for the race track (Rockingham oval) or shows, but day to day driving as said above the geometry will be effected drastically, I don't want to drag up the old debate again, regarding 255 Vs 275 and spacers or none spacers. personally i would not have any spacers as for that exact reason, 13mm per hub seems rather extreme, so that's a total of 26mm Axel length! remember its 4WD.

I believe the only reason 275's started being used was, at the time, people wanted to move to the F1's and they didn't make them in 255.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the original debate was nothing to do with using a wider tyre, although this was used as a possible justification for the move.

The fact that they then generally turned out to be cheaper than the 255's only meant that the practise has become quite prevalent.

Personally, I've gone back to 255's because (amongst other things) my local dealer used the issue to avoid dealing with an issue on my car because of the non-standard fitment.

Now that I've got two sets of rims and rubber, I've got my bases covered.