Just had my first flat tyre tonight and realised my spare wont go on becuase the car has spacers on the rear.. couldnt get the spacers off with the limited leverage I had on the side of the road and the car on the jack. Wheels are techart formulas 19. The car looks good with the spacers on, but the rear tyres are rubbing (and Im not game to have a malaysian panel beater have a crack at rolling the guards). Car currently has no spacers on the front and 18mm on the back. Rear tyres are 295/30 19s pzeros. Dont know any details on the wheel offset. So my question is can I take the spacers off. Any help would be appreciated

 

You should be able to take the spacers off. You might need a bit more effort. I'm sure they're a bit stuck on with mother nature causing it to adhere to your hub. Also they were probably a snug fit installed.

You might have to bang around them with a rubber mallet and then try to pry them off little by little by going around them. A screw driver would probably mar them if they are aluminum. Maybe use some sort of wooden handle and use that to bang with the hammer around the spacer.

Once you get them off you might want to clean off any oxidation off the rotor hub. Also on mine I had to sand the opening of the spacers so it was more of a looser fit. The rears on mine were tight to get on.

 

Pretty car.
Yep....as mentioned, spacers can need a good wack if they have not been off in a while.
Looks like the car is lowered.....unless you set yourself up with a very firm suspension you will continue to have rubbing in the rear (possibly even if you go the w/ fender prep route).
Logical solution is get a set of 12mm (or whatever) for rear after you successfully get those 18s off. Car will still look great....only you will know about the 6mm.

 

thanks for the thoughts. What I was really wondering though is whether you think I can run these wheels without the spacers at all.. Im not keen on the idea of not being able to use the spare tire, plus with a bit of luck it would stop the rubbing

 

Sure.....go for it.
18mm isn't even 3/4 inch...your car would still look great.

 

Just go with smaller spacer. I had 15mm and rubbed a little when I went thru dips; went to 13mm and no rub now... and still looks good IMO.

 

All, thanks for the views.. just had them taken off the car. Verdict, it doesnt look as cool, but no scraping and if I get a flat again at least I can use the spare... will stick with this for now and maybe entertain myself with a purchase of some slimmer ones later..

 

I thought Tech Art wheels came with a much more aggressive offset in the rear, I thought +29 to be exact (that would mean no spacer). Do you have Tech Arts for a narrow body, or are these just not as aggressive?

 

just discovered they are only 10 inch rims (put on by previous owner)... !!! Unfortunately in Malaysia these things are a bit hit and miss... anyway will stick with them for now and change somewhere down the track