with 15mm spacers or no spacers. I will now have a spare front rim(the one I too a chunck of the the lip) and want to keep it as a spare just in-case I get a flat so I don't have to drive on the big red one until I get a replacement tire or something.

It's the way I justified to my wife getting a new wheel, the concensus from wheel repair guys is that my rims would look bad in black on a blue car and that you could tell if they did a weld/refinish where the repair was if they didn't paint it a colour. So I decided to order another one.

 

It would fit. I run skinny 8,5x17 ET50 (OE) in the back on my C4 -99 during winter. I can´t see that similar 18´s would cause any probs.

 

are they close to the edge and do they clear the caliper.. Mine's a ET45, but I do have 15mm spacers...

 

Plenty of air everywhere. Far from the fender (no spacers with these wheels) and loads of clearance around the calipers. But the latter will depend on the wheel design. Looking at the car, caliper clearance seem to be more of an issue in the front, so your front wheels shouldn´t cause problems in the rear.

My winter wheels are these:
http://www.wheelenhancement.com/inde...elDetail&id=35