The fronts turned out to be significantly easier to install though I'd expected them to be the more difficult, thus leaving them for last. After seeing how much the 23s pulled out the rear and the amount of time and patience it takes to trim the bolts I decided to just stick the 11s on to see how they looked even though I wouldn't be able to safely use them without the longer bolts. As I was laying the parts out I realized that even though I'd ordered the kit with all the necessary hardware (bolts, lugnuts, etc) it actually didn't have the bolts included. I called the 800 service number and they told me that the new lugnuts included in the kit are threaded all the way down (I didn't even look at them) allowing the necessary number of safe turns without replacing the bolts. I stuck the spacer on and counted the turns and sure enough just hand turning them on I could get 10 turns and another 2 with the torque wrench. I'm actually quite happy with how the 11 looks, it's a more noticeable difference than I expected and with the wheel at full lock the clearance behind it is minimal. I think the 23s would surely stick out too far and most likely rub in the back at full lock. So even thogh I know a few wanted to see the 23s on, I'm not going to go through the troubule of cutting the bolts down just for your pleasure lol....not to mention that'll prevent me from using the 11 without replacing that bolt! So here are the pics of the 11s on.

This is the driver's side without a spacer


This is the passenger's side with the 11mm spacer installed




Here you can see the difference between the two lugnuts, the ones that came with the spacers on top, the OEM lug on the bottom.


And finally here are a few pictures of it finished.

 

Great posts! Thanks a lot for taking the plunge on this kit and posting all the details. The car looks great. I'd say that degree of spacing looks just about bang on. IIRC, the bare minimum is 7-8 turns so at 12 you're probably quite safe.

I supposed another 5 mm on both might work if one wanted a slightly more aggressive look (although not without replacing the studs on the front I suspect). Please do post exact specs/models #'s you ordered for the fronts and backs. MTIA.

... much deserving of some rep points.

 

so you don't need to replace the stock studs on the front?

 

I'm glad I did, I think it looks just about perfect now. I'm not sure I'd go any wider in the rear, probably another 4mm in the front would be nice. I think if you went wider than 15 up front you'd run into fender issues. As for the part numbers the rears are #4665681 and the fronts are #2265681xx with the xx being whether you choose the black or the chrome lugnuts. I ordered them from ProPartsUSA.com for $187.46 and $172.46 respectively. Now that I've done it once I suspect the whole job could be done in 2.5 hours. I spent a lot of time slowly trimming down the bolts in the rear to trim them as little as possible, as it turns out 7mm is the magic number.

According to the manual the minimum number of turns is 8 so at 12 I'm comfortable that they're securely fastened. I drove the car around a quite twisty road near my house and really beat it into the turns and everything was still securely fastened when I got home. I'll recheck it all again later in the week after I've driven it around some more.

 

Correct, not with the 11mm spacers. The included lugnuts give you 12 turns without changing anything at all. It was as simple as wheel off, spacer on, wheel on, new nuts on, go!

 

Correct, with the 11mm spacers nothing is needed other than the included lugnuts. You do not need to replace the studs on the rear either, but you do need to trim about 7mm off of them.

 

Great mod....the tougher stance is a better fit for the car. Do you know what the wheel widths are?

 

19x8.5 in front, 19x9.5 in rear

 

One of the nice features that the Aston lug nuts seem to have is a built-in washer. I have noticed that this part is the one that actually makes contact with the wheel. This way you can tighten the lug nut without the nut actually rotating on the finished surface inside the hole and possibly stripping off the paint or powder coat. Looks like the nuts supplied with the spacers forgo this part.