I am planning on getting new wheels for the car, and I have a couple questions about the offset as I do not understand it 100%So the current offset of my stock wheels are at +37If I get new wheels and the offset is 20, how would that make a difference on the appearance/handling.Will it make the wheels stick out more or go in more? And would hub centric wheel spacers be recommended to make up for the difference? Would the handling be worse on the car?Thanks for your help!
If you were to replace ET37 with ET20, assuming they are the same width rim/tire, the wheel will stick OUT by 17 millimeters. I would guess this will be too aggressive and stick out of your wheel well and most likely rub against the fender. Forget about spacers with this setup as it would be counter-intuitive. If the new wheels are wider, it will stick out even further. If the new wheels are thinner, then it might mitigate the difference but this is unlikely since ET20 wheels typically come on aggressive looking cars like the M3 and would definitely be a wider wheel. If you were to go the other way, ie. ET44, then you would want 7 mm spacers (in this example) to offset the difference and reduce the tucked look, again assuming same width. As for handling, having your wheels further out makes the car a bit more stable, and looks much better in my opinion. My car is oem ET31 and I have ET47 winter rims, implying they're tucked in 16mm compared to stock. I didn't use spacers last winter, I thought it handled just fine, could barely notice any difference in both city and highway driving. However, they looked strange from behind due to the offsets. Hope this helps you understand offsets a bit better. I would look for a similar offset and avoid spacers altogether if possible. Good luck!
