Using wheel spacers to help counter understeer
 

Well I ordered some 32mm wheel spacers and I'm wondering if I should put them on the front or on the rear to help with some under steer I'm experiencing. With the stock bbs wheels and being lowered 2 inches in the front, will I likely need to roll my fenders if I put them in the front?

Also on a side note, I know this is covered in a sticky but I recently got a flat on my rear tires, I just changed both the rears. The front still had plenty of tread on them and the new rear tires are the same width as the fronts (but they are different tires, re760s in the rear and nexen n2000s in the front). Is this still going to be very taxing on the differential?

everything in the suspension works together so it's hard to give a one size fits all solution. Putting them up front would be my choice but there are more effective ways to reduce understeer.

where did you get 32mm spacers from?

I also liked the wider look of the car with spacers, considering I don't have the money for wider wheels. I got them from maperformance.

I would be hesitant to use 32 mm spacers on either end without matching them on the other end. Putting them on th front, if they clear, might add traction but may increase understeer too from the increase in track width.

Try it and find out

A rear bar would help you more.

Tryin to fix handling problems with mis-matched tires is goin to be a pain....well maybe you could put the crappier tires on the rear to help it slide around more.
How many /32nds difference are the tires?

I'm actually getting a matching set for the fronts this weekend or next Tuesday, so the mismatched tires should no longer be an issue. I'll try both rear and front to see which I like better, but the fronts will probably need a roll and pull if I want it to clear. Does anyone have a good pricepoint rear bar in mind?

So you know the spacers are not going to fix your problem-- I think you more accurately stated why you got them as you liked the look of a wider stance. If you want to even begin to address the understear read up on rear sway bars first-- and educate yourself on options, lots on this forum. Good luck.

As stated spacers will not reduce the understeer. What spacer will do for you, when placed on the front wheels, is to help with initial turn in. After that, your suspension is what does the work. If you want to reduce the understeer, look at a rear bar and then the rear diff.

I have never heard of this tactic for understeer........ *confused*

Swaybar, yes.

how do you drive? If you drive hard, do the rear diff mod and powerslide the awd everywhere you go. Focus on suspension setup otherwise.

A wider front track will help with front grip (read: less understeer), but it's definitely not the place I would start. FWIW, my front track is 50mm wider (25mm spacers each side) than the rear. Sway bar(s) and shocks/springs would be a better option.

Well thanks for all the replies guys. Sorry I haven't gotten back, I've been busy with midterms. How much is a rear diff mod going to cost me? I decided not to go with wheel spacers. Can anyone recommend a good pricepoint sway bar? I'm not looking for anything amazing, just something that works well and is decently priced

Spacers will not fix your understeer issues.

First things first, get rid of those Nexen's.. Expecting performance out of those tires is like showing up to a ball game in flip flops - it's just not gonna happen. Get some proper shoes. The RE760's wouldn't be my first choice, but they are much better than the Nexen's.

Secondly, if you're dropped 2" with just lowering springs on stock shocks, you're too low. You can throw all the sway bars & bushings you want at your car, but the fact remains that your car is riding on nothing but the bump stops. Meaning, your shocks & springs are not doing the job they're supposed to be doing. There are a fair amount of threads that have great info regarding this topic you can research.

Lastly, what is your intended use with your car? That would help everyone to provide you with advice that would help achieve your goal. A pure daily, an occasional track/auto x use??

It's a pure daily driver, the only time I push it is when I bring it up into the mountains late at night, which is once a week or so. So would that mean I need new coilovers as well? Thanks for all the info btw