I have been working on fitting the fiberglass fender flairs on the Mini JCW. NOTE: THEY DON"T JUST BOLT ON!!! You have to do a lot of fiberglass work and attachment modifications to get them on...almost finished this week coming up...FINALLY!
The Yokohama A052 255/35/18 showed up 32 days after I ordered them...all 200 UTQG Tires have been on backorder. These will go on my MOMO RS4 Wheels and I will be using some 20mm Turner Spacers. There will probably some adjustments made on spacer size ect. Nothing is so simple. The 255/35/18's have about 1 5/8" wider tread width on the 8.5" wide wheels (estimate). The pic shows the 225/45/17s next to the 255/35/18s

 

Holy track car Batman
I'm running 205 40 17 on my R52JCW and they are like rubber bands. No spacers though.

 

Somewhere down the road I will be saving up some $$$ to purchase some RS5 LiteSpeed Wheels to save some serious weight. Instead of 22.5# like the MOMOs they come in at ~ 15.5#. In the mean time after I mount the new rims and tires with the New Aesthetic Flairs (after some serious fitment issues) I might need to change the front spring weight...who knows. It is all fun and frustrating at the same time but the finished product should be amazing. As for the RS5's...I will know by then if 18x9's will fit and what ET will be needed without adding spacers.