Spacers on 17" or bigger new 18"s?

[DanceEng]

One of my tires busted so I'm about to get a new set and finally get rid of the crappy tires the old owner put on.

I'm thinking of going in one of two directions:

1) Get new tires on the stock 17"s which look great as they are, and get some spacers, which would provide a lot of offset (+42 to +27 I think).

2) Buy new 18"s along with some new tires to go with those
Potential wheel:



I'm leaning towards option 1[/B] but I'm weary about spacers. Heard mixed thoughts about them.
Currently running these stock 17"s with a ~1"(?) ride height drop
Any advice is appreciated.

Pics of my current wheels and ride height:

[Dave T]

I've never used spacers. I don't really want them. It's just another thing to break. I'd prefer wheels with the proper offset. If the offset is a few mm less, that's usually ok. For example, I think the 9-3SS was 42 mm (I should look it up). The 9-5's 49 mm on a 9-3SS is sort of ok but a 38-40 mm is better. I used my stock wheels for the OEM all seasons for awhile then I mounted snow tires on them. I used new wheels for summer tires. The offset was 2 mm less (lower number). It was fine.

[BigStogs]

I have used adapters before, but not spacers. Spacers in a small size like 10mm - 20mm are fine to use, though you will need longer bolts to mount the wheels correctly. That size of 18" wheel will fit just fine. I have 18"x8" +34mm Jeep SRT Spider Monkey reps on my Sportcombi with 235/40r18 tires and they look great (car looks shit overall, lol) but the fitment is great with no rubbing at all and minimal gap from tire to the wheel well.

[GeoffR]

May I recommend the following page to get the appropriate wheel size and offset for your car https://www.wheel-size.com/size/saab/9-3/2007/

You might also like to consider the effects of changing the offset using spacers, by doing so you are changing the way in which the loads are distributed to the suspension, it may not matter but best to be aware. I have heard of wheels being lost because the bolts failed with spacers.