GT4 conversion

You will probably need to go to the aftermarket coil overs that have adjustable ride height to get it as precise as you want it.

This generally means that you will be lowering the car.

I have found that for where I live, the factory spacers are correct for me.

If you remove them the car looks much better. That 1" in ride height exposes the car to all sorts of road hazards that you will never ordinarily encounter.

You could put skid plates on the car but that won't protect the bottom of the nose and the lower radiator support.

I did a lot of damage($$$$$) to mine with the spacers off.

Hall did have hydraulic jacking system, manually operated, to combat this. I never tried it but it sounds like a good idea.

The 1" spacers may have been US cars only.

If you retain the original shocks, check to see if the spacers have been removed. If not, taking them out will drop it about 1" all the way around. They are aluminum disks set below the springs on each shock.
If you go the adjustable shock route, you may find that you need adjustable upper rear A-arms to square up your tires. I did. They are available through several vendors.
Don't count on being able to use wheel spacers to set the wheels out a bit. It will depend on the thickness of your wheel at the lug nuts. Do a trial fit to determine whether you have enough threads to safely mount the wheel. My Kodiaks were too thick to allow much of a spacer with the stock studs. Longer studs are available, but they are EXPENSIVE and the rear ones are a real job to replace. If you need longer studs in the rear, the time to replace them is when you already have the suspension apart to install the adjustable A-arms.
All this may be unnecessary, but they are things to think about as you set your flares up.
It's good to know the options.
Mooso

I would be careful with making assumptions about your coilover settings prematurely. For example, I put adjustable coilovers on and set the car the way I thought "looked" right with some nose-down rake that many suggest for greater high-speed downforce. However, when I later corner-balanced the car I had to change all that, removing most of that rake. Of course, you may not plan on corner-weighting, but mine handles very well now, just maybe not at 150 miles per hour (which I haven't seen in a while though I've been close in a straight line). In my case the corner-weighting seemed to help noticeably in my driving style. Anyway, you get the point. Plus I would think different sets of coilovers could be set slightly differently later to match your (or someone else's) preferences.

There are some good points mention here.

I suppose it all depends upon your purpose. If you want the car to look right or whether you want the car to handle right.

I thought it was that you wanted it to look right. I also realize that the original question was should you relocate the flares to get the spacing right.

Objectively I think that you need to get the chassis right, i.e., mount the big tires and wheels, hack out the fenders to clear and then do you chassis balancing for handling (corner balancing, ride height, nose dive, shock rate, spring rate, engine power transfer, etc). Then when that is right, mount the flares where the spacing to the tires is to your liking.

I'm not sure at that point though if you are at risk for tire to fender (flare) interference. I don't think so but maybe.

Of course if that doesn't matter then put the flares where you want them now.

I went through the conversion on my car. I would highly recommend placing the wheels/tires first then place the car at desire ride height with a slight rake for aerodynamics. THEN mount the flares at desired height. The gr4 flares from hall are three piece so you can alter the up/down to your desired setting. I would have done mine a bit differently had I known then what I know now. To get that tucked look you will have to mount the flare very high on the fender and the back flare lower on the rear fender. I ended up with a gap slightly larger than my preference.

Blaine

cat7195 is correct about the 1" spacers - you won't see them on a European market car.

MG did the same thing to the Midget for the US market. They raised the whole car with spacers in the suspension so that the lights were high enough to meet federal law . It didn't help the handling at all.

I know iam late on this topic,sorry, but this is what I've heard...Leave the spacers in.'They' say removing them will become problematic on shock rebound with the spring being able to move around and not 'settle' in the right position from time to time without ten spacer. Does this make sense to anyone....since the Euro car didn't have them, surely it would then be safe to remove them?
I have tried to help the 'nose-down' attitude a bit by going tallish at the back,(18inch x 345/30's and 245/40's x 16)up frt., but it would be nice to know about these 'spacers', Yes or no?

Tai,

I seem to remember the springs still positively locating on the shock tower okay with the spacer removed, when I did mine. I can check tonight my old shocks are lying around the garage somewhere.

In contrast I switched to the Hall/Aldan adjustables and was recommended to reuse the OEM stock rubber boots to help locate and stop those springs jumping around.

Julian

I just did mine, taking the stock spacer out.
There is no issue with the coil spring positively locating on the shock seat without the spacer.

It is not a problem.
The rubbers that are on the top and the bottom of the spring are there so there is no metal to metal noise.

Even if they were removed the springs would STILL seat properly.

The issue with removing the spacers simply is, will the car be too low for ground clearance?