MR2QIK
Why hello there....
http://www.hardtuned.net/..._item&item_id=8823
These can be made to fit without much issue.

Oh ****!! Good find! That's a lot of money but not out of the question by any means.

The rears would probably be fine because they are the same width as what I have now, provided that the offset and spoke cross section are close enough to what I have now, to avoid clearance issues with the calipers or guards.

As for the fronts, well, they are 8.5 wide and my current front wheels are 7.5 wide. I currently have only about 3mm clearance from the coilovers, and my wheels are roughly flush with the outside of the guards, maybe a few mm outside. I'm not sure how much trouble that extra 1 inch of width would cause. EDIT: I forgot to mention I currently have barely 1mm of clearance between my front calipers and spokes, with a small spacer about 3mm thick.

Well to be honest, the rears will most likely fit immediately. The fronts will require spacers to clear everything (approx 10mm), but it'll work perfectly with your tyres & guards. It's not absolutely necessary to change alignment afterwards either.
 
Btw, $1200 with free shipping isn't bad @ all (before any negotiation). Those wheels cost a lot more brand new. You could also sell your wheels for approx $400-500, so the changeover price is actually quite low.
 
For reference sake, Bryce runs very aggressive 18x8.5 fronts. Somewhere around +20 to +25 offset with coilovers. I've run 18x8 +30 front without any scrubbing. Dylans gone quite far too.

MR2QIK
Well to be honest, the rears will most likely fit immediately. The fronts will require spacers to clear everything (approx 10mm), but it'll work perfectly with your tyres & guards. It's not absolutely necessary to change alignment afterwards either.

When you say spacer, in this case I assume you mean an adapter with its own studs? I don't see how there could be enough thread remaining on the normal studs otherwise (depending on the wheel design, but that in turn would affect caliper clearance).
 

MR2QIK
Btw, $1200 with free shipping isn't bad @ all (before any negotiation). Those wheels cost a lot more brand new. You could also sell your wheels for approx $400-500, so the changeover price is actually quite low.

Yeah it's not a bad price.
 

MR2QIK
For reference sake, Bryce runs very aggressive 18x8.5 fronts. Somewhere around +20 to +25 offset with coilovers. I've run 18x8 +30 front without any scrubbing. Dylans gone quite far too.

I know there are plenty of SW20 owners with 8.5 wide rims at the front, but I'm still a bit puzzled.
I just had a look here again:
http://www.rimsntires.com/specs.jsp
I think the 8.5 wide rims in the ad are +53 offset? If so, that would probably push the inside of the rims HEAPS closer to the coilovers?
I better triple check that my existing front rims are definitely 7.5 not 8.5, but I'm pretty sure I've got that right.
 
 
EDIT: what does "CB 60mm" mean BTW?

Centre Bore (hole)? That should be perfect for the MR2 hub :)

Ah yeah that makes sense thanks.

Well if it's 53, you'd want an spacer with studs for an extra 15-20mm. Good part is, it probably won't require as much to clear the coilovers. That offset rim probably has a higher disk clearance. I'll double check actually.

Can't find the data sheets on these bad boys anymore as they're discontinued. Either way......Temptation.....

I just did a rough manual measurement of the offset of my front rims, and I think it is about +40. I also confirmed they are definitely 7.5 wide. I think this means that I would require a spacer at least 1 inch thick to use 8.5 rims with a +53 offset...not something I'm comfortable with. Besides, it just occurred to me that, regardless of how I account for the difference in offset, I would always end up with my rims about 1 inch outside the guards, which is too much for my liking. In summary...I don't care what other people have done, I'm not going to consider 8.5 rims as an option at all anymore. Thanks for the link to that ad anyway Jay, I wish the 8.5 rims were 7.5!

That's actually not correct. With a 15mm spacer it'd sit similar to mine up front.

Your call though.

MR2QIK
With a 15mm spacer it'd sit similar to mine up front.

If coilover clearance (or lack thereof) was disregarded, then yes I agree that would be true...BUT with a spacer of 'only' 15mm, the inside of the those rims would be about 10mm beyond the point of no clearance with the coilovers! That's why I mentioned the need for a spacer about an inch thick just to clear the coilovers.
To clarify my point in another way, the coilover clearance is the main factor that can't really be changed much, and the clearance is already as small as it can go, so any additional tyre width will directly and unavoidably increase the protrusion of the wheel beyond the guard.
I wasn't just guessing numbers when I typed that last post, I did the calcs and thought it through properly!