It does, but then you want make sure you still have the wheels sitting on the hub and not just hanging off the wheel threads. you also need to make sure you have enough thread for your nuts if youre spacers are going to be more than a few millimetres. 
 
Personally, i'd just buy some wheels that fit properly that go through all these work arounds to fit a set of wheels that aren't right from the start.

Reddtarga
Wheel spacers:
Insurance could be voided if you put them on, and I believe they are illegal in all states anyway.
 
Maybe do some Googling to find out more, especially about insurance, for example:
http://www.toymods.org.au/forums/threads/71185-Wheel-spacers-illegal-in-Victoria
 
 

 
 
As I always say, and it probably bores people to tears - keep your mods legal.
You may only drive the car once in a blue moon but if you get pulled over in some, "Keep the streets safe from cars with too much low/big exhausts kill puppies so ban all cool cars" traffic blitz you could find your car being put up on some mobile hoist and having EVERY 'defect' and non compliant mod (and some listed on the sheet by the copper/inspector who isn't certain but thinks 'its not right') written out on some big long form that you can barely read, a bright yellow or red sticker on your windscreen and a fistful of tickets. And not tickets to the latest movie. 
 
Or be like some who have their mods approved on paper, or just keep the mods to something that doesn't need an engineering cert. Then when/if you get stopped, let them poke over the car as much as they like then you can resume regular life. Believe it or not, some traffic/hwy cops do that job because they enjoy cars and mods as well, and no surprise that some of them are humourless ticket machines. 
 

Should be ok. May poke out a little.
 
A +20 to +30 offset front and rear on a 7" 8" would be safer if you don't want to poke out the guards.

okay thanks guys
 

just picked up a set of enkei rs wheels for a good price, 17x8et38 and 17x8.5et32, front tyres are 215/45 and just fit with 1mm clearance of the strut, the rears are 235/45 and rub the guard a bit, do you think its worth rolling the guard or getting a lower profile tyre as the rear tyres need to be replaced anyway, I like the 'chunky track tyre' look, thanks

okay thanks Pete, should it be 40 on both the front and the rear or rear only?

PplaterSW20
getting new tyres soon so just need to know if 215/40 and 235/40 is correct?

That's what I'm running...

Hi TwoDogs,

I expect that you must be rubbing against the suspension, when turning, if you are running 17"x8" with 35 offset on the front.

I have 17"x7" on the front with 32 offset, which sits flush with the guard and just clears the suspension, at a -1.0 degree camber.

Another important factor is how your wheels are aligned. I expect that with 8" fronts you must have the top of the wheels cambered-in so that they don't protrude beyond the guard. This will add to your problem, and wear the inside of your tyres much quicker.

I bought my 17" Work wheels new to get the 7"/8" stagger, and get as close as possible to the original offsets and alignment. To get 35 offset I would have to pay a lot more for custom offsets, but it would have been even closer to my suspension.

A wheel alignment may help, but dropping the fronts to 7" is better for steering. If you find that you are needing wheel alignments often, then you may need to replace some front wheel elements, like the ball-joints.

Your local Toyota Service Department should be able to photocopy the relevant page of the MR2 manual that provides the proper wheel alignment specifications. Generic wheel alignment business don't have the correct alignment settings, and you need to tell them what the correct settings are.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers, M