I have driven the car both with and without the spacers and the car seems to be more stable with the spacers, but the car points better without them. And suggestions?
You partially answered you own question here. To run spacers or not depends on how you will be using the machine. Let's first understand the difference between
overall width and
track width. Overall is the outside to outside tire width. Track width is from center of tire to center of tire.
The Talon is the same
overall width front to rear (X is 64" and the R is 68.4") and both use a 3.2" narrower rear hub width and wider tires and different offset rims to give you a 2" narrower
track width in the rear for a very good reason. It is actually the best of both worlds...
By making the overall rear as wide as the front, it will be more stable when off camber trail riding, rock crawling and slower type riding. IF the track width was also the same, it would tend to "push" (understeer) under faster conditions. However, by making the track width narrower in the rear via the wider tires like they do with the Talon (and several other machines on the market), you reduce the understeer and gain high speed handling. As annoying as it is to have different front/rear tires/wheels, it is an advantage for an all around machine like the Talon. Not perfect either way but a decent compromise somewhere in the middle.
Problem is, many of us want the same tire/wheel combo on all 4 corners for various reasons and that negates Honda's design. You lose the equal overall width with narrower rear track with enhancement.
So, if you want to run all the same wheels/tires front and rear, you have to determine which way you want to go...
If you don't care about a little understeer and you prefer the width and stability for rock crawling and off camber riding, you may want to run spacers in the rear to even it up.
If you like to go fast and corner, you will want to avoid the spacers and run a little narrower in the rear but watch the off camber stuff, it will be a little tippy if you are used to the width.
I own 2 2019 R's (picked up a used one a couple months ago). My original is even front/rear (71"/71") and the one I just picked up is not (71"/68"). The narrow rear machine kicks ass at high speed cornering but it is tippy as hell when crawling. My even machine understeers a little but is more stable/predictable while crawling. With dirt tires, I mostly climb and crawl so stability is WAY more important that a little understeer so the narrow rear machine is getting spacers ASAP!
YOU need to determine riding style and decide which is more important to you because you can't have both if you run the same tires/wheel all the way around.
