I bought a 6 lug donut spare from a Colorado a couple years back when I got my 99 on the road again. Since the truck is body lifted and doesn't have a trailer hitch, a full size spare looks horrible hanging down below the bumper in the back, so I wanted something smaller.

The bolt pattern is the same on the Colorado, but the donut wheel doesn't clear the brakes on my truck. It's close though, and I think if I were to run a spacer I could mount the wheel and have it clear. I still need to test fit with washers or something to figure out how thick of a spacer to get, but I'm thinking 1/4-1/2" or so would do it.

I don't know anything about spacers or how they affect anything. I have found some 1/4" spacers for really cheap that are literally just a 1/4" thick ring with holes cut in it for the wheel studs to pass through. As long as my measurement tells me that 1/4" is enough, would something like this be sufficient? Would this load the wheel studs wrong, or pull the center hole off the hub and cause problems? Here's an example:




Should I be looking for a spacer that bolts to the hub instead, and has it's own studs to bolt the wheel to? Like this...



If neither of these are good I can always throw a full size spare in the bed whenever I go on a road trip out of the city, but I'd prefer to be covered so I don't have to call a tow truck or have the wife bring me the spare from her Yukon if I were to get a flat in town somewhere.