I looked at JB's broken spacers today too. A couple conclusions I've come to:
1) there is no way in hell the car's weight is supported by the spacer lip. If that was the case, the lip would break off the moment you lower the car off the jack. As Chris noted, the spacer lip thickness where it attaches to the main spacer body is as thin as a soda can's wall. That simply cannot support a car's corner weight and supports what I said about the lip merely centering the spacer.
2) Something is happening during wheel mounting or dismounting that is breaking these. Either a struggle with the wheel leads to knocking off the lip, or perhaps the lugs are being tightened down without the wheel completely seated on the spacer. That would potentially pinch off the lip when you tighten one lug with a poorly seated wheel. Finally, I'll never ever loosen my lugs without the wheel being up in the air. That will most definitely snap the lip off.
3) I may get a set of 15mm Ichibas and just keep them in the garage. That way I can slide them on if an HR breaks while still using the same extended HR studs.
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2013 Cadillac V-Wagon, RIP Z
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