Front tires rub. What did I do wrong?

[bompus]

Well, pulled and swapped. I still have tires hitting on both sides. XXR 530 wheels with 215/40/17 Nexen tires. My options are.. try not to turn that sharp, add spacers to something, add stoppers to the rack. Hrmm ..

[idf]

Well, pulled and swapped. I still have tires hitting on both sides. XXR 530 wheels with 215/40/17 Nexen tires. My options are.. try not to turn that sharp, add spacers to something, add stoppers to the rack. Hrmm ..

I had the same issue with the same wheels and tire size. If you are hitting the wheel well, you can gain some room by relieving the fender liner, ie whacking it with a nylon mallet. I also added rack stops (Half inch pieces of PVC pipe slotted to go over the rack) . The combination solved the problem.

[Frank818]

Bompus, where are your tires hitting exactly? And I mean mean exactly.

[bompus]

Frank, it is a frustrating spot to try and take a good picture, but here goes. I haven't tested this yet, but I don't see a way that I can bend or hammer the wheel well aluminum inward enough for clearance in the two areas that I can see it is hitting on both passenger and driver side. Photos below, I tried to circle where it is hitting.

[bompus]

Frank, here's some better photos of the major spot. It's hitting the aluminum, not the fiberglass body. Both the body and aluminum are flush or even behind the frame. It's significant enough, that even if the aluminum and body were removed, it'd still be hitting the frame, so I can't do much about that. The other spot it's hitting is the inner wheel well I could probably bend the aluminum to eliminate the rub in that spot.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Well, pulled and swapped. I still have tires hitting on both sides. XXR 530 wheels with 215/40/17 Nexen tires. My options are.. try not to turn that sharp, add spacers to something, add stoppers to the rack. Hrmm ..

Bompus,
I'm running 235/40-17 toyo R888 in front with clearance lock to lock. I did a lot to get there.
1: wheel offset. I'm at 45mm. A lower number moves the tire out from the pivot point. So the tire needs more clearance front and rear.
2: I moved my LCR rear mounts out toward the sides of the car. This move the lower ball joint forward, giving more clearance on the rear side of the tire.
3: Alignment: mine 4.5deg caster, -1.0 degree camber. Without an alignment, your upper ball joint may not be in the correct place corrupting your conclusions.
4: I moved my sedan LCR's to the wagon holes in the frame to increase my track width and give me more clearance.
5: more things I don't remember right now.

There are ways to get there.
Bob

[Frank818]

Bompus, sorry about the pix it's true they are not easy to take but they do help a lot.

To complement on Bob, I would add the following:

- Being on stands may make it worse, or may make it better. Either way the car needs to be on the ground at ride height and then full lock
- Alignment! Definately need a real good alignment first
- I have added 10mm spacers on my alu LCAs between the LCA itself and the black part on inner side towards the middle of the car close to the hurricane mounts
- That same part can also be flipped around, which I didn't do
- I have added 10mm wheel spacers, gives a better look too
- As Bob said, wheel offset plays a role
- You can add a couple of stoppers on the steering rack too, but I'd do that at the very end, last resort measure, as it limits your turning circle and it ain't that short already on that car
- Try to have your alu panels curved inside the frame, talking mms here. One of mine is slightly curved outside (or inside the wheel area) due to the coolant pipe passing there, makes a small bump, and that was enough to make it rub there but not on the other side

[markclow1]

Mine rub also. I am probably going to go down to smaller tires.

[Harley818]

For sure you need to do an approximate alignment first...… you can do that with the string method.... just google it.
I'm running XXR 530's with +33, 235-40-17 Maaxis tires in front and I have a very slight rub that is barely taking off the paint on the tin.
I flipped the mount for the LCA but I didn't have to add the 10mm spacer to get the caster I needed. Running +5.5 degrees caster

[mac1]

mine are also rubbing at full turn either way with 235-40r17. Dont know the offset of these XXR wheels though.

[mac1]

For sure you need to do an approximate alignment first...… you can do that with the string method.... just google it.
I'm running XXR 530's with +33, 235-40-17 Maaxis tires in front and I have a very slight rub that is barely taking off the paint on the tin.
I flipped the mount for the LCA but I didn't have to add the 10mm spacer to get the caster I needed. Running +5.5 degrees caster

Well hey, this is exactly my setup and issue! except with Falken Azenis
I aligned the car at work few times and I just used a Lotus Elise as a baseline since I had to put in a VIN to get started.

[Harley818]

I'm happy with my set up and have been driving it for 3 summers now.
Made a couple improvements to caster and straight line tracking in the last year with the last flip of the LCA mount.