OH MAN, THEY'RE RUBBING/GRINDING! What do I do?

UltimateSVT

UltimateSVT

Dedicated LVC Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2009
Messages
4,602
Reaction score
166
Location
Miami, FL(Home of the rust free MARK VIII's
These are the wheels I just got from a a forum member about a week ago. They are 17x10 Cobras. They are 5x4 1/4 lug pattern so they fit perfect & the tires on the rims are 275/40R17 Kuhmos. When I turn on corners, both front wheels are rubbing/grinding....... well, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves

101_0879s.jpg


101_0877s.jpg


WHAT DO I DO?!?!?!?!?!?
 
whats your backspacing? You might need spacers.
 
Dude, a 10" wide wheel up front is way too wide! You will need to get a set of 1/4-1/2" wheel spacers.
 
I would not break out the grinder and make room. These cars are heavy and their suspension components are dainty, yes I said dainty. :lol: Anyway thats the upper controll arm and they are already thin, you grind off enough to properly clear and the chances of it snapping are too great IMHO. Since the wheel sticks out a little past the rim lip then not only would you have to grind into it about 1/4" to clear the wheel but you would have to go up pretty high too because I bet if you pull off the wheel you will see the tire is scraping too. The tire will buldge under hard cornering and dips causeing it to really dig into that arm. Just not safe man.
Get some 1/8" spacers and see if that works. I bet it would be close enough that you could get away with it or just grind down 1mm off the arm. You may need to roll the front fenders too.
 
Well, that's the thing. There are moments when it wont rub at al when I take turns, it definitely rubs when I slowly come out my drive way in reverse & turn my steering wheel all the way to the left. It sounds like death! When I recieved the wheels I too thought they were too wide for the front but figured if a former owner had them on a Mark VIII, they should fit right? :Bang WRONG!!!I guess I'll be working on it in the next couple days. I'm using it only from home - work which is a 1.6 mile run then back in the afternoon. I don't see a huge issue since it's not happening always. Thanks guys. :(
 
I am running 17x9 cobra r's from a t-bird also on a stock air ride 93 Mark VIII .
I didn't run into any trouble but the guy I bought them from did some grinding on my spindles before they were mounted. Front tires are Nitto 555R2 275/40x17 Drag Radials. The rear tires are Nitto 555R 315/35x17 Drag Radials.
Here is a link to a picture of the area that was ground. I don't know if this will cure your problem but it couldn't hurt. It is preferable to adding spacers.
http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/showthread.php?t=40457

These suspensions are anything but dainty. This is the same grind that my friend used on his T-Bird oval track racer. Trust me, he puts allot more stress on his suspension than we would dream of.
 
Last edited:
rooster1969 said:
Rub some chalk on any possible contact points, check it to see where, and grind.
Click to expand...

I think it's done enough rubbing on that control arm that it's probably shiny by now. I should'nt have a problem knowing where to grind.

1bad4.6l said:
Get out the grinder.:cool:
Click to expand...

There's a buddy of mine that has a compressor & airtools at his house, waayyyyy faster job. I'm headed overthere tonight!:D
 
There's a buddy of mine that has a compressor & airtools at his house, waayyyyy faster job. I'm headed overthere tonight!:D[/QUOTE]

Theres not much faster than an electric angle grinder for this kid of job. There cheap toooooooo. If you dont have one then you really should. It a basic power tool.
 
I just bought a professional grade Craftsman elec angle grinder and even with the 3 year extended warranty it was still only $70, which I didnt think was bad because comparable grinders at Harbor Freight were $40.
 
Before you resort to grinding them.
Make sure both your upper control arm bushings and strut rod bushings are in good shape.

it seems odd that they are only rubbing at certian times, such as turning.
Something is "moving" that shouldn't be "moving".

Of course this isn't a "freebie solution" like grinding away at the interference location.

What are you going to do when you grind it, and it still rubs, because of excessive movement in the suspension.

Forgive me if you've completely rebuilt your front end and I am not aware of that...but I'd do some checking before I resorting to grinding.
 
Um... your not rubbing on the upper control arm. Your rubbing against the knuckle. Just to clear that up (your guys are slow today! lol) The UCA is much higher up. I have 20s and the UCA ball joint is still above the tire.

Second, it is odd that is grinds at certain times. Something is not right as XLRVIII mentioned.

Third, the knuckle is at a constant fixed position, less any wheel flex, relative to the wheel. So even with slop, it should not rub occasionally unless your wheel bearings are shot.

Fourth, regardless of what you grind, the upper control arm and knuckle are not major load bearing supports. The strut (sir shock) holds the vast majority of suspension stresses. The UPA and LCA and knuckle are, to some extent, just guides. If any of those take stress is will be the LCA followed by the knuckles and lastly the dainty UCA. Heck, the tie rods take more stress than most of that stuff.
 
UltimateSVT said:
WHAT DO I DO?!?!?!?!?!?
Click to expand...

Remove the wheels :)

Shame, too. They're nice looking wheels. But you don't want to go rigging something up that is potentially unsafe - wheel spacers are illegal in some states for a reason.

Get a set of reasonably sized wheels designed for a Mark VIII.

Or just do what I do - use your stockers and keep the extra dough in your back pocket.
 
k9t8m said:
I just bought a professional grade Craftsman elec angle grinder and even with the 3 year extended warranty it was still only $70, which I didnt think was bad because comparable grinders at Harbor Freight were $40.
Click to expand...

Whatever you do (anybody using a grinder), don't go linking them end to end with several extension cords. If you must use one, use only one and make sure it is the biggest, beefiest cord you can buy. That is the number one way people kill their grinders :)
 
*disconnects extension cord with 8 way adapter with 4 way adapter connected in with bare (bell) wire pushed in and connected to grinder via scotch blocks*

*also removes solder used as a substitute for that blown fuse*

LMAO.
 
You might try raising the front a half inch via the air ride height sensor...and see if the problem either goes away, or gets a little better.

Agree'd these peices hub/bearing/spindle shouldn't be moving independant of each other.
But.. if it's at an extreme lowered position it might be putting alot of side load pressure on one of the components and exasperating the condition.

Give it a shot....
another option before breaking out the GRINNNDERRRRRR (bangs head)
 
Wow, it seems like I definitely have my hands full. I'm definitely stopping the car! I'm not going to drive it until I find out what's going on. I don't think it's that, that serious but I have a new thread that I'll be posting in a few minutes that will definitely top this issue & make me stop my car!
 
XLRVIII said:
Before you resort to grinding them.
Make sure both your upper control arm bushings and strut rod bushings are in good shape.

it seems odd that they are only rubbing at certian times, such as turning.
Something is "moving" that shouldn't be "moving".

Of course this isn't a "freebie solution" like grinding away at the interference location.

What are you going to do when you grind it, and it still rubs, because of excessive movement in the suspension.

Forgive me if you've completely rebuilt your front end and I am not aware of that...but I'd do some checking before I resorting to grinding.
Click to expand...

Ding Ding Ding.....:p

Rebuilt front end or not. The description speaks volumes. You need fresh control arm bushings. If you are sweatin' the cost of an angle grinder you might not be able to take care of it right away. But rest assured that grinding is not the answer nor is storing the wheels in your garage. Park it and fix it. =) Its a pretty simple job and the parts are not that expensive really.

The wheels bolt on to the hubs...The hubs are conected to your control arms. The control arms have a failure point which is the bushings. The assembley is fixed and by design DOES NOT allow for any movement of the wheel assembly. This has all been covered before in previous threads.

The wheels are 17X9 not 10's...There is no way that a 10" wide wheel is gona fit in there. =) Measuring the width of a wheel is not done by the outer most point of the wheel unless you want total width as apposed the actual wheel width with respect to measuring for correct tire fitment.

Feel free to contact me via PM if you have any further questions.

Cheers =)

Brad
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 84 (members: 2, guests: 82)
Back
Top