Clearing 17x9 wheels while lowered

Trippen Out

Trippen Out

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So I've got 275/40/17 on 17x9 wheels. I'm rubbing slightly in the front when going in reverse and over big bumps. The rear also rubs when hitting bumps.

As for the front I just replaced the front end and had it aligned as for the rear it a actually rubs more often after the alignment.

So what did you all do to get them to fit and resolve the rubbing issues as I know many of you are running that size wheel?
 
what's your offset? i have a 24mm offset.
i just didn't lower my car very much.
so that, along with some rust and stiff shocks keep me from rubbing.
 
I never got around to finish the front end on my '93 so they always rubbed while backing up but only when turning the wheel like if I was backing out of my driveway or a parking space. WHen I put them on my '97 they rubbed even less. Granted, the suspension on my '97 has 45,000 miles less than the one on my '93 & it's not lowered. One thing is for sure though. In the rear if you want to play it safe just roll those fenders. You can't go wrong. It's what I did & I had no more rubbing. There are plenty members on here that have 17x9's & don't have rubbing issues. Someone has to have the answer to this.
 
Did a little more grinding on the front spindle arm almost have all the rub gone when back up. I'm thinking maybe a tiny spot and it should be good. We painted it up this time so we can find the rub mark easier.

Im wondering how hard the baseball bat method really is. Or if I can find a shop that will do it
 
Trippen Out said:
So I've got 275/40/17 on 17x9 wheels. I'm rubbing slightly in the front when going in reverse and over big bumps. The rear also rubs when hitting bumps.

As for the front I just replaced the front end and had it aligned as for the rear it a actually rubs more often after the alignment.

So what did you all do to get them to fit and resolve the rubbing issues as I know many of you are running that size wheel?
Click to expand...

These cobra Rs sold through thecustomwheelshop and supercoupe performance are all 36mm offset, and in my opinion are not the "ideal" offset for our cars. They are just too close to the front spindles to start with. In the rear, you can't run any tire wider than probably 255 without having rubbing issues with the fender lips. My tires are 245/45/18s which are very close to touching the fender lip when the tire has to tuck up inside the wheel opening if I go over bumps or whatever. I had the same problem as you when backing out of my driveway with the wheels turned all the way in one direction, the inside edge of the rim would touch the spindle. However I have not had this problem in a long time, they must have rubbed just enough of the metal from the spindle to gain some clearance. Mine are 18x9s and are close, I could imagine 17x9s would be even closer since the spindle is on a slight angle and being your rims are a smaller diameter it would cause the inside edge of your wheel to be closer to the spindle than an 18" diameter wheel (if you look in your wheelwell and see where the wheel touches the spindle you'll understand what I mean). When the front suspension is brand new and every bushing is replaced then there probably shouldn't be a problem with rubbing, but until you literally replace everything, it will probably always rub, so either put up with it or find different wheels.
 
keVIIIn said:
These cobra Rs sold through thecustomwheelshop and supercoupe performance are all 36mm offset, and in my opinion are not the "ideal" offset for our cars. They are just too close to the front spindles to start with. In the rear, you can't run any tire wider than probably 255 without having rubbing issues with the fender lips. My tires are 245/45/18s which are very close to touching the fender lip when the tire has to tuck up inside the wheel opening if I go over bumps or whatever. I had the same problem as you when backing out of my driveway with the wheels turned all the way in one direction, the inside edge of the rim would touch the spindle. However I have not had this problem in a long time, they must have rubbed just enough of the metal from the spindle to gain some clearance. Mine are 18x9s and are close, I could imagine 17x9s would be even closer since the spindle is on a slight angle and being your rims are a smaller diameter it would cause the inside edge of your wheel to be closer to the spindle than an 18" diameter wheel (if you look in your wheelwell and see where the wheel touches the spindle you'll understand what I mean). When the front suspension is brand new and every bushing is replaced then there probably shouldn't be a problem with rubbing, but until you literally replace everything, it will probably always rub, so either put up with it or find different wheels.
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yea everything got replaced this weekend.. I am very confident that ive almsot got the fronts beat. I will certainly have to check out the rears and see what i can do about rolling them. i get the feeling that this should be resolved in the next couple of weeks. i just wanted to get an idea of what others have done to deal with it. certainly the acceptance of the rub is one answer. another is is to grind the spindle arm. I know that seams to be a popular answer. I was under the impression tho that it wasnt needed if your suspension was correct and new. however it appears that its still needed. just not near as badly as when your parts are old and warn..

thanks for everyones input so far.
 
Trippen Out said:
yea everything got replaced this weekend.. I am very confident that ive almsot got the fronts beat. I will certainly have to check out the rears and see what i can do about rolling them. i get the feeling that this should be resolved in the next couple of weeks. i just wanted to get an idea of what others have done to deal with it. certainly the acceptance of the rub is one answer. another is is to grind the spindle arm. I know that seams to be a popular answer. I was under the impression tho that it wasnt needed if your suspension was correct and new. however it appears that its still needed. just not near as badly as when your parts are old and warn..

thanks for everyones input so far.
Click to expand...

Yeah, in an ideal situation the wheels shouldn't rub, I'm sure whoever the company was that made these wheels originally wouldn't design something that would cause clearance issues. Whatever car they "test fitted" the wheels to originally was probably fairly new at the time so it wouldn't have been an issue. But being that these cars are now at the least 15 years old, things have worn out over the years, so things don't fit perfectly or line up like they use to. Not sure what you mean by "rebuilt the front end" but since these wheels were so damn close to the spindles in the front from the start, there are several components in the front end that wear out including wheel bearings, upper and lower ball joints, sway bar end links, strut rod bushings etc. so if even one of those things isn't up to par it doens't take much to make these things rub. Also on a side note, I would not take a baseball bat to the rear 1/4 panel fender lips, the best method to keep the paint from cracking is a slow masage from a fender roller, otherwise if you take too hard of a swing against the lip the paint will probably crack being it's old and brittle. The fender roller tool itself isn't too expensive to buy, nor is it that hard to operate. I hear they can also be rented, just did a quick google serach and it shows $65 to rent..not sure how long you rent for, but eitherway, there are options.
 
front wheel bearings. the only possible thing to let the wheel move in relation to the spindle.
every car is different. sometimes the subframes aren't as even on other cars. and it gets too close to a fender somewhere.
 
Where would you rent them. And by new front end I mean upper and lower control arms tie rods inner and outer pretty much everything but the control rod and the spindle arm.

I'm not to worried about cracking paint as that's next up on the list. The bat method seams to get results roll it along the tire with a heat gun.
 
chris2523 said:
front wheel bearings. the only possible thing to let the wheel move in relation to the spindle.
every car is different. sometimes the subframes aren't as even on other cars. and it gets too close to a fender somewhere.
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yeah youre right, I thought about all of the other things in the front suspension and they shouldn't effect caster/camber effect of the wheel.
 
the wheel bearings didn't appear to be to bad. the passenger side. does wiggle ever so slightly. but hell with all the other stuff i replaced. i might as well knock them out too and maybe pretty up the spindles with some paint and stuff after i finish grinding em down.
 
keVIIIn said:
Yeah, in an ideal situation the wheels shouldn'tI would not take a baseball bat to the rear 1/4 panel fender lips, the best method to keep the paint from cracking is a slow masage from a fender roller, otherwise if you take too hard of a swing against the lip the paint will probably crack being it's old and brittle. The fender roller tool itself isn't too expensive to buy, nor is it that hard to operate. I hear they can also be rented, just did a quick google serach and it shows $65 to rent..not sure how long you rent for, but eitherway, there are options.
Click to expand...

Im sure there's a local guy that does fender rolling by you. There's a guy that does this specifically here in Miami. He charges $25.00 p/fender well. I think that's the best option. Find a local guy that charges decent & will do it right.
 
UltimateSVT said:
Im sure there's a local guy that does fender rolling by you. There's a guy that does this specifically here in Miami. He charges $25.00 p/fender well. I think that's the best option. Find a local guy that charges decent & will do it right.
Click to expand...

indeed i just found this

http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/aos/3703585931.html


i wonder if rolling the front fenders and putting in a wheel spacer would help with the reverse rubbing.?
 
Trippen Out said:
indeed i just found this

http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/aos/3703585931.html


i wonder if rolling the front fenders and putting in a wheel spacer would help with the reverse rubbing.?
Click to expand...

The front wheels really only need to be shimmed out like an 1/8" (if not less) to have plenty of clearance. Not sure on what the size incriments are for spacers..but if you could find a thin enough one there would be no need to do anything with the front fenders.
 
Trippen Out said:
indeed i just found this

http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/aos/3703585931.html


i wonder if rolling the front fenders and putting in a wheel spacer would help with the reverse rubbing.?
Click to expand...

BINGO! I knew you'd find something like that. These ppl have done hundreds of fenders. That's all they do. Make it happen.

As for the fronts? If you want to fender roll that's fine but I wouldn't put those wheels on spacers unless they are those super thin ones that just ad a 1mm space between wheel & hub.
 
that will turn your 36mm offset wheel into a 31mm offset wheel. which is not excessive. still more offset than my wheels.
 
Bummer. the guy who does the fender rolling broke his roller and is waiting for it to come back from RMA. I guess ill be on the look out for a 1-2mm spacer then.

again thanks for all the good info guys.
 
if you're gonna get back into the front end rebuild (bearings and SRB's) you could also do stabilizer bar bushings, be sure to grease the new ones before installing
 
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