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

[UltimateSVT]

Ding Ding Ding.....

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

Dude, you are absolutely right, they are 17x9's I measured at night & found it odd to be that wide but the fact that it rubbed convinced me it may be wider than usual. Those control arms bushings are definitely the problem. The driver side is the one making the noise, the driver side has only done it 2 times while the driver side has done it countless times since I installed the rims.
My question is, once I fix this issue, do you guys think the rims will stop rubbing or is there other work for me to do? After changing the bushings, do you guys still recommend doing some minor grinding just to be safe? Anyone have 17x9's with a similar issue? Thanks everyone!!!

 

[02LS8Lincoln]

Alex the Cobra Rs that I used to have on my Cougar were 17x9's and there was no rubbing what so ever. The control arms from the MN-12 shassis are the same as ours.

 

[UltimateSVT]

Alex the Cobra Rs that I used to have on my Cougar were 17x9's and there was no rubbing what so ever. The control arms from the MN-12 shassis are the same as ours.

Dude, if you recall, both you & I had the same Cobra R's in both our MN-12's. I know they are practically identical to these cars & that's why I was scratching my head. Well, I got work to do this weekend! I have a feeling my wallet is going to hurt big time until after Christmas!

 

[UltimateSVT]

Alex the Cobra Rs that I used to have on my Cougar were 17x9's and there was no rubbing what so ever. The control arms from the MN-12 shassis are the same as ours.

Dude, if you recall, both you & I had the same Cobra R's in both our MN-12's. I know they are practically identical to these cars & that's why I was scratching my head. Well, I got work to do this weekend! I have a feeling my wallet is going to hurt big time until after Christmas!

 

[baggedtaco]

Dude, you are absolutely right, they are 17x9's I measured at night & found it odd to be that wide but the fact that it rubbed convinced me it may be wider than usual. Those control arms bushings are definitely the problem. The driver side is the one making the noise, the driver side has only done it 2 times while the driver side has done it countless times since I installed the rims.
My question is, once I fix this issue, do you guys think the rims will stop rubbing or is there other work for me to do? After changing the bushings, do you guys still recommend doing some minor grinding just to be safe? Anyone have 17x9's with a similar issue? Thanks everyone!!!

I would have to say that NO they wont rub after you replace the parts mentioned. Since it only happens when you turn in reverse, etc...This is happening when the bushing fails, when it comes back into place they dont rub. So once you get fresh parts in there Im gonna say the rub issue will be gone.

IMO this case is closed until you replace those parts. =) GL

Brad

 

[lsc8]

yea, i have 18x9's and have never had an issue.

 

[UltimateSVT]

IMO this case is closed until you replace those parts. =) GL

Brad

I agree, this afternoon I will be placing the car on a couple jack stands so I can start taking the wheels off. Even if I don't finish it tonight, I'm already working on it + it will force me not to drive it. I have to admit thats hard enough as it is & YES, I drove it to work again today.:slam I can't help it. I love driving this car.

 

[Kevin]

After fixing your bushings, and if they still rub - downsize your tires to 255/(50/45?)/17's. That would be about the same price as purchasing wheel adapters to make these big tires work.

I run 255/50/17 on my Cougar, but had to do minor grinding to get the tire to stop rubbing - the rim fit just fine. So I do advocate MINOR grinding, as in 1/16" max. We're talking a skiff of metal, not chopping 1/2 the control arm to make a tire+rim combo fit.

A 275/.... up front is just nuts.

 

[UltimateSVT]

After fixing your bushings, and if they still rub - downsize your tires to 255/(50/45?)/17's.
A 275/.... up front is just nuts.

Food for thought! Thanks Kevin.

 

[luxuryrules]

*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.

LOL.

True story, we had an customer that kept burning out grinders on us, and they were getting seriously pissed (so were my techs that kept having to fix them). After getting a few grinders back for the third and fourth times and some very heated phone calls, I went out there to see what was going on. Turns out, the guys were running these grinders from 3 or 4 extension cords end to end all the way at the other end of the yard. From *one* outlet they had anywhere from four to six gridners plugged into it. We put a stop to that real quick by having the guys actually move the things they were working on closer to the outlets and their grinders magically stopped burning out.

</hijack>

 

[UltimateSVT]

Done! I went the cheap way but it worked perfect. I grinded it down just a tad and I truly mean tad! I'd say about 6 hair strands put together, lol... I've driven in cirlces over & over again & it works perfectly fine. NO MORE RUBBING! YEAH BABY!!!