[Shotimes] Rubbing Rear Tires....was: Re: tire question (Paul Nimz)

[George Fourchy]

On Thu, 10 Apr 2003 03:15:03 +0000, bobsteig@att.net wrote:

>Do any of you guys have a problem with the rear tires scraping under load? 
>I have 225/55-16's mounted on 7" rims, and with any more of a load than 1 
>passenger, I get this mad scraping noise from the back. The fender wells have 
>been trimmed, new springs and struts installed by a Ford stealer 13,000 miles 
>(3 years)ago. I kinda think they put the wrong springs in, but I'm not sure. 
>I need to get new tires, so I was looking at the Continental "Extreme Contact" 
>or the "Sport Contact" in a 215/55 or 50 size, hoping that it would alleviate 
>the noise factor. The only other thing is maybe spring spacers, but I can't 
>find them at the usual sources. Waddya think? 

Ayep!!  You might not be scraping the fenders, it could be the upper inner corners
of the SHO cladding, where they wrap around the fender lips, that are biting into
the shoulders of the tires, where the tread wraps around.  I had that problem with
the Lowrider going to and coming home from the convention in Frederick.  The car was
overloaded, even with the Cargo Coils.  It was carrying about 700 pounds of stuff
just in the trunk, plus the tub in the driver's seat.  All the suitcases were in the
back seat, because all the tools and jack and stands and other car crap were in the
trunk.  

If you already have good springs there, you can raise the car up a fraction of an
inch farther by loosening and removing the pinch bolt at each rear knuckle, sliding
the strut up enough to get to the guide flange that the bolt goes through, cut it
off so that the bolt will go through with the strut up the fraction you want, then
tighten it up again.  The strut doesn't hold the knuckle's alignment, it's the
suspension arms that do, so you lose nothing by cutting that guide flange.  I'm
going to do it when Lowrider comes back from the body shop, and the other cars will
be getting that treatment too.  The small fraction (1/4 to 1/3) of an inch will make
the difference whether the cladding hits the tires or not, yet won't affect handling
like raising it 6 inches would.  It might add to oversteer just a bit, but you could
readjust that with tire pressure if it were necessary.

George