Rear tires rubbing over bumps!

[Mr240dude]

Hey what's up again. I will keep this short and sweet. I've purchased some ebay lowering springs (yes I know what was I thinking?) about 6 months ago. The drop is 1.75" front and back. There is still space between the wheel and fender. Whenever I hit a bump my rear tires rub bad, they are actually shredding. Is this due to the struts being blown from the drop or is the springs utter crap and need to be changed to a better brand? They are constructed from the same materials as competitor brands (cold wounded steel). Should I just replace my rear struts and see if that remedies the situation? I need to get this done asap.

Any feedback appreciated.

[elwesso]

What is your wheel and tire setup? Where are they rubbing? If you said there's space between the wheel and the fender then are they hitting the strut on the inside?

[Mr240dude]

I have 15 inch xxr rims. Tire size is 205/15. The tires are rubbing on the side walls. I believe its hitting the fender. Do you think its the springs?

[simmode1]

Sure sounds like blown struts to me. Sounds like you're on a budget, so go find somebody selling some decent used coilovers & roll your fenders. In the meanwhile, stop cornering so hard & slow down over bumps or dodge them.

[Mr240dude]

Yeah I was thinking the same. Believe me im careful over bumps but it's pretty unavoidable rubbing in the rear until I fix the issue.

[confused9]

If you stretch your tires that helps also. Like 195

[CJH]

You just need to roll your fenders

[elwesso]

You just need to roll your fenders

Agreed with that.

[Mr240dude]

What's a good way to accomplish that? Wouldn't it look like a 4x4?

[elwesso]

All you're doing is rolling the inner lip of the fender, you won't be able to tell from the outside. You can rent fender rollers to do this yourself, it's not too complicated.

[simmode1]

Go find some place to locally rent an Eastwood fender roller... There's other DIY ways, but they can get pretty ghetto...

[mechanicalmoron]

Poor car. Worse than neglect, it's active destruction.

[CJH]

Youtube it. That's how I learned, by watching some Japanese dude do it to a pink S14. There are many videos for it though. In simplest form, all you need is a hammer. Take the wheels off, pull out any plastic liner you have. Then take the hammer and tap the little metal lip up and out of the way. If you need to roll out the fender at all, then you need either a fender roller, or a baseball bat. It depends if you want to do it nicely, or ghetto-fabulous.

[Mr240dude]

Poor car. Worse than neglect, it's active destruction.

Lol neglect? It's probably the most taken cared of 240 in New York.

[Mr240dude]

Youtube it. That's how I learned, by watching some Japanese dude do it to a pink S14. There are many videos for it though. In simplest form, all you need is a hammer. Take the wheels off, pull out any plastic liner you have. Then take the hammer and tap the little metal lip up and out of the way. If you need to roll out the fender at all, then you need either a fender roller, or a baseball bat. It depends if you want to do it nicely, or ghetto-fabulous.

So you're saying thee new struts I ordered won't help with the bounce? Also is it safe to say it's probably not the springs but perhaps the added drop has blown my rear struts? I will roll the fenders anyway can't hurt.

[elwesso]

Changing the struts will help the rear not be so bouncy, but it's not really fixing the problem with the tires rubbing on the fenders. Definitely change them out, it will make the car feel a lot better. Will be convenient to do that and the fender rolling at the same time.

[mechanicalmoron]

Poor car. Worse than neglect, it's active destruction.

Lol neglect? It's probably the most taken cared of 240 in New York.

Yeah, with it's knock-off wheels, rubbing on stuff because of the blown struts, stuck into ebay lowering springs....

With that setup, I have no clue how you're even able to make it rub. They must be.... pretty blown. You could just be feeling how horrible and unpredictable blown struts make the back of an s13, like the rear shuddering and bucking or rocking wildly.

[Mr240dude]

I didn't know XXR's were knock off *sarcasm* Secondly since when does wheel brand decide the care a car receives? I rather have those wheels with a clean KA under the hood compared to the guy next to me with $2,000 wheels and a crappy maintenance history. Of course suspension and all that comes too but without a running car it's all pointless. That's why I'm here on this forum to address the issue so where is the neglect you speak of? Perhaps purchasing those ebay springs wasn't the best idea but if push comes to shove I will replace those as well.

[confused9]

I'd rather get someone else who has the experience to do it. You wouldn't want each fender to be rolled differently.

[pepesilvia]

a buddy of mine had an eastwood fender roller so i let him roll my fenders for me in a cold garage.... HUGE mistake, now its a bondo and rusty mess ... please get a professional.... ill take some pictures of the result if you'llike

[mechanicalmoron]

I didn't know XXR's were knock off *sarcasm* Secondly since when does wheel brand decide the care a car receives? I rather have those wheels with a clean KA under the hood compared to the guy next to me with $2,000 wheels and a crappy maintenance history. Of course suspension and all that comes too but without a running car it's all pointless. That's why I'm here on this forum to address the issue so where is the neglect you speak of? Perhaps purchasing those ebay springs wasn't the best idea but if push comes to shove I will replace those as well.

Are you entirely sure that they're rubbing? like, you say shredded, so have you found the shredded part of the tire? Perhaps the tire is deforming on bumps, and shredding against the spring, due to offset? (in which case, you should obviously space the wheels)

Because you replaced your wheels with stock sized wheels, if you had bought a knockoff brand to get something different, I would understand more - but, It shouldn't matter how wide they are, as long as they're not hitting the springs, they should NOT be hitting the fender with that drop and diameter, I don't think. Stock 240s are reallllly high off the wheels.

But don't listen to me, simmode knows his wheels to a disturbing degree, from what I've seen.

[Mr240dude]

a buddy of mine had an eastwood fender roller so i let him roll my fenders for me in a cold garage.... HUGE mistake, now its a bondo and rusty mess ... please get a professional.... ill take some pictures of the result if you'llike

Sure lets see the horrific pics.

[Mr240dude]

I didn't know XXR's were knock off *sarcasm* Secondly since when does wheel brand decide the care a car receives? I rather have those wheels with a clean KA under the hood compared to the guy next to me with $2,000 wheels and a crappy maintenance history. Of course suspension and all that comes too but without a running car it's all pointless. That's why I'm here on this forum to address the issue so where is the neglect you speak of? Perhaps purchasing those ebay springs wasn't the best idea but if push comes to shove I will replace those as well.

Are you entirely sure that they're rubbing? like, you say shredded, so have you found the shredded part of the tire? Perhaps the tire is deforming on bumps, and shredding against the spring, due to offset? (in which case, you should obviously space the wheels)

Because you replaced your wheels with stock sized wheels, if you had bought a knockoff brand to get something different, I would understand more - but, It shouldn't matter how wide they are, as long as they're not hitting the springs, they should NOT be hitting the fender with that drop and diameter, I don't think. Stock 240s are reallllly high off the wheels.

But don't listen to me, simmode knows his wheels to a disturbing degree, from what I've seen.

Yes the actual tire wall is starting to look like shredded cheese. You can actually pull some strings of rubber like pollyo cheese. It's getting annoying and you can actually small the tires whenever a bump is hit. As I asked prior is it perhaps the s*** springs being too bouncy or shall I see what those new struts do?

[simmode1]

OP, It might help to get more specific about your setup. You said you have 15" XXR's. But what are the width & offsets? You said you have 205 width tires, but what aspect ratio are they?

I'm gonna guess... There are probably 15x8+0 XXR 002's wrapped in 205/50/15 tires? If I'm right, without coilovers or the ability to adjust your camber, the wheels/tires are probably sticking out from the fenders the all mexi-flush. So when your springs compress under hard cornering & riding over bumps, the car is coming down too low & the fenders are coming into contact with the tires.

The reason why your car is dipping so low in those situations is likely because your bound/rebound tendencies are messed up, from likely blown struts. Really stiff springs can accelerate the wear & tear of old struts/shocks & make them blow faster.

There's a few ways you can solve this:
- Get another set of wheels with a higher offset.
- Stretch a skinnier tire onto the wheel so the curvature of the rubber will avoid the fender.
- Roll & pull your fenders paired with stiffer suspension so the car doesn't go so low under compression.
- Get coilovers & RUCA's so you can dial in some negative camber so the tire will tuck in & avoid the fenders.

Here are some examples of other S13's fitted with low offset 15's. Take a look at their setups:
http://www.rimtuck.com/search/thumbnail ... ameterf=15

Personally, I'd say be extremely careful when driving and just suffer through to blown struts & crappy springs until you've saved enough money for a used set of coilovers & RUCA's, then roll your fenders. Stop by the used tire shop and pick up some cheap 15's if you have to.

[CJH]

You guys are making this harder then it seems. Simmode1 hits the nail on the head.

Before you modify any car, you should make sure your maintenance is up to date. Anything that is bad should be fixed first. If you have blown struts, replace them or upgrade.
Because you don't have coilovers, you're not slammed. So you don't need to pull your fenders. As i mentioned before, there are many, many videos on youtube you can watch and do it yourself. You need to learn. Thats just part of working on cars.

I assume pepesilvia had his done without a heat gun. If you heat the fender before you roll it, it helps save the paint. If you already have bondo on the fender, rolling it will wreck it. Bondy doesn't roll.

As I mentioned, if your maintenance is up to date, you probably just need to use a hammer and pound up the flat metal edge of your fender. This will help prevent rubbing. If your wheels stick outside, then you need to pull them. My car is an example.

How far my wheels stick out


Stock fender no roll


Huge pull and roll


Final wheel fitment


You don't need anything that crazy, but look at the videos I've mentioned and get it done. More talk on the subject won't help you. It's time for action.

[mechanicalmoron]

^^^well apparently fenders without bondo don't always roll so well, either... good god man, it looked better with fat wheels, than wrecked quarter panels. Gangster wheels, ruined body.

OP, he's right, no more talk. Save 500 bucks, get over to the NICO classifieds, buy a set of non-blown coilovers, and chances are that at the same height you have now, it will be stiff enough to not rub. If that's not the case, you can set the height anywhere you want, until you figure exactly what you're going to do about the rubbing. And then, you can go lower (if you want) when you actually do solve the rubbing.

[krash]

mechanicalmoron you are such a prick sometimes it makes me want to just ban you. Of course we dont just ban people for being pricks. But you sir, act like the king prick of pricktown sometimes.

OP, you're question has pretty much been answered. Your best bet right now is to throw the stock wheels back on until you have money for used coils. $500-$600 should get you a decent set. I just picked up some used Teins in good shape for $500, so the deals are definitely out there. You'll need coils and RUCAs like Simmode said, so you can dial in some negative camber. This is probably more than you wanted to do when you got those wheels, but hey thats what happens. Alternatively, you can get some wheels with a lower offset. This way you also wont need to run a skinnier tire. With 15x8 you might want to be in the high teens or low 20s with offset (simmode?)

[Mr240dude]

Thanks guys I guess ordering those rear struts was a mistake. Well I will see how it plays when they're installed. I know this is noobish, but what exactly is RUCAS? Speaking of coils, is godspeed garbage? Their coils run for 600 new.

[Mr240dude]

OP, It might help to get more specific about your setup. You said you have 15" XXR's. But what are the width & offsets? You said you have 205 width tires, but what aspect ratio are they?

I'm gonna guess... There are probably 15x8+0 XXR 002's wrapped in 205/50/15 tires? If I'm right, without coilovers or the ability to adjust your camber, the wheels/tires are probably sticking out from the fenders the all mexi-flush. So when your springs compress under hard cornering & riding over bumps, the car is coming down too low & the fenders are coming into contact with the tires.

The reason why your car is dipping so low in those situations is likely because your bound/rebound tendencies are messed up, from likely blown struts. Really stiff springs can accelerate the wear & tear of old struts/shocks & make them blow faster.

There's a few ways you can solve this:
- Get another set of wheels with a higher offset.
- Stretch a skinnier tire onto the wheel so the curvature of the rubber will avoid the fender.
- Roll & pull your fenders paired with stiffer suspension so the car doesn't go so low under compression.
- Get coilovers & RUCA's so you can dial in some negative camber so the tire will tuck in & avoid the fenders.



Here are some examples of other S13's fitted with low offset 15's. Take a look at their setups:
http://www.rimtuck.com/search/thumbnail ... ameterf=15

Personally, I'd say be extremely careful when driving and just suffer through to blown struts & crappy springs until you've saved enough money for a used set of coilovers & RUCA's, then roll your fenders. Stop by the used tire shop and pick up some cheap 15's if you have to.

Thanks this was very helpful. Those s13's are slammed oh so nicely

[krash]

Dont buy garbagespeed coils. You can get some good used coils for $600. RUCA is Rear Upper Control Arm. If you get an adjustable one, you can control your camber.