i have 18" volk gt-n's i just bought the tein ha coilovers i was wondering if anyone had problems with the tires rubbing when the lowered the car? i just want to lower the car to get rid of the wheel gap. my fronts are 18x8 with 235 40 18 nitto extreme 555 and my rears are 18x9 with 265 35 18 nitto extreme 555.

 

I rubbed once, was empty tank of fuel and passenger --(two rare events in my car) rear light, front heavy.

I lowered my front with the TEIN's 3/4", and rear 1 1/4".

I'm running SSR Integrals 18x9 255/35/18 all around and push the corners pretty hard on the street without worry.

You can get a pretty good idea of what those drop's will result on your car from these pics.

http://flathat.woodstream.net/RX7/Mi...Compact_Craze/

K

 

thanks for the pics your car looks bad ***

 

I rubbed really bad in the front found out volk sold me the wrong offset for a 18x9 and I ordered a 18x8 (read my other threads for the whole story) well I'm lowered 1" all the way around, and the front fenders where pulled out and now I'm waiting for volk to ship the 18x8 hmmm they are fast to get here but when you have a probelm you get put on the backseat.

 

No problems here, 18x8.5 front and 18x9.5 rear, 45 offset all around. It is just a matter of how much you slam the car down, I adjusted mine so I can almost fit two fingers between the top of the tire and the fender lip. I think wheel offset/width would have a larger effect on rubbing problems then a lowered car would.

Matt

 

The problem with pulling the fender lip out has little to do with offset or wheel width - rather has to do with how tall the diameter of the tire you use up front or, now that I think about it, the distance between the tread of the tire and the fender lip.

Both the overall diameter of the tire and the amount of lowering both contribute to this distance.

Having the fender lip pulled out occurs under one circumstance - when you have the front wheels/tires turned and the suspension is under full/ near full load (compressed suspension).

Let me guess - you were turning into a driveway going a little too fast (so the suspension compressed), and you heard a 'braaaaaaaaaaaap'.

I believe there was a design failing when the sheetmetal designers did the fender arch and the suspension guys did the front suspension. The center axis of the wheel does not appear centered with the center axis of the fender arch.

If you look at it carefully from the side, you can tell that wheel is pushed forward towards the front of the car by a little bit, maybe 10mm. What does this mean?

Well, when you lower the car alot or use taller then stock diameter tires (or combo of both), you put the top of the tire tread closer in veritical plane to the edge of the fender arch.

Assuming your wheels/tire do not stick out like a low rider's, when driving down the street in a straight line it means little, as that when the suspension compresses the tire/wheel tucks neatly into the wheel well. (Well, maybe you might rub the top of the fender liner)

When you turn though, the tire/wheel angles out, and the fender lip edge is now in the direct path of the tire tread as it compresses.

Now normally this is not much of a problem with most cars, as that their wheels and fender arches are pretty much centered on each other.

The FD's problem is that the top of the tire tread is pushed forward compared to the fender lip arch (because the whole wheel tire is not centered with the fender arch) and is closer to the 11 o'clock position of the fender arch.

When the suspension compresses and the wheel is turned, the top of the tread comes in contact with the fender lip edge and pulls it out (remember which way the tire is rotating).

As that I have never heard of a fender lip getting pulled out and away from the car with any other car, this is how I came to this conclusion.

If you think about it, this is the only way a lip can be pulled out (I had a pic of this phenomenon and originally posted here, toward the bottom: https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...&pagenumber=2, but it's being held ransom by photopoint). Those who have had thier fender lip pulled out knows what I'm talking about.

The pic, btw, was a car that never had aftermarket wheels, so it can happen to stock wheel equipped cars, though I imagine the guy must have been going ballastic when he turned into a drive, and buried his wheel into wheel well (and fender edge).

The solution? Make sure you have overall tire diameter as close to stock as possible, do not lower the car too much, and becareful when you turn into driveways, or a combo of all.

It also helps to roll the fender lip in, but this is difficult w/o the proper fender lip rolling tool, and you still may risk damaging the paint. The lip HAS to be rolled flat against the inside. A partial roll will not cut it. I originally did it the DIY way with a baseball bat and got the fender lip angled up a bit (enough where I thought I'd be safe), but it still got caught and pulled out the next time it happened.

I then ordered a professional lip tool from tirerack (waited exactly 6 months) and have sinced rolled it completely flat. I also used the fnder lip tool to push/roll the 11 oclock edge of the fender up too, to help with clearance. I cracked the paint at the edge while doing this (no patence, did not use a heat gun enough), but repainting soon so no big deal in my case.


Fender lip tool advice - make sure you remove ALL screws along the fender edge before rolling. I forgot to remove one and now have dimple where the tool pushed it into the fender!

Hope that helps (if anybody bothered reading the whole thing hehe).