Wheel Spacers???

[cl1ckclack]

Hey guys, last week i bought a 96 GSX. the car came with 17 inch EVO ENKEI rims. needless to say, i drove the car for a week. got a flat just to find out that the back of the tires were rubbing on something. I'm just trying to figure out the best solution to fix this without buying new wheels. even though i now need 2 new tires.

are spacers an option? and if so, how do i determine what size i need???

 

[H@xtGSX]

Holy crap! I can't even think of anything that would do that sort of damage unless the bumpstops are removed and it ran into the chassis somehow. There is nothing on the suspension that could come at the tire at that angle. It'd have to be body metal somewhere.... That is insane.

 

[Daiboro]

i dont recal the dimension on my wheels but i do have spacers on my 95 tsi and it is not been a problem never, just as if they were never there, its a 1 cm spacer

 

[kmetiuk]

Seriously? Just "no" on something that is known to work when used correctly?

And to the OP: unless and until you know what was hitting the tire, raising the car makes no sense because almost everything near the tire moves up and down with the tire. Find out what was rubbing before doing anything.

JTMCinder is correct. There is nothing on the upright that will stay put if you raise the car. The only thing that could possibly rub on your tire like that is something that is attached to the upright or the upright itself.

That being said it is possible to wear your tire down from a bad alignment. I used to have a civic that was slammed to the ground that had crazy ass camber to keep the wheels tucked under the fenders. I would go through a set of tires every summer. At the end of the summer they would look EXACTLY like the pic you posted. Through the two layers of steel belts and into the nylon layer. Occasionally they would pop before the summer was over.

What makes me lean towards the misalignment is the fact that the tires themselves are worn right down as well. If they had lots of tread left and were worn through the belts I would lean towards something rubbing. It looks like a camber issue, but your pic of your car looks like the camber is fine.

As stated before....look for something shiny where it has been rubbing. If it does not exist then its a alignment issue.

Spacer wise:
Last years setup I was using 8mm spacers on the stock studs and after market nuts with ZERO issues. I drive the living piss out of my car with 20,000 miles on it in four months so I know if its done right it will last. If your wheel nuts loosend off it could be one of three things. Your torque was wrong, you didn't retorque them after 100 miles, or the nut was a stock jobbie still. The stock nuts do not have enough seating area to create enough friction to prevent them from backing out on aftermarket wheels. The stock nuts are funny.

This year I am using 12.5mm spacers on the 1/2" longer studs with the same after market nuts. Lots of hard braking and corning with no issues. Although I have only driven them about 50-100 miles so far....

 

[johnmel]

Me personally I think the spacers won't help a thing. No to the main issue first find out what's rubbing on your tires and see if you can fix it. What's your camber set at if have it. But mainly I think your running to big a tired at 45 try going done a size to 40

 

[cl1ckclack]

well... i found out that it was in fact an alignment issue. the car has 225/45/17s on her now, and will be raised an inch. i had like 3/4 of an inch of clearance on the top, and no clearance when it came to the sides, so it has to be raised in order to fix the alignment...

 

[this_tsi_8urV8]

4 new tires, raising the car, and an alignment fixed the problem?

 

[cl1ckclack]

4 new tires, raising the car, and an alignment fixed the problem?

hopefully... im in the process of getting that taken care of, as well as everything else that was wrong with the car when i bought it.

 

[AllShallPerish]

Dont raise it to stock height... That wont solve the problem, it will just make your car look like its lifted.

Can you take the tire off yourself and take a picture of the wheel well for us? You dont need a mechanic to do that.

 

[BadAss4Bangers]

Dont raise it to stock height... That wont solve the problem, it will just make your car look like its lifted.

Can you take the tire off yourself and take a picture of the wheel well for us? You dont need a mechanic to do that.

+1 I don't see why you would have to raise it to stock height. It doesn't even look all that "dropped". I run Evo 8 wheels with 235/45/17 without any rubbing issues and I am lowered about 1" or a little more all around.

however if you somehow had a really bad alignment than that could be the issue.

Please take off your tire and take some picks to see if there is anything out of the ordinary.

 

[johnmel]

Uh that's weird I have a 2' inches drop all the way around with 245/40/18 and I have no problems what so ever

 

[cl1ckclack]

The car isn't getting raised back to stock height, its only getting raised an inch to give me a little more room
And anyone who has been up in northern new England knows what our roads are like. It just isn't practical to have a slammed car