Back Tire Rubs, what can I do?
 

As the title says my back passenger tire is rubbing and its starting to cut into the tire on the outer edge. My car is the LS1 in my sig and is lowered about 1.5 inches in the rear. The driver side tire does not rub at all. My car does have an adjustable panhard bar, but the rest of the rear suspension is stock.

What brand panhard bar is this anyway, It looks just like a bunch of others.
http://photos-g.ak.facebook.com/phot...976054_744.jpg


I've checked both sides the wheels seem to be at an equal spot in the wheelwells. I was considering getting LCA relocation brackets and adjustable UMI lower control arms to help with wheel hop. Will this help at all? I do not want to raise the rear much but I am reading about air bags is that an option to help a bit? It is barely rubbing but again enough to cut into the tires.

Thanks

Try adjusting the panhard bar 1/8 -1/4 longer. That should fix your problem! You have to remember when the suspension moves up/down
it does not move in a straight line, it moves in a arc like this:(

You also might want to check the sway bar bushings, front and rear. Excessive body roll may be allowing the fender lip to roll down onto the tire sidewall on hard cornering.

So that would push the tire out a bit further or inward? Both wheels are pretty much equally in the wheel wells as is.

Injuneer

I'll look into that, I was going to pull it off and repaint it sometime soon anyways. I was also going to move the LCA's and probably get new ones so I'll get new bushings too I guess. I am pretty sure its not rubbing on bumps cause even loaded up I cant get the tire to rub bouncing it.

Lengthening the panhard rod pushes the outer lip of the passenger side rear fender away from the outer sidewall of the tire. The point bluz28 was trying to make is that even though the spacing may appear equal at your static ride height, the body bolt at the passenger end of the panhard rod will move in an arc, rotating a fixed distance (length of the bar) from the bolt on the axle (drivers) end of the bar. As the bar moves above or below true horizontal, the passenger side of the body will move closer to the tire. Its only a 1/10th of an inch or so, if you do the math, but that may be enough to make it cut the sidewall of the tire.

What wheels and tires are you running? If not stock, what is the width and offset of the rear wheel, and what is the tire size and brand?

You may have to "roll" the fender lip with some wheel/tire combinations, particularly with a lowered car.

Thanks for all the info Injuneer. I don't have the specs on the wheels in front of me, they are sitting on my desk at home.. 190miles away :( They are 18x10 TT2's though and they were custom ordered by the previous owner. The tires are 295/35R-18.

I was planning on rolling the fender lip if nothing else will work but I am going to try and adjust the bar to see what I can accomplish.

In adjusting the panhard bar, I am going to turn the nut near the passenger side? (Have not messed with it so sorry for the ignorance) to push the tire out farther? Sorry I think I'm visualizing this a bit mixed up.

Did it fix the rubbing problem?

Haven't gotten to adjusting it yet, but I'll let ya know. I am at school, graduating today actually so on monday I was planning on trying this out.

Did it, after a few problems with my $#$#$##$ crafstman made in china jack. Took me forever to get the car down on jackstands because the jack has 2 settings now.. up and down violently.

Moved it out on the side that was rubbing about 1/4 of an inch. Don't know if its going to help though, I plan to roll the fenders when I get a chance though. The right side was not moved out at all by the previous owner on the passenger side.

fender
 

if you still have not fixed the tire rub and its equal on both side there is a tool made by eastwood called a fender roller you can buy or you can rent one from rollmyfender.com i believe. it mounts on the wheel hub and has an arm you adjust to gently push the lip of the fender flat why you use a heat gun to keep the paint from chipping. the tool is expensive around 250 dollars but like i said you can rent one off the net for like 50 dollars. well hope this helps and good luck.

you can try hammering the wheels wells if you cant make any progress with any other method. This would be a last resort for me though.

Still rubbing, it now rubs up higher on the tire. I still have no idea when it is rubbing though.. I have not driven hard in the past few days.. another thing to worry about I guess. I'll be rolling the fenders soon hopefully that does the trick. All these stupid little things are beginning to annoy me with the car...

If you take your car to a shop the going rate is $40-$75 per fender, so renting one for $50 sounds like the best deal! IMO

Good luck!

Gotta factor in shipping both ways though.. I've never found a local place where I can rent the tool from sadly.

I did a 17x11 AFS ZR1 rear wheel mod (315-35-17 BFG KD tires) on a 1997 Camaro SS. I do not run any wheel spacers. The bump stop is a problem with running these size wheels. I cut them out, modified them, and re-welded them closer to vehicle O_line, but, it's a tight fit next to the rear spring. I did have to make more tire clearance in the inner rear fender area on front to top side due to hard corner rub contact. I have an adjustable pan hard bar. The bar was required to adjust equal Rt/ Left side clearance. It was necessary to move the bump_stops so individual 17x11 wheels can be jacked without damage. I did not roll the fender lip since the bump stop stops wheel jounce action before tire contact. Hope this helps. B.