Well, things sure do suck when it comes to me and wheels.

Today I put on one of my genuine GM Z06 wheels/tires on the rear driver side to see how it fits, and they does not clear the 9:30-10:00 area on the driver side inner wheel well. I believe this would be the case regardless of drop springs or not. For the record, I mention these are genuine GM Z06 wheels because I belive replicas have a different offset and do not have this problem on our cars.

Then I put on a 1/8" spacer that I had laying around and tried again just to see what would happen.

It is VERY VERY snug, I can't even get my little finger in between the tire and the inner wheel well, and there may even be a tighter spot that I cannot see or reach.

So, I think my only resort is to hammer clearance the inner fenderwell where it is tight. I am not sure if I want to resort to that, but I don't like the idea of using wheel spacers.

So, it is either sell these wheels/tires or buy a nice hammer and start making some room.

I am sure there are others who have done this for the exact same situation and area on the car. My questions are...

Is it okay to pound in this area of the undercarriage? Does it compromise the structure of the car?

How much safe clearance should there be between a wheel/tire and an inner fenderwell?

What kind of hammer do I use?

Will I have to re-spray the wheel wells with undercoating?

After I do this, does it look okay or does it look like someone "pounded on the car with a hammer"? I know it is hard to see with the wheel/tire on, but I still want to know.

Any helpful hints?

Thanks!

 

On my friends stang we just cut out the parts of the wheel well with a cut wheel and we stuck some 335's on a 10.5 inch wide wheel under there. Spray it with primer and some rust inhibitive paint that's all we did anyways

 

Ahh...no...I think I will pass on cutting parts of my car off. Thanks!

 

I pounded mine in as well. I just used a big hammer... like a hand held sledge hammer and went to town

The coating did "flake" away in this area from where I was hitting it with the hammer. They sell the undercoating stuff in a can and you can respray this area if you'd like.

 

How did it look after it was all done? Did it look like it was "hammered" or did it look pretty smooth and unnoticeable?

I don't want to do this and have it all banged up looking regardless if it can be seen with the wheel on or not. A good friend will help me if I decide to do this. He said we would use a deadblow hammer. The spot that I have to hammer seems highly reinforced, so I may decide not to do this.

I hate this crap. Not even 2,00 miles on my car and already I am looking to bang it up.

 

It'll all be worth it Jay, after you get those sweeties on there.
I wouldn't worry to much about being able to see any difference, you'll be the only one who will ever notice, and barely at that.......
Happy pounding.

 

THAT'S the PROBLEM!! I am weird like that! :blah: :blah:

 

This may seem odd, but what about getting the right rims for your application so you won't have to massage any body panels?

Since you didn't mention so, are you running bigger than 315mm?

 

How accurate are you with a hammer is basically what it boils down to. You can pound in the spot until you have the clearance and then flatten the area around it to blend it a little so the difference isn't drastic. If you blend it nicely and spray it with the undercoating you'll never notice. It's like any other fabricated mod, just take your time and be patient, it'll come out alright.

What size rims are you putting on? Are you using the factory 18"/17" combo or all 18's or all 17's? I just put the 17" Z06 rims on my car and love it. It didn't take any modifications, but mine are only 17x9.5's. If you want a wider tire, you're gonna have to go the route of slightly modifiying the wheel well from what I understand. Good luck with your decision and post pics afterwards!

 

These are GM Z06 wheels, 17 x 9 in the front, 18 x 10.5 in the rear. I have been waiting to put them on since last October.

I am also concerned with structural integrity if I do the hammering.

If the car wasn't so new, I suppose I wouldn't care as much...

 

I put Y2K 17's/18's on my 94Z and dropped it 2in.
Mine "rubbed" a bit exactly where you said (9:30-10:00) all I did was to take my time and slowly hammer that area evenly (not hard) I then resprayed some undercoating on it. Not even myself can notice it and I got NO more "rubbing" even under hard cornering. As a precaution make sure your rear seatback is in the upright and latched position (you don't want anything moving out of position). Remember to take your time and that you really don't need to hit it too hard at all. Bang aaway!!

 

Well, I used a huge hammer and whacked the crap out of mine. I tried a smaller hammer but was making zero progress. On mine the coating in the wheel well kinda flaked off where I was hitting it. With the right style hammer you whould be able to get an "even" look. If you'll be able to get an even look when after spraying the coating on is another story? I never bothered to re-spray mine so can't tell you how well the stuff works

 

The structural integrity shouldn't be affected that much at all, if any. I understand that our cars out unibodies, and that pretty much everything serves some structural function, but the inner fenders/wheel wells main purpose (as you know) is just to keep stuff from flying up into the rest of the car. They aren't really "structurally supported" as in haveing any bars etc. bracing them, or coming from them, so you can't hurt that. GM beat them as they need to to fit them to the car (indentions for the rear Bose, etc.) so I would suppose you aren't really comprimising much structural stability whatsoever - from a theoretical perspective.

A deadblow hammer would be my "tool" of choice if I were going to do it. They provide enough force to do what you want, are a very managable size, and they don't hurt your hands.

I have used the spray on undercoating before - and guess what, so does GM dealers. In fact, I was helping my buddy work on his car at their shop (local Chevy dealer's body shop) and they had like three or four cans of Keystone's undercoating laying around - that's what they use on their wrecks. So you are probably pretty safe with that - plus the Wurth that I used lasts very well, and looks just as good as stock - or better, since you take time to not let it run, etc.

With a little bit of time and patience, you could hammer it out pretty smoothly. Like Brent done - you will probably just have to flail them to get them beat out some, but once you have them where you want them, you could spend the time to beat the lines in a little better.

Good Luck- hopefully that inspired you in some area.

 

You may have a problem with your ABS as a result of using two different wheel sizes. If the overall diameter of the tires, front to back, is off by much you can cause the ABS to think that a tire is slipping. It's not guarranteed that it's going to cause problems for you, but it's something to be aware of.

 

The difference in diameter doesn't matter for the ABS computer. What the ABS computer looks at is a "change while moving" so to speak. When you start from a stop with different sized tires, the difference is constant. My buddy has 33" tall tires (tubbed) on the back of his 96SS with skinnies up front (which I believe are slightly smaller in diameter than the stockers) and he has a fully functional ABS system with no ABS lights.