I have had sumitomos on my rear rims (315 35 17's) and they've rubbed some since they where put on. Not much, ive seen a lot worse, so for the most part i just let it go. They where old tires when i put them on so once in a a while when they rubbed, I didnt really care.

but my girlfriend just ordered my christmas present today, 315 35 17 Mickey Thompson Street ET's...

awesome looking tire, Im very excited to see how they look and perform.

However, Ive heard that sumitomos run narrow, and arent as wide as a 315 35 should be. I am naturally concerned about my new tires rubbing due to this. I dont want to ruin the tires, or worse off, my wheel wells and suspension.

Is there anything I can do to prevent my new, supposidly wider, tires from rubbing.

Ive heard of people beating in the fender wells with a hammer, others using spacers, and ive heard about bump stomp relocation brackets(which I cant find anywhere).

Ill beat in my wells if I HAVE to.
I do not want to use spacers, because then I could ruin my lug studs.
Id prefer a bump stop relocation kit, but cant seem to find one.




can anybody help me out?
I'd like these tires to wear out because of burnouts, not my wheel wells!

D'ya think those tires might be just a bit too wide? Rubbing on the inner fenders is a clue..... Your fender wells were designed for 275/45/17 or smaller. Wider tires won't make your car any faster, in fact, they can slow it down.

nope, its a common size for aftermarket rims and tires for these cars actually...(not sure if you knew that or not)

and they dont always rub, just when you hit a big bump with a decent load in the back (like people)

its mostly the bump stop, not so much the well...

and I know it doesnt make it faster, but it looks a billion (maybe even a trillion) times better...

those 16's look so dorky compared to these...

Your proposed tires are the same size diameter as the 16 inch "dorky" tires, except they don't fit in your wheel wells, becuz they are too wide. You might think twice about changing the bumpstops when doing "170" mph as you stated you did. Hit the bumpstops at that speed and your car will be leaving the road. This is not a good thing. There is no advantage one way or the other, except that tire wear will be brutal and your performance will be less. I suppose if you only want to look good at the local drive-in then that is reason enough. Then again, the people who really know about cars will wonder about you. If you want your car to work the way it should then that isn't the way to go. It's your car, you can ruin it any way you want.

But let me put it this way....you ask a question on how you can screw up your car and do something really unsafe, nobody, but nobody is giving you the answer that you want and I'm telling you the truth. If you don't want the answer, don't ask the question.

Tom
Was it originally rubbing on one side only or is it pretty even ?
An Adj Panhard bar may solve some of your problems cause even at stock ride height the rear ends are not centered. Relocating the Bumpstops seems like the best solution but you may be able to grind some of the mount away for extra clearence..

His rear end may not be centered if the suspension has been modified or sagged excessively. In that case, only one side might be rubbing. However, my car was always 4 wheel aligned and the rear end was "always" perfectly centered. But under severe bumping, a panhard rod does move the rear end around a bit, usually to one side, but not much--fractions of an inch. An adjustable panhard bar won't solve that problem, becuz that is what Panhard bars do. The problem is, the tires are too big for the car and the suspension and body design are the limiting factors. Try to beat up the inner fender for tire clearance, and that will ruin the seam on the body that is the main strengthening area for the forward LCA pickup. Once the inner fender is damaged, the body will crack in that area. What is needed in that case is an articulated panhard bar that is centered on the differential--it keeps the axle from moving side to side, but allows up and down movement. I don't know of anyone making one at this time.

He has explained that this only happens during big bumps and when passengers are in the car...it shouldn't happen at all, and it shows that he is doing this despite the limitations of the car and probably with a worn suspension. He has no intention of fixing what is causing the problem in the first place. The rear suspension should never bottom. Cutting down the bumpstops or limiting suspension movement is not the way to go, the bumpstops are there to provide a safe compression and a "stop" to the rear axle to keep a bottomed axle from tossing the car off the road.

This character has put out so many posts on excessive modifications to his car that I wonder about him. He asked detailed info about the X-brace and then decided to go with something else unrelated to the X-brace. Why did we bother? The X-brace is the strongest and best brace bar none. He asked about huge cams that were way too large for his engine and I advised against it, and he'll probably do it anyway. He asked about the biggest, baddest tire on the market for better traction, and even after I advised him against it (this was a separate post), the guy does it anyway. THE BIGGEST, BADDEST TIRE ON THE MARKET DOES NOT MEAN BETTER TRACTION, IT MEANS A TIRE THAT WON'T FIT WITHIN THE CAR! And, it is unsafe to operate the car like this.

If anyone advises this sort of modification then they are advising him to operate an unsafe car, unsafe to him and other people on the road, and you do so at your own risk. I don't think it can be explained any simpler.

Hey I actually agree with you Me Too but I'm trying to help him solve his problem with the least amount of cash. And when I said grind the Bumpstop I was talking about the mount not the rubber and If he relocated the bumpstops slightly inward it would allow for the removal of the original bumpstop mounts and gain him the clearance he needs.
There are literally thousands of people who have done this mod so it's not a big deal.
But like I said I agree that he needs a different wheel or one with a better offset.

maybe I ask because I dont know? That thought ever cross your mind?



I asked about cams because I have no idea about them. If you read the post, I was asking about them because I didnt know, so I asked about the milder ones I found while looking around.

X braces are subframe connectors, and the topic was about subframe connectors, and I was wondering what would be the best for my application.(I dont have a lot of cash to throw around, so why would I spend $300 or $400 on something that isn't what I want or need and when all i need is a $200 setup?)

I come here seeking information, and I know that thousands of people have done these mods with these exact tires and rims offset and everything, and was asking if anybody knew specifics. Thats fine if you dont advise it, start a campaign and see if anybody cares. I know it can be done, Ive seen it done.

I like the looks of the tires, and its not worlds slower, probably slightly-i'll agree, but not enough for me to care. It can be done, and done safely enough. Thats my goal, bud. It isnt rubbing much at all...you cant see damage on the tires themselves, and theres a one small rub in the well. It isnt a huge severe life threatening problem. It rarely happens-but I dont want it to happen at all.

consider me a noob or an idiot or a moron, whatever you want. That's fine, I probably am in some people's eyes, but whatever. I come and ask opinions and information, and make my decisions based upon those along with my own personal preferances. I'd rather be a nice person who is learning than a jerk who knows it all.

If everyone knew as much as you, there wouldnt be forums. If there where, there'd just be a bunch of people talking about how much they know and how stupid everyone else is, but hey, that might appeal to some...

thank you for your input on trying to help solve the problem, however, please keep non relevant opinions to yourself from now on-especially when it has nothing to do with the topic.

Tom, I know several people who run 315s on their cars and they had the same issue you're having - the tires rubbing on the inside of the wheel well. To solve the problem, you either need to get tires that aren't as wide or you can roll the lip edge of the wheel well, put a spacer on and use longer studs to move the rim out a bit to give yourself a bit of extra clearance (the last part is a lot of work though and if not done correctly it can be dangerous).

Myself, I'd send the wheels back that you have and exchange them for a set that isn't quite as wide so that you don't have any fitment issues.


Me Too - consider this a written/verbal warning about the post that you done of the 24th of December. If you have any issues with MasterTomos and the questions he asks please either take it to email or to PMs and discuss those issues with him there.

Me Too - I remember when i first got my car, i had no idea about any of these things. Just because he asks a bunch of questions and then doesn't buy a certain part or go a certain direction doesn't mean we all wasted our time. He got the knowledge that we passed on, and that's the best way to learn about these cars. He can take that information and do whatever he wants to his car with it the way HE wants. I asked a lot of "noob" questions too, but that's the only way to learn. Tomos is cool, cut him a break.

At least we don't crucify our noobies like they do at LS1Tech.

haha that is true. At tech, they would rip him apart. One of the reasons i dont ask questions over there...

eee! even Sassy came out! Well SassySue I'm sorry to have started some kind of cussing trend too. I've noticed that ever since you edited me in that post about the dude getting his bird all tagged, there has been a significant amount of cussing in other threads more than usual. Looks like maybe members are just typing ######## for kicks, but I don't think so. Guys please no more cussing. MasterTomos what did you do with the tires afterall? I suppose he is trying to understand. I remember when he kinda got upset when I told him that weld on SFCs are better than bolt on? But you are kinda of a hypocrite dude. Check it, you wanted to do bang in your wheel wells thats damaging your bird, but you said you would go with bolt on SFCs because of resale value?
check out this vid around 9:00 or so, are the sparks because of drag radials or someting, look awesome. Will your drag radials do that too?
I'm gonna go sign up at LS1tech and see whats up over there...peace

tires came in but I havent picked them up yet. I havent had time just having got back from florida and starting another semester of college and moving back in ect. ect.

However, I have decided I am going to get an adjustable panhard rod from BMR as well as roll my fenders-my buddy and I may rent a feder roller from WS6 store as well. I am going to take a look at moving the bump stop and shaving it a tad or beating in the fender where it rubs when i does-depending upon how and if the problem persists.


And thank you to those who dont ripping me apart like a larger forum would, thats why I stick around here rather than bigger forums.

xXGhosTBirDXx, It's ok. It's just we try to keep the cussing/swearing to a minimum (if any at all) due to the fact that we are a family friendly site and members like the fact that they are able to have their young children view the site without having to worry about what they might read or see. As for the posts where you see ####### in, the ###### represents words that have been banned from use on TFS. Those words are replaced with the ######. However whenever myself or another moderator sees ###### in a post we will try to go in and replace the banned word with another that is more appropriate that doesn't change the nature of the original post.

As for Tom going with bolt-on SFCs instead of the weld-in ones, I do understand where he is coming from (or thinking about concerning the future). I'm not sure by where either you or him live, but here by me, if you have a car that has welded-in SFCs and you take the car to a dealer and try to use it for a trade-in, the dealers here will refuse the car. This is because here the dealers consider welded-in SFCs a modification to the structure of the car and they deem any type of structural modification as 'unsafe" and therefore the car is considered "unsafe". This is why several people I know who own F-bodies have bolt-in SFCs rather then the weld-in ones so in the future if they wish to use their car as a trade-in they can.

Also xXGhosTBirDXx, I wanted to view the video that you posted but the link for it seems to be missing.

Who in their right mind would want to sell their bird? Not me, I buy to keep but oh well.
here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwY-H-WHcuY
I gotta say again it looks really cool. This is here local in the sun city.

oh okay it's because of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBUOC5ihhJw