[lorans65]

Just noticed my left front wheel and tire somehow made contact with my left front fender. Snaged the middle of wheel opening and pulled down the lip area of the fender about 2 inches. Is this an alignment problem or A-arm bushing problem? The wheels are 7x15 US Mags with BF Goodrich tires (225x60x15), passenger side has no interference problem what so ever. I am at a lost to what is causing this interference problem on the driver side. Any one have a suggestion where I start to look for a solution to this problem? Thank you in advance for your suggestions and time!

[TheSilverBuick]

My '77 Skylark and '69 Firebird is exactly the same way on the driver's side. I run 215 or 205's on the front's for this reason. The frame and fender alignment holes next to the body mount bushings are lined right up, just seems to be how they built the cars. I've installed all new bushings, A-arm, body, etc bushings, on the Skylark and didn't change it. The Firebird's bushings look "okay" but I haven't personally changed them.

[goa484]

Is the car lowered at all? Also, a pic might help too. Check the left and right rocker heights too to see if the car leans to the driver side. If its an alignment problem, the easiest to see will be camber if you jack the front of the car up. If its way positive, the top of the tire will point out, which could be why it's hitting.

[Chris65LeMans]

What's the year and model of your car? Impossible to answer without that info.

[lorans65]

Car in question is a 1965 GTO. I would post photos, but I don't know where to start or begin!

[b-man]

I'll put my money on the wheels not having enough backspacing.

You really need at least 4.25" and better yet 4.5" of backspacing on a 15X7" wheel in order to have enough clearance for any decent-sized tire.

I'm thinking the wheels you have now only have 3.75" of backspacing.

The reason only one side is giving you problems is the fact that the bodies on these cars typically sit 1/2" to one side of the frame or even a bit more, due to factory manufacturing tolerances.

While I was replacing all of the body mounts on my '64 GTO I was able to shift the body much closer to center over the frame, by prying between the rockers and frame using a large pry bar while all of the body mount bolts were still loose.

[Chris65LeMans]

Originally Posted by b-man

I'll put my money on the wheels not having enough backspacing.

You really need at least 4.25" and better yet 4.5" of backspacing on a 15X7" wheel in order to have enough clearance for any decent-sized tire.

.

Yep - since you verified that you're driving a '65 GTO, I'd bet this is your problem, too.

When I bought my car, it had rally IIs with these Pirelli 215/70s on it. (The worst tires ever made.) Those rubbed the front of the fenders. My replacement rims have similar backspacing and 205/60 tires. Don't have that problem anymore.

[lorans65]

B-Man you are correct on backspacing of 3.750. They are US Mags (U104) with and offset of -6.00mm. I also have disc brakes on front and read on the forum this makes for a 1/2 inch wider tracking. Would adding new body mounts help with the interference problem? Would changing front tires to 205x60x15 also help? Thanks for your help!

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by lorans65

B-Man you are correct on backspacing of 3.750. They are US Mags (U104) with and offset of -6.00mm. I also have disc brakes on front and read on the forum this makes for a 1/2 inch wider tracking. Would adding new body mounts help with the interference problem? Would changing front tires to 205x60x15 also help? Thanks for your help!

I'd go for different rims with the proper BS.

Your 225/60/15's (25.6") are already shorter than I like for our cars - the original tires were close to 27" tall. I run 235/60/15's (26.1") with Wilwood disc brakes on 15x7's with 4.25" BS. The disc brakes added .25" per side.

My car is lowered and still manages to run the wider and taller tires with sufficient room to clear the fender. The extra .5" BS allows me the clearance room.





Going to a 205/60/15 will probably stop the rub, but they are only 24.7" tall. So besides being a skinnier tire, they are also much shorter. Maybe a 205/70/15 would be a better option (26.3") with the narrower tread area if you want to keep running your current wheels.

[64catalina]

I agree with all that's been mentioned. I had a rub on my 64 Cat drivers side I put wheel spacers behind my rally II's. It worked for me and cheap.

Sorry, I needed the spacers for bearing cap clearance but my little rub was gone after that. lucky I guess...

My question would be when did you notice the problem? all of a sudden? after new wheels/tires ? etc.

If someone covered this I apologize

[Chris65LeMans]

We should rewind a bit to diagnose your problem. When is it rubbing? If it rubs the driver's side fender when you make a right turn, then you don't have enough back spacing (which means too much "front spacing."). If this is true, wheel spacers will make the problem worse.

If it rubs when you turn left (inside tire edge), then you have TOO MUCH back spacing. Wheel spacers could fix this. Unlikely to be the problem, given what you've shared, but I like to do easy and free diagnostics before I start buying new stuff.

Find out what's wrong first.

[b-man]

I'd replace the wheels in a heartbeat.

You're going to have nothing but headaches trying to get around the fact that they're dimensionally all wrong for your car.