[Guest]

My wheels are rubbing at the rear of the car.....it appears to be rubbing on the outside of the wheel near the inner arch and the rear bumper....any ideas...ive got 17's . I put stiffer Eibach springs on and it still didn't help.....I wanna try to avoid changing the bodywork in anyway......So i'm calling on the alfaowners pool of knowledge!!!!!

 

[Ralf S.]

There's only three opitons I can think of at the moment:

1) Fit bump stops to the shocks, to effectively limit the amount of travel they have (so the suspension will bottom out earlier than normal but you won't have tyre-body contact)

2)Have a few mill' machined off the hub-plate of the wheel, to increase the offset (basically bring the wheel into the wheel arch more) though you'll then have to be careful you don't move it across so much that it touches the inner wheel arch/suspension on the other side.

3) Look at the tyre sizes. A narrower tyre with a different aspect ratio (say 205/45 rather than a 215/40) may give you more clearance.

Ralf S.

 

[Guest]

Cheers Ralf...i've got 205/40 on there now.....i like the bumpstop idea...any ideas who I could contact?

 

[Steve Webb]

Originally posted by ED145:[QB]Cheers Ralf...i've got 205/40 on there now.....i like the bumpstop idea...any ideas who I could contact?[/QB]

Personally I'd look at rolling the rear arches out a little bit to improve clearance or maybe remove the wheel arch liner, it you artificially stop the suspention movement with a bumpstop, then you could upset the handling of the car, especially if you hit a bump midcorner.
Are you sure that the wheels that you have on there have got the correct offset?

 

[Guest]

the offset is around 2 mm difference and the change really wouldnt affect the rubbing.....I like the inner arch idea...do you know how i'd go about doing this?...will it affect the wheel in any way?...can't i just cut some of it away rather than removing the whole lot?

Cheers

 

[Steve Webb]

You could just cut out the bit that is rubbing, but if you took the whole lot out, you could put it back in when you sell the car. It is only really there to protect the metal wheel arch from stone chipping and rust. If you do remove a part, or all of it, just make sure you keep the wheel arch clean and check it to make sure you don't get any rust spots.

What size were the original tyres on the car? You say you've got 205/40 R17's at the moment?

 

[Guest]

well i had 16's with 205/45/16 and had no trouble at all.

 

[Steve Webb]

17's with 205/40's will be ever so slightly bigger in diameter than the 16's with 205/45's but we are talking 5mm so I wouldn't have thought they would have made that big a difference.
If I were you I'd take a look at the liner, and see if you can remove the portion that the tyre is rubbing against without affecting any of its fastening points. You also might want to 'gently' persuade the seam where the rear wing meets the inner wheel arch so it lies abit flatter and leaves more room for the tyre. (Be very careful if you try that)

 

[Guest]

cheers steve....i'll try that this weekend

.....driving carfully.....Ed

 

[Henry Yorke]

Different tyres have different physical widths despite what the size says. Some have rim protector edges that widen the tyre, but not the "footprint" of the tyre if you get what I mean.

 

[alfaowner]

We come across many 145 owners with 17 inches, id say the majority have had the rear arches rolled. The car looks much better too.

good luck

Bump stop is a nasty idea, dont fancy that too much... Sorry Ralf

 

[Guest]

Hqad the arches done at clovertech!!!...job well done i'd say......outstanding!

 

[HWExtreme]

How much did they charge to roll the arches, as one of mine still rubs.
I have already filed and couple of mm off of it, but when i have some peeps in the back is rubs

too the point i will needs a new tyre to pass my next MOT.

What offset are you wheels, mine are ET35

 

[Guest]

HW.....My offset is ET40 2 mm diffrent from standard and my wheels are 7.5 wide....haven't tried it fully loaded yet but I know I will probably need stiffer shox at the back to help coz it will no doubt rub under load........saying that though I have no problems with the speedbumps near where I live. And they used to give me no end of grief!!!!.......Lloyd only charged me £70 and it too about an hour......all sealed and ready to go!....with no painting necessary!