Last night I put two new rims and tires on the back of my car and they rub against the brake calipers. They are Weld prostars 96 series. I put the same rims on the front and had no rubbing problems. I wasnt' sure I had the ILE brake package but now I guess I must. Apparently the brakes are bigger in the back.

My two options are either to sell all 4 rims and buy Prostar XPs and lose money. Also the XPs are more expensive and a little heavier

or, grind down the calipers on the back and use these. I have heard that people have done this. Is it hard to do? Any drawbacks on brake function. I would be grinding the vane looking structures, which I assum are for better heat dissipation.

Crap, these tires and rims look badass though.

 

Would a 1/8" or 1/4" spacer be enough to prevent them from rubbing? I'd rather do that then to grind the caliper.

RBob.

 

I would think at most a 1/4" spacer would do it. What about the stud length though, also where would you get a spacer? have it made?

 

Spacers are available from several sources. IIRC GM used a 1/4" aluminum spacer on the rear of 3rd-gens equip't with iron drums and certain wheels. MrGasket makes aluminum spacers, Coleman Racing has steel spacers (called wear plates). I'm sure others make them.

As for the studs, need to fit up a wheel and a spacer and measure the thread engagement. May or may not need longer studs.

RBob.

 

I just spoke to Jegs, who recommended these wheels with a 4 1/2" rear spacing. I could use a 3 1/2" rear spacing, which would be more than enough, but the tires would stick out another inch would look weird, plus Ive already mounted the tires and even though I didn't drive the car, there is a small scrape mark on the inside of each rim where I moved the car about 1" and determined they were definitely rubbing. So, I could force the issue and try and make them exchange them it I really wanted to.

Another option is a spacer. The thinnest they have is 7/32" which I believe would be enough.

Also maybe grinding the calipers

 

Don't grind anything.

I would save hacking on the calipers as the last resort. Somewhere behind getting spacers, returning the wheels, selling these and buying others, etc. Even if you have to change the studs (which you probably won't), that's still only about a 5-minute job that'll cost about $10-15.

Grinding on things is irreversible. The other things can at least be undone. You can even put original studs back in someday. You can't put the metal back after you sodomize your calipers.

 

Do your rear calipers have the stiffening ribs that run all the way across the caliper? If so, swap them for a set of LT1 rear calipers that don't have the ribs...that'll do it. I agree with RB..don't grind anything. Here's the 2 styles of calipers I described. 1LE style, ribs all the way across:

 

LT1 style, no ribs: