Well...I have some 17" zr1's with 275/40/17s on them and I am having some problems with rubbing. Their rubbing in the front on the inner fender and on the plastic wheel well/body kit. I still can drive the car, but I cant completely turn the wheel without it rubbing. If I have to make a slightly tight turn then it rubs and tis really annoying . Now I know I can pound in the inner fender some because its metal and that shouldnt be a problem, but what can i do about the plastic? Do i need to get a smaller tire, and if so what could I get? Any other ideas? Thanks.

Chris

 

Most of the inner fender is the plastic liner. You should be able to see where it has been rubbing. Usa a heat gun to soften that area of the plastic. Then use your hammer.

 

It will bend in and not tear or warp or anything? If so that would be great. What kind of heat gun are you talking about?

 

A heat gun like this. You know, a hair-dryer on steroids. I would borrow one for the task.

The plastic will warp and bend in where you want it, if done correctly.

 

maybe I can rent one or something. Hopefully that will work. Ill give it a try when I find some time. Thanks.

Chris

 

I was reading that you heat up the plastic and then put a peice of wood against it and let it cool.

 

Im a little confused...are you saying that you heat up the plastic then use a piece of wood to bend the plastic a bit and then let it set?

 

I had some rubbing with 275's up front, they I rebuilt the front end (steering + suspension) with C5 brakes that added .300" to my 2" adpaters. It was rubbing horribly so I was going to use the heat gun on the liner, until I got an alignment and went with a good amount of negative camber. That took care of all the rubbing.

 

I have the same size tires(Bridgestone Potenza E750 on 17x9 SLP Firehawk wheels) all around and when I make a hard turn it rubs so I will the heatgun to modify the inner fenderwell to fix the problem.

 

yep

 

92 camaro,are you lowered?i was running the same on my iroc and i was rubbing but only cuz i was lowered.are you using adapters?if so what size?i was running 2 1/4 in the front . i know alot of people run 2" but they will still rub.im running 18x9.5 fronts with my zo6's 275/35/18's they rub a lil too.also ask yourself hows your suspension.if its old n sagging them you will scrape n rub more.

 

zo6s

 

Im lowered 1" in front...the whole front suspension is new. KYB adjustable shocks, ebaich 1" lowering springs (which might be swapped out) tubular A-Arms, Kmember...so on. I think the heat gun thing should work . I only need to bend it in about 1/2 and inch or so to be good (I hope).

 

Well Im going to bring this back up to the top. I tried that heat gun thing back when I started the thread and it didnt really work. The heat was too hard to control and the plastic started to rip on me so I just stopped so I didnt cause any more damage to the plastic . Any other suggestions? Any techniques that might make it easier to heat the plastic more evenly and not too the right temperature?

Also what did everyone use to clearance the metal part of the inner fender? Where I need to bend it in the metal is VERY hard and a conventional hammer didnt to the trick. A sledge hammer might, but there is no room to work with without a lift.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks guys.

Chris