I noticed that my driver's side rear wheel had rubbed on the frame, stock Pontiac 16x8 rims, and it is a REAR ONLY rim. Tire size is stock 245/50 16. The sheet metal on the front inside edge of the wheel well has the undercoating rubbed off. I checked the inside of the tire and there were no marks at all and when the wheel is on the car there is about 1-1.5" of room betwwen then inside of the wheel and the sheet metal. The other side seems to be the same, but no rub marks. Trailing arms and panhard bar are Lakewood, the panhard is adjusted right and the jam nut is tight. Springs are Hotchkis.
The only thing that I can imagine is that one of the panfard bar mounts is broken. Has anyone had/heard of this problem before? If so can you point me in the right direction?

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'86 TA, T-tops, T-5, 3.73, 4 wheel disks 350, compucam 2040, performer intake,SLP Headers, 3" race magnum muffler, 1.6 Comp rockers, Ripper shifter, perf. friction pads, Hypertech ignition, Earls brake hoses, Hotchkis springs, Tokico Illumina 5 adjustable shocks and struts, Lakewood panhard and trailing arms
14.50@ 97 with carb... now converted to TPI

 

You are probably getting alot of body roll. The front tires rub especially on lowered cars. If the rear only rubs on one side then you might need to adjust the panhard bar. If it rubs on both sides get a bigger rear sway bar.

 

If you think something's broken in the back, push the rear of the car from one side. The car should resist your push, and not sway easily from side to side. I lost a panhard rod bolt (panhard rod to body), and my car swayed like crazy.

Does the rub look "fresh"? Throw some spray paint on the area inside the wheel well. Maybe this was some old wound that you never noticed before...?


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)

 

my pasenger side rubs, but that is becauseI have old springs and a 4th gen rear =).Maybe your springs are beginning to sag?

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'86 IROC 5-speed
305 LG4
edelbrock performer rpm intake
edelbrock 600 cfm carb
msd pro billet hei distributer
'95 3.23 rearend
hotchkis rear suspension
PST front polygraphite suspension
"speed kills. buy a f@&d, live forever."

 

Well the rub does look pretty fresh, so painting it will let me know when it happens next. I also tried pushing the car from side to side and the car staye centered on the axle best I could tell anyway, I kept my had between the tire and teh wheel well and couldn't feel the gap getting any smaller.
Also, do you think it could just be a once in a lifetime thing? Possibly while hitting a bump when turning... and I autocross the car too if that makes a difference.

 

I have a problem with the rear tires rubbing when I'm autocrossing (factory wheels w/ 255-50 tires). Mine are rubbing about half way up and toward the front of the wheel well. I've replaced the panhard bar with one from Edelbrock, with no improvement. I'm currently thinking that the trailing arm bushings are warn out and is letting the axle to shift and twist out of alinment in hard cornering.


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Bill Rockhold
92 Camaro RS, 305 TBI M5 F41
SCCA Solo2

 

Axoid, how much room do you have between the wheel and the wheel well where it rubs? I have about 1.5" and my trailing arms are Lakewood parts with their bushings.... so is it possible that something else is giving?

 

I don't have my autocross tires on anymore, but I would guess that I had around an inch to inch and a half, I had never measured it. I'm still running the factory trailing arms and bushings. Are you still running the factory panhard bar? To only other things I can think of is if the tire is deflecting enough to rub or GM just put too much back-spacing on these rear wheels for hard driving.

My rear street wheels run 0 offset just like the front wheels, so I no rubbing from them. Next year I'm also going down a size for autocross tires (245-45/16).


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Bill Rockhold
92 Camaro RS, 305 TBI M5
SCCA Solo2

 

The panhard bar is also Lakewwod and from what I can tell it is adjusted correctly. Also, with that short of a sidewall I really doubt that it can deflact that much. I'll do some more snooping around onder there later to see if I can come up with anything.