Is200 Tires Touching The Body.

[ediko]

My is200 has dotz las vegas R18 fitted on it. The wheels came from the previous owner, so I couldn't really check whether they will be touching or not. My problem is...they are. If I'm driving alone you couldn't notice it, however when the car is loaded with more than 2 people in it it begins touching. When it's 5 it's simply horrible, my back tyres are touching the body even if I turn at 30km/h. It makes this awful sound, damages the body and the tyres as well.

Back ones are R18 245/40 and the fron is 225/40. Now as I said, nothing has been fitted by me. The car was sold like this and I only really noticed them not fitting after a month or so, when the car was fully packed. Is there anything at all that I could do to fix this? Maybe change both tires to 225/40? I really don't want to loose those wheels, they make the car stand out quite a lot.

[redbaron]

why not change back to front and see if 225 is fouling as well at the back? easy and cheap. If it works buy some 225 for the rear.

What is ET on those rims and how wide are they? you should be OK with 7,5 to 8 wide and ET 35. Last resort solution is figure out how much you need to go narrower in rear track and if wheel flange is thick enough: put wheels in a lathe and machine untill they fit.

Ask a professional opinion from the guy who does the machining or somedy else who knows what he is doing, because you don't want to take the risk of making the rim prone to break.

Good luck.

PS: if machining is possible and safe: check depth of thread in your wheelnuts, before you fit them.

If you reduce the thickness of the mounting face of the rim the nuts might jam up on the end on their thread.

This will damage the studs and the wheels will not tighten up. Play it safe and shorten studs or modify nuts

to open ended type so they can never jam up..

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

225 will go on the back and stop the scraping. Or if you want to run a staggered set up and have 245 on the back then you could roll the inside of the rear arches to stop the scraping :)

[ediko]

To be honest I didn't really think of swapping front tires with the back ones and checking whether they will touch. Rolling the inside of the arches doesn't seem like a good option, since the tyres touch the bumper and the fender.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

I run 225/40/18 all round, no problems :)

[ediko]

I run 225/40/18 all round, no problems :)

My car might just be crap then, even the front ones are touching on heavy bumps. Maybe you have some pictures I could take a look at? Judging by the pic in your signature the rear tire sticks out from the fender and slightly outside the rear bumper just like mine, still no issues with it touching? Roads are really horrible here though ,so that might be the main reason I feel it so much. I drive like a drunkard at night, switching lanes every 2 seconds and driving in the opposite lane just to avoid all the holes on the road.

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

My car is completely standard as it came from the factory. 225/40/18 should fit no probs :)

[redbaron]

Maybe former owner had it lowered.

Or was a cowboy and shortened the springs himself?

Check the offset in any case from front and rears. Might even be staggered set with different offsets.

Simple method of measuring youself is take of wheel and put on floor with outside facing downwards.

Now cut a nice straight piece of metal or wood to size that you can rest on the edge of the rim on the inside.

Measure the distance from the underside of your selfmade measuring tool to the flange that touches the hub.

If there is a difference between the fronts and rears you have a staggered set. The smaller this distance, the more the wheel will

go outwards and the bigger the risk of fouling bodywork/wings. If this distance gets too big however the tyre can touch on the inside.

If it touches on top of the tyre it,s just too low or soft my friend. Or find some new, skinny,light friends to ride along....

Good luck.

[ediko]

Interestingly it only touches on the outside of the tire. The car hasn't really been lowered, the picture is quite heavily edited, but you can clearly see there should be enough room for the wheels, but since it's sticking out outside a bit too much it get's to touch the fenders/bumper.
Once I get some time I'll measure the rims and try swapping the back with the front. I hear it's possible to bend the fenders a bit as well?