Sponsored by The Tire Rack

[Kid Red]

I'm excited, first real mod I've done to my car, 360 Forged Mesh 8 wheels I bought from a forum member. I went over my tire budget and picked up Michellin Pilot Sports and had them road force balanced and mounted today

I rubbed twice on the way home cruising under 40 mph on stock sport suspension

What are my options? Roll fenders? Cut inner liner? Get stiffer springs? I have some eibach pro kit springs I picked up from a forum member, but no way I'd put them on if I rub on sport suspension.

19x9+38 front, 19x10+34 with 235/35/19 and 265/30/19 Pilots.

Excuse the dirty car pics.

[#Tee]

before you buy or adjust any camber and youre stuck with those tires. trim off the some of the rear carpet liner where the bumper meets the quarter panel thats the offending area that should be rubbing. youll see some wear marks just trim off the access and it can get as far as using a grinding tool to remove some metal.

[Humann]

Wow! I need those wheels! Let me know how you get them to fit.

[simmo1985]

Sheeeeeiiiiit,nice bit of dish my friend Gotta love a bit of dish.

+1 for tees comment. Sound advice.

I would install the springs first though, and then do any arch "adjustments", otherwise you may have to do it twice. And if your having to pay for rolling etc then that's money that could be spent on other mods.

[Kid Red]

Thanks everyone.

The ride height is tolerable. No way I could install springs while it's rubbing with the stock suspension.

I'll look into cutting the liner for now. Would stiffer springs like Swift tighten up and prevent rubbing?

[#Tee]

simmo1985 is right, get the final height before you actually do any trim work or youll just end up wasting time. stiffer rates will work but on your application by the time it works youll be sitting on 50kg. you have to keep in mind there will be passengers/squat/hitting large bumps at high speeds. even with those those spring rates it will still rub and will be magnified the lower you go. so do the simple things first.

[Kid Red]

I hear you guys, that makes absolutely sense. However, the Eibach springs are the same spring rate as the stock sport springs. So I can imagine how nasty the rubbing would be even lower than I am now.

I'm wondering if I should get stiffer springs, like Swift for example, before messing with cutting the liner? Would a stiffer spring help with rubbing? Or would coils be a better option? The previous owner of the wheels was on KW v2 and said he didn't rub.

[simmo1985]

Coilovers will give a stiffer ride with most if not all applications compared to springs alone, afaik shocks in coilover kits are usually uprated minimum 20% therefore stiffer even with the cheapest of kits.

If you want to go lower, you will have to do arch mods no matter what spring rate you get as it'll still rub at some point in its compression with weight etc as tee mentions. You need to improve clearance. I'm by no means saying roll around for days and weeks on end with it lowered and no arch mods. Do everything same day if needs be, get it dialled after lowering,height/tracking etc and then get your arches rolled or trimmed as much as necessary.

[kfriceman]

Your tires rub because they don't fit, plain and simple. Instead of cutting your car up buy a combination that fits.

-Kevin

[geko29]

I had the same problem when putting those exact tires on 19x9.5 ET35 wheels. Took it to an alignment shop, who added the maximum amount of camber permitted by BMW specs, and it hasn't rubbed once in probably 25k miles.

If that hadn't worked, I would have had my fenders rolled and/or pulled.

[Kid Red]

Originally Posted by geko29

I had the same problem when putting those exact tires on 19x9.5 ET35 wheels. Took it to an alignment shop, who added the maximum amount of camber permitted by BMW specs, and it hasn't rubbed once in probably 25k miles.

If that hadn't worked, I would have had my fenders rolled and/or pulled.

So while you were on stock sport suspension you rubbed with the Michelins and an alignment fixed the issue? Do you recall the final camber specs?

[Kid Red]

Originally Posted by kfriceman

Your tires rub because they don't fit, plain and simple. Instead of cutting your car up buy a combination that fits.

-Kevin

I respect your candid advice. However, it would be more cost effective and less time consuming for me to make this combo work. Similar to the reason why I guess I'm still married

[bmw325i]

Originally Posted by kfriceman

Your tires rub because they don't fit, plain and simple. Instead of cutting your car up buy a combination that fits.

-Kevin

A wheel that "fits" won't be flush. This isn't really that aggressive, I'm sure a fender roll and some trimming where the fender and bumper meet will get rid of the rubbing.

[robc1976]

Originally Posted by kfriceman

Your tires rub because they don't fit, plain and simple. Instead of cutting your car up buy a combination that fits.

-Kevin

So he should stick with stock tire sizes that lol like crap, if I stuck with stock tires I couldn't even control my car at my power levels. Sometimes you have to modify things to make them look better and perform better. I have 295's and had to do a lot of trimming but well work it.

[robc1976]

OP trim here.

[Kid Red]

^thanks robc

I didn't see your pic until now but that's exactly where I ended up trimming. After doing tape and chalk (no powder) I saw the top edge of the metal fender lip that holds the liner in place was marked. With pliers, a peice of wood wrapped in a microfiber towel I "pinched" that metal lip inward towards the fender. That fixed the low speed rubbing for the most part, but tape revealed that corner near the bumper was still rubbing. I trimmed the edge shown above and stuffed some weather strip inside the fender lip for the porpoise that it pushed the liner closer to the fender. I did not touch the liner at all.

I tested a road dip near my home and no rubbing! I just need to see what happens at higher speeds in highway dips.

Just minor adjustments made gives me time to decide on suspension options. Thanks everyone.

[Eat.Sleep.Race]

looks good!!

[AceOnShake]

Get your fenders rolled. I ran a 285 tires on 20x10 et25

[robc1976]

I had to trim mine with 295 PSS

[Kid Red]

Originally Posted by Eat.Sleep.Race

looks good!!

Thanks!

[Kid Red]

Originally Posted by MentegoE90

Get your fenders rolled. I ran a 285 tires on 20x10 et25

So far so good. I don't mind trimming inside but I don't really want to roll the fenders.

[335iG]

Hey Rob, that area is only for the e90, right? I had my e92 fenders trimmed, but dont believe that was there..?

Originally Posted by robc1976

OP trim here.