Will tires cause me to modify the whole car?!?

[sporqster]

Well, I found a deal on some 15 x 7 Rota's and some 'gently' used Hoosiers that I tought would make a great track combo for my Locost. the tires are 225/45-15's quite a bit wider, and a tiny bit taller than the 185/60-14's that were on the car - but the abundance of 15" racing tire leftovers and cool look of the relatively cheap rotas convinced me I was going to make them work.

First shot -

rear tires rub the bolt head where the upper trailing arm meets the body. If I replaced these with rod ends that might take car of that, (as the bushing is pretty wide) but a little grinding on the bolt head, and a 1/4" wheel spacer, and voila it appeared to clear. (tell me about increasing the rear track width 1/2" - I know that on paper that would cause the car to push more. Demonstrably? Is it worth going to a lot of effort changing the trailing arm pickups in order to remove the 1/4" spacers?)

front tires rubbed the fender bracket (motorcycle style fenders) just a little and were too close for comfort on the clearance between the fender and the tire. Cut off the tabs on the bracket, repositioned, rewelded, repainted, and reattached the brackets and fenders, now about 1/2" taller and 1/2" further inboard.

Went for a test drive.
problem - on the front under hard cornering, or if you hit a bump while cornering, the fender can contact the headlamp (barely).
problem - on the rear under medium cornering or if you hit a bump at all, the tires (which hang out of the fenders) hit the rear fenders.

All fenders are fiberglass.

What is the most prudent, cost effective course of action? moving the headlights up and in? moving the rear fenders up on the body? (I can go up about an inch) Wider fenders all around so the wheels don't hang out the sides of them (though that does have a certain 'racer boy' quality, doesn't it?).

Any better ideas? I bet I'm not the first person to run into issues trying to stuff more rubber under a 7.

[Al Navarro]

Honestly? I would ebay the new purchases and get some 13-inchers...it does sound like you may have to make too many fixes to be worth it. My 2¢.

[slngsht]

Any better ideas? I bet I'm not the first person to run into issues trying to stuff more rubber under a 7.

I tried it, and went with new uprights, Aarms, rear axle and fenders :D

I do have a ton more traction to show for the effort though... whereas before, I could blow away RA1s in 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th by simply rolling on the throttle, I can now only get it spinning in 2nd when the car hits the power band (ofcourse I can still easily get it loose on shifts). Part of that is due to more traction, other is due to going to 3.42 from 4.10 rear.

Having less traction IS more fun though.

As for your problems, for the rear fender, if you think shaving the fender a little will solve the problem (doesn't sound like it), you can get really good results with a pneumatic sanding disc. Otherwise, I had custom fenders built for mine for $400.

I don't know enough about your front headlight bracket, but that sounds like something that'd be easy to fix.

[sporqster]

I don't know enough about your front headlight bracket, but that sounds like something that'd be easy to fix.


Yeah, headlight bracket is no biggie if I do it without detaching from the car - an hour or two tops.


Honestly? I would ebay the new purchases and get some 13-inchers...it does sound like you may have to make too many fixes to be worth it.


I'm not sure 13's will fit around the brakes, though maybe they would- it's kinda close on them with the 14's. Maybe I'll post on the Alfa Romeo forums and see if anyone's got some 13's on a spider (as that is what the brakes and knuckles, rear, are from).

I also have the minor alterior motive of wanting to share a tire size with my wife's 911.

BUT I may end up hanging my head and selling some rims w/rubber in the end. :nonod:

Somewhat off topic for this forum, but here goes - I bought this car already assembled and a little used, but in great shape. But I'm not thrilled with the rubber bushings that are everywhere in the rear end suspension. seems like they squeak and shift a lot, and I was considering going to rod ends for adjustability and the reduce some of the slop. It might also help me move the rear tires in board some.

What's the downside to using rod ends for trailing arm connections, or is there one?

[slngsht]

What's the downside to using rod ends for trailing arm connections, or is there one?

I switched to rod ends all the way around, and really didn't notice any downside. Theoredically, you'll get more noise/vibration to the chassis.

Then again, I've seen people to a mod, and rave about the drastic difference it made. I do the same mod, and can hardly feel anything, so I'm not a good judge of that stuff.

[sporqster]

As for your problems, for the rear fender, if you think shaving the fender a little will solve the problem (doesn't sound like it), you can get really good results with a pneumatic sanding disc. Otherwise, I had custom fenders built for mine for $400.


Is that $400 for the whole set? That makes me wonder if I could eBay the used fiberglass ones and get aluminum ones without going in the hole too terribly deep on the trade.

[slngsht]

I paid 400 for a pair of WIDE rear fenders... so, 400 for 2 fenders. These are big enough to cover 305 18" tires + 2" gap between the tire and body.