Ride height??

[HSV590]

Hi guys...Had my VY SV8 lowered about 6 months ago when I was running 18" wheels and tyres..no dramas..but I have since gone to a set of 19x8" wheels and tyres and have noticed the right rear tyre rubs on the rear guard. I have had the rear guards rolled which did fix it a bit, but I only have to put my two kids in the back seat and a full tank of fuel and the tyre hits the guard on every half decent bump in the road..ride height looks great but not doing my tyres any good...In a bid to fix the problem I'm having a set of big bore, short travel shocks fitted, to stiffen the back end up..I have also noticed that the top of the right rear guard sits about 5mm lower than the left rear to which the suspension shop guy said was a typical "commodore thing" that happens when it's been lowered..Any body else had the some problem or heard of what the suspension guy said???
Cheers
Mark

[Kongy]

I have a VX Calais, lowered, 19x8's i think you will find the tyre is rubbuing against the top corner of the mud flap, don't panic, it will slowly rub away and stop scrubbing. unless you want to grind or file it down a bit

[HRT 8]

Do a search for "offset". Makes a huge difference to whether your tyres scrub guards or not.

[HSV590]

Thanks Kongy but it isn't that, I don't have mudflaps..

[xquizit]

Mine is pretty low with 20s & yes it does scrap with people in the back but with the gaurds rolled it's just the tyre wearing out the plastic inner wheel gaurd. & yes the car does sit different side to side.

[HSV590]

Cool, thanks for the comments. Hopefully the new shocks going in on Saturday will fix the problem anyway.
Cheers

[vyss2ute]

What about some Poly Air assist airbags (http://www.polyair.com.au/)? If you've got the kids and a boot full of gear, just pump some extra air into the bags and the rear will lift! Cheap aswell, got quoted a set from Repco for $279 and you can easily fit them yourself. I'm going to put them in the ute so when I've got alot of tools and gear I can easily pump them up a little to stop the tyres rubbing and prevent bottoming out on the bump stops.

Just a thought,
Adam

[jerrel]

What about some Poly Air assist airbags (http://www.polyair.com.au/)? If you've got the kids and a boot full of gear, just pump some extra air into the bags and the rear will lift! Cheap aswell, got quoted a set from Repco for $279 and you can easily fit them yourself. I'm going to put them in the ute so when I've got alot of tools and gear I can easily pump them up a little to stop the tyres rubbing and prevent bottoming out on the bump stops.

Just a thought,
Adam

i have a 2100kg tow bar on my car, and a very similar air suspension set up to this, works well.

[theVman]

Ive got the same prob when I have the back loaded up . . seems it is just the tyres hitting on the plastic inner guard somewhere . . hasnt marked the tyres or anything which often happens if its rubbing on the lip.

I still get flashbacks of the old air shockies on my first VB commodore when ppl mention the poly assist airbags lol . . but I have heard good reports about them.

[PanVS]

Do a search for "offset". Makes a huge difference to whether your tyres scrub guards or not.

Spot on! my 19s are P35 with super lows- perfect! You could try wheel spacers.

[JBonDSS]

Thanks Kongy but it isn't that, I don't have mudflaps..

Champ
check the inner guard liner, it has a 1.5" lip on it that can touch the tyres with some different offsets, check if it has rub marks, if so you can just trim the plastic lip back

Cheers

[BLOWN_VXSS]

A cheap way to lift the rear of the car is to put in a 10mm spring seat spacer, otherwise make the kids walk... just kidding.

[zorro]

had this problem on a mates VT, all the numbers matched up (offsets) and even had the gaurds rolled. The inner guard liner was the culprit, around 100-150mm from the top centre of the wheel arch toward rear of the car.

we fixed the problem with a hot knife cutter and some tacky tape to cover the hole.

[Tron2004]

Can anyone explain why there's a height difference between 17, 18 or 19 inch tyres, when the tyre profile becomes less as you go up in wheel size.

[hazzat]

Can anyone explain why there's a height difference between 17, 18 or 19 inch tyres, when the tyre profile becomes less as you go up in wheel size.

The reason for this is because the diameter of the whole wheel needs to stay the same as original otherwise you will have different turns per wheel rotation. This mucks up your speed on the clock and you will need to get it re-calibrated.
(I'm sure this is the reason, could be wrong).

[Mungrel]

One other thing to bare in mind is that the common size of 18 inch tyres is 235/45 where as i think most 19s are 245/35 so they are a bit wider.

Is it scrubbing on the inside guard or the outside guard?

[hsvcsv]

I have a VX Calais, lowered, 19x8's i think you will find the tyre is rubbuing against the top corner of the mud flap, don't panic, it will slowly rub away and stop scrubbing. unless you want to grind or file it down a bit

This is where mine rubbed on the vt2 r8 no flaps of course, solution was to file back the inner plastic gaurd where the two screws attach the rear bumper 2second job, lowered on 19's all sweet after that.

[scotty333]

just to add something to this thread. I got a SSZ current got the stock 18" Monaro wheels/rims. Want to upgrade to possible 20" How much should I look at lowering my car b4 it starts to rub? Or should I just leave the suspension as is as the wheels will make up most of the lost space?

[popeye3dr]

just to add something to this thread. I got a SSZ current got the stock 18" Monaro wheels/rims. Want to upgrade to possible 20" How much should I look at lowering my car b4 it starts to rub? Or should I just leave the suspension as is as the wheels will make up most of the lost space?
no it will need to be lowered
when you buy a bigger wheel ,the profile of the tyre comes down to give it more or less the same overall size as a smaller wheel but with a bigger profile tyre.
the actual gap will proberly be around the same gap size as it is now, BUT because of the lower profile of the tyre on the bigger wheel it makes it look a bigger gap