Rear Tires Rubbing Help!
 

I have a 87 GT Hatchback with 265 50 15 tires in the rear. The tire keep rubbing against the inner wheel welds, and the body, now it's starting to cut through the side of my tires.

A friend of mine suggested that I buy air shocks to adjust the height of the rear.

Would this work? I'm trying to keep the rear from bouncing up and down when I drive over a bump in the road. If possible I'd like to make the rear as stiff as possible but have slight bounce to it.

Would could I buy to make this work?

shocks
 

I had a similar problem once, but mine was only rubbing the fenders. I put a set of shock Coil over springs (Auto Zone) on mine and that fixed the problem, but hurt my handling. Made the rear a little stiff...kinda jumpy on curves with bumps.
Ryan

Thanks for the advice, would that be my only fix? How much did it cost you to do this?

other alternatives
 

the coil overs cost about thirty dollars 6 year ago from auto zone. The only other quick fix i can think of would be to put some air shocks on it. MY car is much older, but mayber the other guys can help out.......r your tires to wide for the car?
Ryan

I'm looking into air shocks as we speak. I have 265's in the rear. I was told that you can go as big as 275 in width.

You can roll your fender lip and it won't change the look of the car or the handling. There is a lip of metal that sticks in on the fender, usually this is what rubs. You can cut it with a pair of tin snips or a cut-off wheel about every inch to two inches around the inside of the fender and then bend the pieces up so that it doesn't stick in as far. If you do this, be very careful when bending so that you don't bend the outside edge of the fender and make the paint crack.

Thanks, I'll try that this evening when I get home.

We had the same problem with our stang, we rolled the fender well lip up and that took care of it. Simple way is to use a baseball bat with two people, put the car on level ground, in neutral put the baseball bat between fender well and tire, roll the car back and forth working the baseball bat from thiner to fat part of the bat.

Forget the air shocks, and the coil overs. Get a set of AIR BAGS. they are only $62.00 from jegs. and yes roll the inner fender with an old bat, (not mother-in-law) :)

If the only problem was with the tire rubbing against the lip, I'd consider rims with different backspacing. 265s should fit with the right backspacing, not sure with the 1.5" drop though. I have 265s on Welds with 5.5 backspacing and all I had to do was flip the quad shocks.

That's what I was thinking too. However, maybe the 87's have different dimensions in the back wheel area than my 91? I have 275 BFG drag radials on Bogart 15x8.25" rims w/5.50 backspacing and mine don't come close to rubbing the fender. Actually, I had to remove the quad shocks as that is where mine was rubbing.

E

Update,

Well, I went home yesterday and banged the inner well lips in with a hammer, so far no rubbing yet, but I haven't went over any speed bumps since yesterday.

I do have 15X7 weld wheels in the rear, but I don't know the backspacing for these wheels, because they were on the car when I bought it.

I'm also going to put new shocks on this weekend to see if that helps any. After looking at my rear shocks, and quad shocks, they both look to be original. What brand shocks do anyone recommend, at a decent price?

Mine rub constantly and the lip is already rolled! Not much I can do except go with a narrower tire next time. The BFG drag radials I have were suppsed to be 10" wide and they're 10.5". I wouldn't suggest air shock b/c as far as I know they're not designed for performance (could be wrong though). I don;t want to change a thing in the suspension b/c my 60ft times are great (1.6 was the best). I have an air bad in the pass. rear spring (Eibach Drag launch kit) but haven't experimented with it yet. Good luck!

Hey Stang_Roty,

I see you have a 69 351W, I just came across this same engine for free, and it's running. My uncle is giving it to me. How much did it cost you to make a 393 stroker?

While we are on that subject. Is the BFG275 60 15 truly a 28" tire

Yes, the 275/60/15 is a 28.0" tire as per BFGs website.

I have the 275/50/15 version, which is 26.1" in diameter.

E