I noticed something weird after a trackday. I recently purchased CCWs and I have 8.5" wheels up front wearing 255s. Last week while at the track my driver side tire rubbed deep down on the sidewall. I know what turn it was....hard braking after a straight going into a hard left turn. I figured that it was suspension, which i plan on redoing this month, and assumed that 22 yr old struts were leaking and couldn't put up with the stress. I happened to look into my wheel well to examine how much paint i rubbed off and I noticed that my driver side tire is sticking outside of the well slightly and evenly... and the passenger side is not outside the well. This explains partially why the tire rubbed so far down the sidewall. I just took off both front wheels and measured them to see if CCW made an error, but it seems that the wheels are identical. I should have switched them to really check...I will this week. Assuming the wheels are identical, and that they have been made correctly to fit the car without spacers, what could this be? As far I know this shouldn't have anything to do with suspension, should it?

 

These cars are often not symmetric. My 951 and my wife's 944 both will rub tires against fenders on the left side before the right. Once you start pushing the limits (like 255s up front), you need to check everything on YOUR car. Even without accident damage, they are not all the same.

 

what do you recommend checking on the car?

 

Clearances... 255 is a lot of tire in the front. You may need to roll a fender of use a spacer to fix that.

 

You should be able to fit 255's easily in my experience Van. I've had 285s on the front of my old '89 at one stage. Turbo S should have rolled guards too.

Obviously caster, camber, springs, ride height, struts will have their own effects too. I have also had tyre rub or more extension on one side than the other. Worth checking that the struts are evenly matched for top and bottom adjustment and the tie rods are even too.

 

Only in the rear...

On my car, 245s in the front give me less an a pinkie's width of clearance to the fender on the left side, but about twice that on the right. That's on a 52mm offset wheel, -2.5 degrees camber, and a pretty low ride height.

I'm impressed you've fit 285s - I can just squeeze those in the back!

 

I easily fit 285's in the back and am running 275 race tires in the front. I run -3.2 camber in the front...

Check to make sure your camber is even on both sides. All the other things people have mentioned are true.

 

Has the alignment been done and checked? Different camber side to side?

(EDIT: just mentioned by Doc above)

 

I was thinking that it could be camber. Went to race shop today to talk about suspension (Leda) and asked about camber and new plates. Said it was def camber and should have been aligned after putting on new wheel set. My bad. As far as the 255s up front- they fit in there fine. CCW is great at making wheels for your car that require no spacers, fit factory specs, and dont rub (with proper alignment!). I am kicking myself on this one....immaculate 951 that I took paint off of!

 

333pg-
Wow 285 in the back! wow!

 

um...i meant front.