cumd20

Help.....

So - finally got some sunshine today in Seattle - took the Speedster for its eTest - passed with flying colors

Got the car registered in Wa. (Taxes )

Went for a spin with the misses Hd a complete blast but ..........

When I returned - rubber smell - it turns out the rear tire on just the passenger side is rubbing on the inside of he arch. Driver side looks OK (and the wife is 100 lbs lighter than me btw )

This is probably beyond me so I will take it to someone to check the suspension but wanted to get some advice on what could be the problem.

Any advice welcome - anything I should look for - the car has Bilstein PSS9's fitted - should I take it to Porsche or to some other kind of mechanic.

Sorry of this seems dumb but I want to do things right with this car.

parsecnc4

Probably a bit too much postive camber

http://apexmag.com/wp-content/galler...xplanation.jpg

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Without some better pictures of your ride height and alignment specs, its tough to offer anything constructive,.....

Clearly, an adjustment in ride height and perhaps camber may be in order, however more data would be helpful to assist you in resolving the rubbing issue.

cumd20

Can anyone reccommend who to take it to for a setup in Seattle area? Or is it safe to take it to one of the chains.

sml

lets relax and not rush off to an expensive mechanic / wheel alignment guy just yet.

inside of the arch? what does this mean precisely .. is it ..

(a) the outside of the tyre and it is rubbing on the fender/guard at about the 12 o'clock position.

(b) on the inside edge of the tyre and rubbing against the oil pipe, or

(c) on the inside edge of the tyre and rubbing against the metal inside car panel.

EDIT .... in the photo, is that the guard/fender?

post a photo from the rear so we can try to guess your rear wheel camber.

as requested above ... if available, what is the ...
- wheel width and offset
- tyre width and profile

sml

i think we're jumping the gun a bit here suggesting he needs to raise the car ride height.

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Well sir,....tire-to-fender contact isn't normal nor desirable and those two measures (in varying degrees) assures resolution.

Still, my request for pictures and alignment data will tell the tale,..

Naturally, JMHO.

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Hi Dave,

I sure can, shoot me an e-mail and I'll make some recommendations that will help you.

sml

if this is the car, i'm thinking we need to drop the ride height ........

as per the first reply .. fingers crossed you can dial in some more negative camber .... and hopefully lower an inch or two.

cumd20

I will get some more pictures today guys. That is the car but the ride height has been dropped since then. The wear is at 12.0 clock only on the passenger side only.
The clearance when unloaded between the top of he tire and the fender or arch is 10mm (3/8") on the passenger side - it is about 0mm on the driver side unloaded as the car is sitting in my garage today.

The picture shows the passenger side wheel arch top and the tire - - what yo can see is rubbing symptoms with rubber burring from the friction.

If I run my finger along the inside of he wheel arch I get molten rubber on it.

More pics soon.

Vandit

Here's the car's ride height when I saw it for sale in DFW, obviously it has been lowered here since the pictures above. This is likely the ride height it is currently sitting at.









Now that the car is in your garage, parked, w/o anyone sitting in it, is there clearance between the tire and the fender arch? If no, then that may indicate a problem w/ the suspension. **re-read your prior response, this is not the issue since there is clearance when the car is parked**

If yes, then what is probably happening is that the weight of the passengers, and the suspension travel/bodyroll from driving around is causing the tire to touch the arch as the suspension goes through its normal range of travel.

Your options to solve this may include:
-Roll fender lip (might increase tire/arch clearance)
-Raise ride height (definitely increases tire/arch clearance)
-Add more negative camber (might tuck in the top of the tire so that the tire/arch are no longer in each other's way)
-Replace rear springs w/ stiff springs (reduces the amount of suspension travel, probably your least desirable option)
-Replace the rear tire w/ something that has a narrow width (a narrow tire on the same wheel width will give the tire a rounder sidewall profile and may increase tire/arch clearance)

What size tire is on the rear at the moment? Read the sidewall markings. Is it a 285/45/17? I can't quite make out the tire marking in my full resolution pictures.

993James993

Hi Vandit,

Won't adding negative camber tend to cause uneven tire wear? How far can you go before this becomes an issue?

Vandit

Yes, it will. It is all a compromise. It really depends on where the camber is sitting at right now. If he's already running a decent amount of camber, then adding more camber might not be a good solution.

Also, adding more negative camber might not even create enough clearance to solve the rubbing.

Regarding how far you can go on negative camber before it becomes an even tirewear issue, the answer is that it depends. I know people that run -3 and get even tirewear because they typical drive around, cornering like mad. On my Toyota front wheel drive daily driver, I run a bit over 1.5 negative and get even tire wear since I tend to be pretty spirited in my cornering.

jimq

How about less rear spacers if it has them or less offset. Looks to me like the tire is past the fender lip pretty far.

Vandit

^that's another great question that might help solve this problem. Does the car have a spacer on the rear wheel hubs?