HELP! My new Ruf wheels rub my front springs!! What do I do?!
 

Just put my new 18" Ruf wheels on my 96 C4S (has ROW M030 suspension) and the front wheels rub loudly on the front springs! This certainly can't be safe or good for any parts involved-anyone know what the deal is and how I can remedy it? Thanks for the help!

You could use spacers or, if you have too much negative camber, reduce it.

Thanks Viken, I'll contact Ruf tomorrow for the spacer option, I just had the suspension installed a few weeks ago getting ready for the wheel switch. No decent, dependable shop to trust for alignment within 150 miles (!) so I'll likely try the spacers.

McCulla,

What size tires are you running and how wide are the wheels?

Regards,
George
In sunny Arizona

George, the tires are same as factory, 225/40 ZR18 and the wheels are 8" width. Any hints? Thanks

Call the shop that did your alignment after you had the new suspension installed and ask them for the specs. If you have much over 1 degree of negative camber in the front that may be the problem. Look at your car, does the top part of the front wheel look like it is significantly leaning to the inside of the car, maybe use a level or yardstick for a guage. If it isn't my bet would be that the wheels have the wrong offset and the spacers would be needed, or Ruf sent you the wrong wheel.

Greg

It is my understanding that RUF's 18" front wheel was 8.5" wide with a 58 mm offset. If this is the wheel you have, the inner lip would be 12.35 mm (0.49") closer to the suspension components than the Porsche stock 8" wheel.

Greg, and Viken.
Thanks for the information. That .49" may well be enough to make the difference. I have contacted the people at Weissach and a spacer is on it's way. Interestingly I am hearing that only one (1995) 993 has had this problem in their experience. It'll be interesting to see how this comes out, it seems like the only fly in the ointment is the spacer thickness needed. I am trying a 7mm first.

I hate to say it but you could need a completely new suspension system. The stock springs are over 4" in diameter versus the 2.5" or 2.125" aftermarket hiperformance springs that RUF and others use on their cars with big wheels/tires. You gain a ton of room with smaller diameter springs. I hope you find a solution and perhaps the spacers and such may get you in the game.

wish i had read this - my new ruf 18" wheels came in today and they rub on the front driver side springs. stock springs on my 993 cab.

This is strange since my car is very low with Ruf's and no rubbing. BTW the main pic was just after an alignment and ride height adjustment and the front was lowered 17 turns (PSS9) since my avatar pic was taken.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...he/cactus5.jpg

That's encouraging Thanks for the posting.

The inside of the drivers side front wheel seems to be rubbing on the stock front springs. I put it on the lift yesterday and the clearance is so tight there that I'm pretty sure its the spring, gets worse if I wiggle the wheel driving in a straight line i think its so tight that moving the wheel around changes the load on the spring and causes the rub. at first i thought it was rubbing on the plastic ferring.

Are you using stock shocks and springs? Your list of modifications below your picture looks like you've got some performance springs/shocks on the fronts. I read some place that they are narrower than the stock ones which would explain why you don't have a problem.

I'm calling Ruf in the AM monday to get a recommendation. I am annoyed since I thought I had this all checked out ahead of time and I was looking forward to driving it this weekend there was an open house http://www.roybriziostreetrods.com/home.htm that looked like fun - anyway i'm off topic.

Would anyone know the answers these questions:
1) will i have troble in some other area if i add the 7mm spacers on the front?
2) i spend 90% of my time on the street - i haven;t even started thinking about swapping out suspension parts yet. anyone have an easy recommendation on a shock spring combination that is narrower than stock and wont box me in to all the other decisions.. like changing ride height (im at us stock now) maybe lower later.. i'm hoping there is an easy concensus recommendation on this item that lets me push out all the other suspension decisions to later.

question #2 im sure is going to be a rats nest..

This is Cactus posting from a friend's puter but I have the Bilstein PSS9 coilovers. I'll have to check to see how much clearance I have but I also have negative camber because the car is so low.

PSS10s use a 60mm spring. So will give you about 3/4" additional clearance towards the tire side over the stock springs.

Cactizzle,
Your garage is disgusting! Do you have any plans for the floor?


Andreas