godxilla

I just bought a full set of wheels and tires off ebay. They are Carrera III wheels, the 5 spoke ones. The tires are an odd size. The fronts are 235/40/18 and the rears are 265/40/18. My car is lowered with H&R springs, however not too low. I put on the wheels, and the first thing i noticed was that the front wheels were very close to rubbing the springs, if not already rubbing. So i put on some 5mm spacers on the fronts. This seems to have solved the inner rubbing issue on the fronts. The rears aren't rubbing, but because of the odd tire size, there is only about 2/3" gap between the top of the tire and the fender. My questions are:
- is 2/3" gap between the rear tire and fenders too close? should i roll the fenders?
- what problems will have using a 265/40/18 in the rear? will the reduction in torque actually be enough to feel?
- the tires are brand new, if i decided to sell them on ebay or wherever, what do a barely used set of Bridgestone Potenza's go for?
- is anyone else running these size tires? comments?

Thanks for any help/advice

David in LA

If you have any concerns whatsoever IMHO you should go ahead and roll the rear fenders...even just a slight roll may prevent a potential catastrophe. As long as you you don't have 4WD then those tires will still work ok but I agree they may look somewhat odd as the rear profile is too tall...the rear should be either 265/35, 275/35, 285/30 or 295/30. I believe 10" Carrera 3's came with 295/30 so my guess is the PO was a cheapskate when it came to replacing the rears.

Peter B

I don't know if yours is a C4, but if it is then there will be problems with the rolling radius which may affect the front & rear differentials....
265/40 is not the correct sidewall height and gives a larger rolling radius than the front tyre.
Look at www.alloywheels.com and try their calculator

godxilla

I just took a good look at the gap. i think that I should roll it about 5mm. I have a wooden baseball bat, but am a lil concern about cracking the paint. Is it real easy to crack?

Thanks

993_Pilot

If you're going to do it, I think that the general consensus is to use a heat gun / blow drier to warm up the area.