[na-STi]

When I was rotating my tires today, I noticed that the front fender liner has a hole worn into it. I am running Advan A046 on my stock 7.5 in BBS rims. Lowered on JDM pinks and RCE lowering camber plates. - 2.5 camber, 0 toe up front.

Should I cut the fender liner to provide more room? I actually wanted to run 245/40/17 RE01R's soon. Is this out of the question since I am already rubbing the fender liner with 235/45/17's?

Here are some pics:

[utah_gonz]

I would leave it and let it wear on it's own.

[importfanatic17]

Originally Posted by utah_gonz

I would leave it and let it wear on it's own.

Can the fender liner mess up the tire though?

[2blue4usti]

Originally Posted by importfanatic17

Can the fender liner mess up the tire though?

Not the liner, but anything behind it.

[Szumita]

rub a dub dub

[mug23]

How could you be hitting the fender liners with only 235/45/17? There are many people using 255/40/17 which is almost the same diameter as your size and they don't have that problem. I'm running 245/40/17 with RCE coilvers and I have a lot of room left. I'll be running 275/35/18 soon and I don't think it will hit the fender liners.

What offset wheel are you using? It has to be something wrong either with your springs, struts, etc... I would check and see because the size of you tires are not that big.

Look at this thread with pictures of people running 245/40/17's.
245/40/17 RE 01R, Pictures on car.

[na-STi]

Originally Posted by mug23

How could you be hitting the fender liners with only 235/45/17? There are many people using 255/40/17 which is almost the same diameter as your size and they don't have that problem. I'm running 245/40/17 with RCE coilvers and I have a lot of room left. I'll be running 275/35/18 soon and I don't think it will hit the fender liners.

What offset wheel are you using? It has to be something wrong either with your springs, struts, etc... I would check and see because the size of you tires are not that big.

Look at this thread with pictures of people running 245/40/17's.
245/40/17 RE 01R, Pictures on car.

I wish I knew. I think the problem started after I got my latest alignment to -2.5 camber up font.

[mug23]

I guess you have camber plates? If you do, you can set the stock camber bolts to as positive as you can on the top bolt(just the top bolt since the bottom is not adjustable) and use the camber plate to re-set your -2.5 camber.

By setting the stock camber bolts to positive, you'll gain some extra room on the most top part of your wheel/tires to the strut. Maybe that will help you on this issue.

[na-STi]

Originally Posted by mug23

I guess you have camber plates? If you do, you can set the stock camber bolts to as positive as you can on the top bolt(just the top bolt since the bottom is not adjustable) and use the camber plate to re-set your -2.5 camber.

By setting the stock camber bolts to positive, you'll gain some extra room on the most top part of your wheel/tires to the strut. Maybe that will help you on this issue.

Hmmm. Interesting. I'll have to ask my alignment guy about that.

[na-STi]

Do you think that this is causing the inside of my tires to wear? At first I thought that it was due to the -2.5 camber but I ran -2.0 before this and i had no tire wear on the inside.

[mug23]

Maybe so. Think about it, if you make the top stock camber bolt as positive as you can, the whole contact patch of the tire will be more perpendicular to the ground, right?

I think by doing so, you can reduce inside wear of the tire and just use the camber plate to get the negative camber and you may even get more cornering force due to more contact patch to the road!!!

Let me know how it goes if you decided to try it...

[T3h_Clap]

Mug,

having -2.5 degrees camber is measured at the wheel, how you get it (bolts or plates) doesn't effect the angle of the wheel. they both do the same thing, just go about it different ways.

although they both have their negatives.

the tire will ultimately be in the same location at -2.5 camber, the only difference will be the relation to the strut.

also, it doesn't appear you're hitting the fender (paints still on it).

it looks like you've already cut away the liner.

if you start polishing the inside of the fender or you eat a fenderliner then you'll want to change something.

also -2.0 and -2.5 is a large difference in camber. -2.0 is as far as i'd go on a street driven STi, any further and you need to do alot of aggressive driving to counter the inside tire wear.

[chaos311clarity]

im with clapper on this. -2.5 is too much camber.

[mug23]

Originally Posted by T3h_Clap

Mug,

having -2.5 degrees camber is measured at the wheel, how you get it (bolts or plates) doesn't effect the angle of the wheel. they both do the same thing, just go about it different ways.

although they both have their negatives.

the tire will ultimately be in the same location at -2.5 camber, the only difference will be the relation to the strut.

also, it doesn't appear you're hitting the fender (paints still on it).

it looks like you've already cut away the liner.

if you start polishing the inside of the fender or you eat a fenderliner then you'll want to change something.

also -2.0 and -2.5 is a large difference in camber. -2.0 is as far as i'd go on a street driven STi, any further and you need to do alot of aggressive driving to counter the inside tire wear.

Of course camber is measured at the wheel, where else could you measure it at? through the struts???

I'm currently running -2.7 to -3 but it not my DD and I strictly use it for track only and I never ran into issue like his.

What I'm trying to get it you can get up to -1 camber through the bolt and that sometimes can give you a little extra clearance angle from the tire to the strut.

I'm not sure why his fender liner is scraping or have a hole like this. Even running -3 with 245/40/17 tire shouldn't get this problem. Could it be a offset??? So therefore, I was giving a him a little extra idea if he wants to try to use it get resolve his issue. Plus, running -2.5 you are going to get extra tire wear from the inside.

[thunderbird]

The rubbing is a sign of aggressive driving, and will occur even on modest sized tires when the car is pushed to its limits. Didn't you say you're using neova advans? Those are as sticky a street tire as one can buy and darn near as sticky as dedicated autocross tires. A higher spring rate will cure the rubbing problem. I read on other forums of other cars, the same weight or lighter than ours, running 1000 lb/in springs up front and 750 lb/in in back.

The liner helps hold your front fender in place, but it doesn't add any structural strength. I cut mine back to reduce the chances of getting the whole liner sucked off when I swallowed a cone. I guess I should just try to avoid the cones.