Widest front tire?

[Anonymous]

The 235/60/15's didn't rub until the 2" drop spindles. They do rub now, on severe dips in the road. They rub just inside the fender lip at top against the fender liner and the metal behind it.

Replaced the stock lower control arm bump stops and it didn't make a difference. Shimmed them up about 1 inch to see if they would even hit, and it didn't make a difference.

Since these are new tires, I've got about three options. Spring rubber in the front spring (might raise the front, which I don't want), sell the tires and get a smaller size, modify the inner fender. I'm leaning towards the third right now, because I like the way it handles and the rub isn't that severe.

Also dropped the rear 1.5" since that last pic.

I wouldn't recommend 235/60/15 on the front unless you are NOT dropping the front. That's when I ran into issues.

 

[Anonymous]

I have the same aluminum vette rims and had to swap out the 245/60's they had on them. I bought a set of T/A Radials in 215/60 for the front and should know in a day or so if problem is solved. The car is an '84 cutty and I did manage to throw on a set of 275/50's in the rear with only a hint of rub. I plan on bending the lips up a bit and I think it'll be fine after that. My little 6 shooter is feeling the pain though! Must install the 403.....

If the car hasn't been dropped and the springs are good, you should be fine. I had the 235/60/15's on mine without issue until I dropped it 2" in the front.

 

[rjleiker]

I don't know how you feel about this, but Gabriel has some spring assist shocks that say they add 500 lbs of load capacity... they may help with the drop/rub of the front end... may be a cheaper way to fix the problem... I know I had the same issue when I had 235's (or could have been 225's) on the front, but I had old V6 springs in with the V8, so they dropped it about the same, but had much less rigidity...

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tip. I'll consider any ideas. Don't really want to sell the tires unless I have to. They don't even have 500 miles on them.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't have the best shocks up there. They are probably autozone specials. I'm wondering how much difference some good shocks alone would make.

The springs are definitely V8 springs. I put them in myself several years ago.

 

[rjleiker]

I would try it, better shocks are only going to help you anyway. Are the tires rubbing on the fenderwell or the screw holding the fenderwell on? I heard someone say they had this rubbing problem and were going to try to to replace the bolt with just a panel retainer like they use on late models. That's all I can think of at the moment. Look into the spring assist shocks, I've got them and they seem to hold the front pretty steady. Or maybe look into something to get the weight off the front end so you can play with the height a little more since less weight will keep the front from dropping so much under a load, like an Iceman lightweight radiator support, relocated battery to the trunk, aluminum heads/intake, fiberglass hood, etc... these things are theoretically only going to help you out anyway so you may consider it if you really want to keep your tires... Or just get stiffer springs to control bounce too... they may be cheaper than new tires if you can pick the correct stock ones out... I hear the S-10's are quite a bit stiffer and will go right in place of the g-bodies...

 

[Anonymous]

I measured the spring thickness and it looks like I put in heavy duty springs many years ago, so I bought some Moog 5664's and I'm putting them in this weekend to see if that helps.

 

[Anonymous]

If you want 235/60-15 with a 2" drop spindle, you'll need Moog 5664 springs. It fixes the rubbing.