Rear Tires Scraping. Options?

[kylehamilton79]

I bought wheels and tires a few years ago and didn't notice major scrapes until I moved from West TX to the Hill country of TX. I researched and went by the chart I found on here for tire figment. I have 17x8, 4.5 backspace, zero offset, and 245/45/17 on back. I replaced the rear soft springs with 4.5 leaf mid-eyes a few years ago too.

My car scrapes at even minor road imperfections and consequently I don't really drive it much anymore because of that. I don't know which steps will fix my problem since I've invested some money in new parts already.

I haven't found anyone yet that can roll the rear fenders and don't really want to change springs again and buy smaller tires. I like the ride height and look but something has to be changed to have a functional car again. Any ideas?

 

[kylehamilton79]

 

[tos]

Eastwood sells a fender roller for about 80 bucks and there are even cheaper ones out there to do it yourself.
Or depending on how bad they are rubbing you can take a wiz wheel and trim the lip back.
I don't know what you've got invested in your rear-end but you could also switch a 65/66 year rear-end which I think is 2 inches narrower giving you 1 inch on each side?

 

[kylehamilton79]

Thanks! I ordered the fender roller tonight so hopefully that works and I can stay low and lean! That should free up some money for other upgrades if it works. I'm thinking LED headlights next.

 

[tos]

Cool, Keep in mind too that the rear fenders are a little harder to do than the front due to the inner fender wells.

 

[kylehamilton79]

I got the fender roller and it wouldn't fit since my car is lowered even with the suspension drooping as much as it could. The wheel drum is still too close to the fender lip to set the tool up. But I did see that the tires are hitting further up inside the fender well so rolling wouldn't help anyways.

Now I've gotta figure out which option will make me have less issues. Wheels are only available in one other backspace at $250 a wheel. My current BS is 5x4.5. Don't wanna do new springs again since it will give me a big rake. Smaller tires won't have the look I want so I'm gonna take it to the body shop and see what they say.

 

[tos]

65/66 rear end? It will give you an inch on each side. You may have to move the spring perches out to match the width of your
leafs. Don't know if this will work for you but it might be worth checking out before hacking into your inner fender wells. Other than that, another backspacing.

 

[horse sence]

The spring pads will be in the same place ,it is a direct bolt in .The 66 rear end will give you an inch on each side but may cause it to hit on the inner side .It is usually the very front of the inner wheel tub and you may be able to bend the lip in enough to clear .

 

[kylehamilton79]

Thanks. I started looking on Craigslist today but haven't found one yet. I drive around all day for work so I'll keep my eyes open. Any other places to look?