new jamex sportline kit, tyre rubbing problem..

[supernova9635]

hi guys,

hope someone can help..

firstly the car.. last week i bought a mint conditon '97p golf vr6 3dr in satin silver with cloth and climate. it has one previous owner and only 51,000 genuine unabused miles. well taken care of is an understatement..the service booklet is stamped every 3000miles! lol! 

i got it last week, it's totally standard, and it just screemed through an mot with no advisories. yesterday, i had the original bbs alloys refurbed and they look great in thier restored original finish.
tomorrow, it goes for paint..small blisters on bottom of driver door, arches etc...its already very tidy, but it derserves to be mint. im sure you'll all agree..

unhappy with the ride height and to make it look a little lower, more like aa GTi, i got a jamex sporstline kit with lowering spirings and shocks fitted today. it was supossed to lower the car 30mm front and 25mm rear.. but, job done and it looks more like 40mm front and 60mm rear! im not happy with the look.. i will have the rear raised a bit..

the problem..

the front passenger side tyre is rubbing slightly on the spring cup.. the guys who fitted the kit told me i need to get smaller front tyres.. the tyres i ahve are 205/50/15. they say i need to replace the fronts with a 45 profile (195-205 /45/15).

obviously, i dont want to have to buy 2 new smaller tyres when the ones i have are in great nik.. but im thinkning to myself, what do you guys with 17's and 18's do if i cant have 15's on mine without problems???

is the garage telling me the wrong thing? would alloy whel spacers be a better idea? any ideas?

[boneybradley]

I'm surprised your having issues with std size tryes    mine was much lower than that and it didn't rub on the front but you could try 195/50's with a squarer side profile (fulda's are good at this) but i would get the camber and tracking checked as this could cause rubbing!

[supernova9635]

thanks for your reply,
they say they cant do the tracking or camber until the tyres are dealt with 1st..
the driver side is fine, butt he tyre is differnt shape.. maybe i should look for a different shaped tyre instead of 2 smaller tyres..
still confuesd though.. how do you get 17's on there lol.. thanks for you help!

[boneybradley]

17's with 205/40's fit fine even fairly low and I don't know of any with problems... I don't understand why they can't sort the camber etc but change the trye (try a pair of fulda ze512 or toyo for good non bulgy sidewalls)

[jase16gti]

17's will have smaller profile tyres so rolling radius should be same as the 15

[supernova9635]

thanks for your replies guys.

you say go for 195/50/15 tyres, but would adding a 5mm spacer to each alloy not have the same effect as reducing the width of the tyre from 205-195? the garage told me to get a 45 profile tyre.. (195 or 205/45/15).. this means they want to reduce the height of the tyre, not the width..
cheers for the replies!

[boneybradley]

I had a few issues with 205's when i fitted spacers so went for 195's and it didn't rub anywhere even at -75/85mm!! it only rubbed on the road sometimes! 
i don't know why there saying 45's? 

[Wayne]

205/50/15's should not rub, switch to 195/50/15's ad you should be fine.

[Paul86S2]

definately sounds like you have too much camber on the one side.

Changing the suspension will have altered the camber. There will be a differance from side to side tolerances anyway but you should be able to get it to work.

Find a local tyre place that offer a 4 wheel alignment and get them to put it on their machine. Golf 2wd can only be set up on the front wheels but a 4 wheel alignment place will definately be able to set up the front camber.

Any suspension change even just lowering will change your alignment and you will need it reset afterwards.

Get it checked and set if neccessary, if they cant get it within spec with the tyres you have fitted they will let you know.

Don't know what area you are in but if you have a Protyre near you they are very good. I had a specific alignment done a couple of weeks ago and they talked me through the whole process and showed me the before and after results. It took them nearly an hour and a half to get it as close to what I wanted as they could and only charged me the standard price which the operator said would normaly take him 15 minutes.

A full alignment will cost less than a new tyre and you need it done anyway. If they then tell you you need a new tyres you won't have lost anything in the long run.

Good luck getting it sorted.

Paul