Limiting suspension travel

Hello:

Beaverboy thank you for the detail response.

The reason I asked that question was as follows.
I purchased 205/55/15 tires and 15x6.5 40mm rota wheels.
Once installed I noticed the front wheel sticks out too much such that it
would touch the front fender lip if the suspension compressed some
distance.

Of course I am going to roll the rear fender lip but this is
not the end of the story.

The problem with wider wheels is that you actually decrease
the shortest distance to the fender because
the fender is not square shaped
but rather arch shaped.

The stock fenders were designed to accommodate 175cm stock tires
given a certain spring load and rate.

Now if you put 205 wheels your suspension can not travel the same
distance. This means you actually decrease the maximum load
your car can handle without rubbing the fenders.

So in my opinion if you go to 205 wheels you should
either limit the spring travel or get higher rate springs.


In other words if you used to drive your wagon on 175 wheels
with 3 passengers plus some load in the trunk then you did not have
any problems with rubbing.

Now can you carry the same load on your 205 16x7 40mm wheels?




Thank you,



Rob.

Hello:

I purchased Rota Slipstream 15x6.5 and
Continental Extreme Contact 205/55/15.

So far I have not driven the car because I am
also overhauling brakes and suspension.
I switched to 10.25" rotors/calipers and put
energy suspension bushings for the front control arm
and the stabilizer bars.

The hardest part was to replace the control arm
bushings because they sit really tight and
you have to use a puller/ c-clamp to move them.

Beaverboy said:

Well, with MacPherson struts, the front wheels aren't going to travel straight up and down. They follow the angle of the struts.. which are angled inward. Usually as they compress the control arm pushes the bottom out, tipping the top of the wheel even further in (creating more negative camber). It's slight, but it seems to be enough to avoid any rubbing.

Click to expand...

You are right that would solve the problem. I wish it would be enough.

Just in case to be 100% sure I am going to conduct the following experiment.

I will remove the front/ rear spring and use the stock jack
to raise the front/rear wheel to limits to see the whole range of
the suspension travel.

I will post results once I am done.

I found the following link, which thoroughly/technically explains
the rubbing issues.
I think everybody who wants to switch to wider tires might find
this link extremely useful. Our forum is missing such a thorough
treatment of this problem.

http://forum.teamzx2.com/viewtopic.php?t=3040

Thank you,

Rob.