Hey guys, this is just a follow up of my thread where I ask how people made to fit the 255/35/19 in front since mine were rubbing really bad. A special thanks to those who gave their opinions and Sam (SamboTT) for giving me some pointers and some motivation to try something else. I didn't take too many pics in the process because I was missing time and wasn't sure it was going to work so sorry if it isn't too detailed.

So what I found out is that it was rubbing really bad because the rear of the car was on jack stand (was working on the engine at the same time). When I lowered the car level, it was better but still the clearance was really close. Also, I have some aftermarket wheels on which I don't know the offset. I installed 3mm spacer because I found the clearance between the wheel and the 6 pistons calipers I installed was to small. I removed the spacer and it helped, the turn radius being smaller, it didn't come as close. So first picture is the rubbing with the wheels up in the air. The next two pictures are of the height difference with my old worn 235/35/19 and 315/25/19. (I have 305/30/19 in the rear now)








So my tire setup is higher than my previous setup but the ratio is pretty much the same. In fact, this is why I decided to go with 255 in front and also to help the car on the track with it's slight understeer. So, to gain some clearance in front where it was rubbing, I took out the fender liner and realised that the hump in the liner was because of the radiator bracket. This was the worst part for contact. Taking the bracket off is easy so didn't take any picture but here you can see it on the bench. On the second picture you can see I made two cuts. What you need to do is to bring that portion inward with some force. When you look at the radiator from the side, the bracket will be closer to it. There is a piece or two of plastic on the radiator that I trimmed in order to gain even more space.






The next step is to grind the holes where the 13mm bolt are in order to bring the radiator outward and forward. Don't worry, the bumper will still fit, I was afraid it wouldn't but it did and it doesn't show at all. I don't have any picture of that but in consequence of moving the radiator outward, the bracket in the back doesn't fit anymore because the stud isn't long enough. You'll have to figure something out to make that stud longer, I forgot to take some pictures of this but it was kind of complex. Here is a picture of what it looks like once installed, you can see the 1/2" space between the bracket and the car.



Oh yeah, you might have some surprise when you remove the radiator duct, take your time and clean it out carefully.



Here is a picture of the before and after, you can see the difference of clearance, I tried to take the same angle.

 

There is still some rubbing in the back of the wheel well, in the rear inner fender but it only rubs when you turn the wheel completly so this mean you are going at a very slow speed. I will try to work it with a heat gun and take some pictures but that won't be before a couple of weeks, i will add the pics later.

 

Hi Pumalex, any updates after your modifications?

 

yeah well i never put back the front plastic so no rubbing in front but it does rub a little at the back, nothing too bad though, you just need to accept the fact that when you turn the wheel more than 1/2 a turn in a parking lot you will hear it scrub.

 

Did you get any issues with PSM, either when the tires were new, or at any time during their life as they wore down?

The rotational diameters are very close at .2" difference, but the wrong way i.e. the rear is larger than the front. This tends to cause PSM to kick in when going slowly and turning sharply. Yes I know this topic has been beaten to death and it's within the 3% max difference, but there's still the PSM issue when the rears are larger than the fronts.

 

nope didn't get that, the psm is very forgiving, i track the car with is and it barely comes in

 

I like the color of you wheels ... do you have full pictures of it?

 

thanks, here it is

 

Reviving this thread, I'm looking at getting about 1/4" more room on the front braket hump in the fender liner. It's kind of difficult to tell, but are you moving the whole radiator with the bracket of does the radiator stay in it's existing location and the bracket is moved forward. I don't see how you could move the radiator itself without moving the piping, etc..

Thx...

 

no radiator stays in the same place, it is only the guard that you bend and move

 

By "guard" you mean the radiator bracket? I'm still trying to figure out how you gain more room if the radiator stays put. Is there some spacer that gets removed between the radiator and the bracket so that the bracket can be positioned closer to the radiator body thus creating more room for the tire? Sorry for the dumb questions.

 

well look at the pictures closely, i cut the bracket to bend it inward towards the radiator. From reading back the thread i did move the whole radiator and bracket forward and outward of the car a little bit, everything still fits fine, read the thread again.

 

I have but it's just always hard to picture this in your head exactly. I am assuming you can move the radiator out and forward a bit because there is enough flex in the rubber coolant hoses to allow some movement?

 

yes exactly, we are talking about probably less than 1/2". The part that helped the most was to bend the bracket to give more space for the tire.

 

Ok, great. I'm looking for maybe 1/4" of extra room at most so just bending the bracket without moving the radiators may be enough in my case. I'm assuming the bumper HAS to come off to do this, not just the fender liners?