Help- What caused this? pics

[therotman]

At the top of the wheelwell the metal seems to have been pulled out- what can i do to fix this?

[rcwaldo]

Looks as though your tires are rubbing. Have you changed wheels/tires recently?

[therotman]

nope- i just bought it and it came with these wheels from the dealer in 1980- it does need new tires now

[wente]

my car was like that when I bought it on one wheel - I used a baseball bat and gently rolled it back into place. no problems since. I don't have oversized tires, however, my theory is that the tire probably hit during a hard turn & bump in the road combination.

[HFR_Racer]

Hard cornering causes this because your tires are rubbing. Mine did the same thing only it was on the right front corner since my right front tire sits further outboards than the left-hand side.

Has the car been lowered recently? Be careful and be sure to heat your paint when you roll the fender lip back into position. It may be difficult to do this without breaking the paint in this area.

My $0.02

[stlrj]

Wheels turned left while entering or exiting a driveway will cause the fender to dip and catch the tire tread. That's why front fender wells are cut higher than rear openings to prevent this from happening.

[fhernand]

It appears that your car might have bottom out at some point causing the fender lips to catch the tire. On the upward retraction is when the lip pulls outward. If these are oversized tires, you may wish to roll the lips inward at the fender apex so they don't catch if indeed the car did bottomed out at some point.

[ZOA NOM]

Happened to me when I pulled into a slightly sloped driveway a little too fast. I just rolled it back in with a rubber hammer handle.

[fhernand]

Use a rolled dolly on the inside of the lip and as Zonas suggest a hard rubber mallet.

[therotman]

the tires are 205 55 16 on 7" wheels

the car came "lowered" from the dealer but I think a previuos owner took it even lower

[Chuck Moreland]

You didn't mention the year. Cars through 77 have large fender lips in the rear. Rolling will certainly get you some clearance.

But you may also have a camber issue. Too much positive camber can cause and otherwise correctly sized tire to rub and catch the lip.

[therotman]

it's a 80sc- there is nothing like this on the rear fenders- the pics are of my front passenger side and driver side

[Brother]

I actually raised the front when I owned the car. I never found any mark on the tires. I had this once, but I rolled it back. Again. I have no curb at the end of my driveway. The front was set to euro-height by Jone's Autowerks last march.

[therotman]

did you roll it with a bat? i fell safer about doing it myself knowing it was done before.

Jones kept telling me it was still too low- i like it better low

[Brother]

I think the back is too low. I wanted to raise it. I think the last guy did it by the adjustment bolt only. It does look good low. I'll find a picture of the way it was when I first got it.

I wrapped a tool or pipe in a bunch of rags and used the tire as a lever and bumped it up. I had no idea what caused it.

[Brother]

[yelcab1]

Bad shocks driven aggressively in a turn.

[masraum]

And a note. THose may be the original wheels, but it looks like they've been refinished. I don't think the polished paddles were available in 80, and no fuchs ever came with painted crests on the center cap.

You may have already known that, but just thought I'd let you know just in case.

[therotman]

i know they were refinished- I didn't know about the polished paddles or center cap not being original- thanks

[Jeff Burger]

- Seen this problem several times with 7 inch rims roll the fender and it will go away . you should have cuts on your outside edge of the tire where it caught the lip