Installed new wheels....1/4" clearance....is this OK?

[Mike Feinstein]

I installed a set of Kinesis 3.6 Turbo replicas on my 94 964 today. They are 18x10 in the back and 18x8 up front shod with B-stone SO2's. I know this is an aggressive setup for my car but I checked with two respected mechanics and the alignment specialist at Jim Ellis Porsche and all confirmed that there would be no problems. The reason for this size choice was to enable me to keep these wheels (they're a bit pricey) so that I can use them on a 993 or 996 that I may buy sometime in the future (offsets are nearly identical).

They look great on the car and it corners like it's on rails. I test-drove about 20 miles and could not induce rubbing. Here's my question. The rear passenger wheel/tire has about 1/4" of clearance from the metal oil return pipe on the innermost wheel well liner. Dave at Wheel Enhancement (a great guy, by the way) assures me that this clearance is static and is fine. If the body were to lean horizonitally, independant of the chassis, it seems that they could make contact. Is this possible under hard cornering? The car is lowered conservatively with H&R springs.

Any comments are appreciated. So far Wheel Enhancement has been a pleasure to deal with in every regard.

Thanks for your help,

[89911]

My car has much more then that amount of clearance and I have numerous rub marks on oil lines and fender walls. Many factors come into play: How hard you drive your car, (DE's autocross), what type of tires you run, the amount of negative camber (More negative camber, more rubbing of inner walls and less chance of outer wheel arch lips, and tire pressure to name a few. I was amazed how far the tires and wheels flexed in some spot to make contact. If you not driving your car hard, don't worry. If you are, it's good to check constantly for rubbing.

[J Richard]

Mike,

I'm with 89911 on this one, I think you are cutting it a bit close, you could have way more than 1/4 of flex if you consider the control arm bushing flex, and tire distortion in a hard corner. (and I assume you have the car for hard corners).

I would run it for a while and see if you rub. I'm guessing you will, but if it is excessive just get a set of 10MM or so spacers and move the wheels out just a tad. Just watch for rubbing on the inner fender, it's easy to blister the paint.

Regards

[RarlyL8]

The closest rub point is your metal oil return line?

Check the lower suspension plate adjustment bolts. Your 18" wheels might clear them completely, smaller diameter wheels do not.

My tires were so close on both widebody cars that I actually ground off some of the bolt head for clearance. Also re-routed the flexable oil lines to make more room.

If the closest spot is a metal line, and it will potentially rub your sidewall NOT the wheel, then you are OK. Just keep an eye on it.

When I throw the car around hard (such as autocross and trips to the grocery store) the inner sidewall will rub just enough to clean the dust off, so I keep a close eye on it.

Also, if you rub on occasion while alone expect more with a passenger.

[Mike Feinstein]

Just took a careful look at things. The oil tube is definately the closest possible contact point. The oil tube runs horizontally along the backside of the wheel well at a height about two inches above axle height. It is actually a flattened piped that is clearly designed this way to hug the fender well. This means that for rubbing to occur, flex would have to take place in the toe-in/toe out direction rather than the +/- camber direction. Can't imagine how this could occur even under hard cornering (would expect flex in the up/down direction but not front to back).
Does this make sense?

Anyway, I removed the wheel and looked closely and so far, no rub. I sprayed the section of oil tube with a fresh coat of undercoating so rubbing should be easy to see.

[MBAtarga]

Mike,

I guess since this was not a do-it-yourself job, there was no beer in it for me to supervise the work! I bet the setup looks great - I'd expect some pictures soon....

[Mike Feinstein]

Thoroughly tested, with and without passenger....high speed sweepers, low speed slalom and NO rubbing...I'm a happy guy.

Here's a pic:

[jkcrewsn]

Very nice Mike!