Does the baseball bat work?

[1.2gees]

I put 50 miles on newly rebuilt engine/turbo yesterday. I have factory spacers from the rear of my early 944 in the rear of the turbo running stock phone dials with 225/50/16 tires (I think danno had done this).
I had planned to go to 245/45/16, but if these are rubbing (only at full throttle in 2nd/3rd specially over bumps) is there anyway to squeeze another 10mm from the fender? It's only rubbing on the driver's side. I had my fenders rolled on my other 944, but funds do not allow that option this time. I've heard of many people 'rolling' the fenders with a wooden baseball bat. Does that trick really work? Anything to watch out for or other options? I'd appreciate some light here.
Ahmet

[yOnKiNaToR]

well, i know it works on hondas. i wouldn't doubt that it would work on porsches.

[Blackfoot]

i asked the body shop owner who repaired my 911 the same thing. said with a smile that if i wanted to gamble against it cracking the paint, go right ahead. i'd say it's a risk...one i wasn't prepared to take. but if you have a bad paint job that's going to be redone soon, it may be worth it. if you do try it, try to get the fender paint as hot as possible (flexible).

[kenny]

Paint is expensive and the amount of performance you will gain with 3/8's of an inch in extra tire width ain't worth it IMHO. I also occasionally have a smidgin of rubbing and will leave the tire sizes stock.

[arnebret]

Hmm, rubbing?? I have 255/40 on 17" rims at the back with 205/40 on the front. The only complaint i'm having is that the tires are so sensitive to pressure and are tramlining extremly. A tire spec once explained to me that the PO had put some semi-racing tires on the cars that where A) Very sensitive to settings B) Very sensitive on the road, which is all great to drive Very fast. The Very draw-back: C) They are VERY expensive.

But i never had any problems where the wheels thouched whatever part of the car.

[1.2gees]

Originally posted by 1.2gees
I have factory spacers from the rear of my early 944 in the rear of the turbo running stock phone dials with 225/50/16 tires.

[951carter]

it works, just take your time. also make sure to scrape the undercoating out first or it won't bend up all the way. the only time i have seen people have a problem doing this is if the car had been repaired in that area before

[1.2gees]

My car's been painted, I may not do too much about it I think I'm going to stick to 225s for a while longer instead.

Carter, are you coming to the 24 hour auto-x in charlotte at the end of this month? I think a lot of people from rennlist are going to be there it'd be nice to see you there too. I'm trying to get my car together for time trialing @VIR mid next month do you still do track events?
Ahmet

[COLDBASS]

1.2gees,

Not sure how much clearance you can expect, however, "shine" the baseball bat and purchase a few feet of a wood clothes rod or large dia wooden dowel. This is much softer wood than the baseball bat and works better against the riged steel fender lip. Next get a heat gun and "warm" the fender lip. Get a few beefy friends (at least 200 lbs each and have them bounce the bumper as you roll the rod/dowel against the tire. It seems that if you cut the correct length to achieve an angle that would allow one end of the rod to rest on the concrete ground and the other end approx 1-2" inside the fender while resting of the tire works best. I rub a bit of wheel bearing grease to the fender lip. Be careful not to over-heat the metal...

Good Luck

Bob

[951carter]

Ahmet,
I haven't had much time lately to do anything =(
I have not been using my car too spirited lately due to the brake booster taking a dump. I have been putting off that crappy job for awhile AND my wastegate took a dump the other day. I have been driving Todd's old car for awhile, the white 88.

[1.2gees]

Sorry to hear that Carter...

I hope you can make it to a track event though it'd be nice to see you along with a lot of other 944/turbos at the end of this month.

Anyway, thanks for all the replies I'll stick to 225s, and if the next set doesn't rub (or doesn't rub as bad) I might leave everything alone.
Ahmet

[Z-man]

Ahmet:
FWIW: I upgraded my rear tires to 245/45/16 on my S2 and have no rubbing problems, even this past weekend at DE at Watkins Glen!

Can you mount the tires without the spacers? I'd opt for fatter tires over spacers myself...

-Zoltan.

[kenny]

I sould be more specific -- I don't know that the ocassional rubbing (maybe once or twice over the year I've owned the 951) is actually rubbing on the lip itself -- I just heard rubbing. I've never had the wheels off and don't know whether or not there are any spacerd installed -- I presently running the factory Fuchs (16's)

[Racerbvd]

I just tried a new way, as the bat takes two people and the friend who would be best to help is in the Hospital. I have a DE this weekend but the 17s were hitting the outer lip, so after looking, thinking, more thinking, I came up with this idea.

First, I got a small 1/4 inch board, a shop rag, 2 clamps and a pair of Vise Grips.
After clamping the board, with the cloth between the fender & board, then starting in the center, clamped the Vise Grips, and went out, re-clamping side by side until I covered the area needed rolling, then I tightened the Vise Grips and repeated the entire process until the lib was flush. And after removing the clamps, the paint had no new damage. Test drive had no rubbing.

[ronin]

Ahmet, sorry if I missed it in the thread, but what length lug bolts are you using with the spacers?

[Eldorado]

4 year old thread ronin.. dont know if he comes by here anymore...

[ronin]

sheesh, teach me to look at the date next time. way to bring 'em back from the dead, Byron

[Racerbvd]

Originally posted by ronin
sheesh, teach me to look at the date next time. way to bring 'em back from the dead, Byron

New tech is never out of date