Rear tire size

[ckelly]

Is anyone else out there running a 275/40/17 on their SC or similar car with no "extra" flare? I'm sitting at 25 inches from ground to wheel lip and get a pretty good rub especially on the drivers side (my fat a$$) during hard street cornering and acceleration or bumps. The suspension is stock and I'm not sure what my best bet is...should I raise the car up a little? Stiffer torsion bars? Drop to a 255? etc??? Anyone with ideas?

[widebody911]

Stiffer bars and bilstein sports in the rear.

[masraum]

and to what is your camber set in the rear

[Jack Olsen]

What torsion bars do you have in back, and what camber settings are you running there?

I ran 275's in back without a problem, but it's pretty much the absolute max that'll fit there.

[ckelly]

Pretty much stock suspension, probably original or at least several year old shocks, original torsion bars. No idea on camber settings, slightly negative but unsure of how much, what should I be running for camber and torsion bars, 23's??

[maxnine11]

are you running spacers?? or are those aftermarket wheels with the early offset?? If you are running spacers, you could change the spacer width to move your wheel within the wheel well. max

[widebody911]

I'd say at leat 28's in the rear; I run 29's and mine's a cab.

[Tyson Schmidt]

The amount of negative camber depends on what kind of driving you do. But purely for fender clearance, you'll need at least 2 degrees negative.

You should put 28mm rear torsions on and replace the spring plate bushings while you're at it. And like they said, Bilstein or Koni sport shocks all around.

Bigger sways wouldn't hurt either.

[Jack Olsen]

Or switch to 255's.

[Harlan Chinn]

Have your inner fenders rolled.

[ckelly]

Okay, inner fenders are rolled, no spacers are on the wheels so that's not an option.
I've considered running 255 victoracer's, is there that much of a difference in appearance or performance from the 275. According to the tire specs it's only about a 1/2 inch narrower. I've got a weltmeister rear sway on the car already, looks to be adjusted all the way to the end of the arms.
I'm planning on using the car for DE events and pleasure driving. Just driving around town and a few open roads, it seems to push pretty hard in the corners, needless to say I'm concerned about that for the DE events, but never done it, so I don't know yet.

[hobieboy]

What size front are you using? You need to balance between the 2. I believe most prefers 225 & 255 combo, or 235/245 with 275.

If you have adjustable sway bar & the car push, you might want to stiffen up the back (ok - or loosen the front).

And Victoracer for mostly street driving? Especially for your initial DE sessions, I think street tires are a MUCH better choice.

[rsr808]

No one has mentioned the root of the problem... Porsche makes the body panel on the left (driver's) side of different than the right (passenger). This has been a problem all the way through the 993s! Any ideas as to why this is so? Can't they get an equal amount of rear fender well clearance on both sides? I'm sure that there is some sort of technical issue/reason from the factory.

Don't believe me? Check out the rear fender clearance on your 911... the left side will be .25-.375 closer to the wheel than on the right side.

Cheers.

[ChrisBennet]

Originally posted by widebody911
Stiffer bars and bilstein sports in the rear.

The Bilstein rears are valved the same for the Sport and HD's from what I can gather. They have the same part #.
Drop down to 255r/225f and save yourself a lot of hassle. The Club Racers run 275/245 but it often involves moving oil lines, shaving spring plate bolts, rolling fender lips, etc. to make it possible. IMO there is no real reason to go to that extreme unless you are racing.
-Chris
EDIT: It seems some years, the SP and the HD rears are the same part # but not all years.

[ckelly]

Actually the fronts are 215's, these are the tires the car came with when I bought and am just trying to get the right setup without wasting a lot of $$. It only gets driven about 1500 miles at most per year, so, I was hoping not to buy a full set of track wheels and tires. I figure if I have to go through 1-2 sets per year, I'm still cheaper than 2 full sets. Other than wear is there any other drawback with running the victoracers on the street?
rsr808 is correct, the left side is about 1/4 inch or so closer than the right. I don't have any other fit problems though at all, except for the occasional rub.
So, if I go with 255r 225f, 28 or 29 mm torsion bars, will I have any regrets or is this a good way to go?

[ChrisBennet]

Leave your rear torsion bars alone unless you are upgrading the front at the same time.
-Chris

[Tim L]

I run 225/255 victoracers on an 84 with no rubbing. I would say you could drive these on the road, when new unshaved, with no problem. After they ware in it might be questionable.

Tim

[hobieboy]

As Tim said, especially after 1 / few DE events, I wouldn't want to drive them on the street when it rains.

And for DE, its always better to start learning with street tires.

I'd go for 225/255 combo & leave the torsion bar alone for now.

[ckelly]

I'd change the front torsion bars at the same time, definately, as well as do the shocks front and rear as well.

Why should I leave the torsion bars alone for now?? Wouldn't that help the rubbing of my street tires until I get the 255's and 225's ?

Based on the advice given here, I'll plan on starting with my street tires, as they're almost new. Why are street tires better for learning though?

[ChrisBennet]

Originally posted by ckelly
I'd change the front torsion bars at the same time, definately, as well as do the shocks front and rear as well.

Why should I leave the torsion bars alone for now?? Wouldn't that help the rubbing of my street tires until I get the 255's and 225's ?

Based on the advice given here, I'll plan on starting with my street tires, as they're almost new. Why are street tires better for learning though?

I think larger torsion bars are great but at this point you should get some DE's under your belt. For an example of what it possible on stock torsion bars, watch the Ruf Yellow Bird movie "Fascination" sometime.

The suspension mods you are talking about may not cure your rubbing problem, at least not on the track.

Street tires are better for learning because they slide around and squeal like pigs at lower speeds. I learned a lot driving on the track with street tires for 3 years. You'll learn lessons on street tires that your friends who started using sticky tires right off won't. It's sort of like learning to drive on ice.

-Chris