screwed

[pattyd]

ok i just got a new paint job and 17 inch rims on my 89 sho. so i put three girls in the back about 120 pounds each lol and my back right tire started rubbing against the side of the fiber glass/metal... like where the metal goes over the top of the tire. Putting my baby girl first i told the girls to get out of the car and walk half a mile home. i can slide my fingers through the left side but barely can on the right side. Can i use a dremel and cut some of the metal off away from the tire with out harming the paint job or what else should i do? i think my chassis is crooked. frown

 

[flosho]

Im not real good with problems with aftermarket rims, but what size 17's are they? What is the offset? I would think you can trim some of the fender and not harm the paint, or it wont be visible.

Sorry im not much help.

Oh yea.. LOL way to make the girls walk home! lol thumb

Thanks
Jason

 

[pattyd]

the rims with the tires are the exact same size as the stock with tires cause i got low profiles.

 

[DHMag]

instead of the cutting the fenderlip, use a piece of wood and hammer and form it. id suggest forming over cutting in this area because the quarter panel is spotwelded to the unibody in the fenderlip area. cutting it will ask for internal rust, eventually leading to body cancer. by forming the lip, you arent removing anything.

 

[pattyd]

little confused about using wood and a hammer to bend the fender lip. do u want me to put wood between the tire and the lip and hammer it up so it bends the lip up? shrug

 

[Porkchop]

I think what he was referring to is doing this:

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Jack up car, make sure to support it with jackstands
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Take off the wheel and place it aside
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Take a 12-18" piece of 2x4 and place it on the inner fender well lip, vertically ...
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Then use the hammar and hit the 2x4 so the inner lip slowly curls up and out of the way.
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Then, if you can get some rust inhibiting paint, the paint may crack and this is just the invite that rust needs.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">
Just take your time with this and do it right.

<small>[ December 14, 2003, 05:49 PM: Message edited by: Porkchop ]</small>

 

[pattyd]

i have a crappy jack and if i start hitting the fender with a 2x4 it might knock the car off the stand i will ask my friend for a jack stand then try it.. if not i have to resort to cutting. thanks

 

[Porkchop]

be very careful cutting your fender, if you cut the welds you will want to shoot yourself.

remember, you want to hit at a more upward angle to bend the metal up. You can get cheapo jackstands at advanced, pep boys, AZ, pretty much anywhere

 

[pattyd]

ok but i have a ? pork chop the fender is curved so when i put the 2x4 flat on the curve the wood wont be totally on the curve so should i bend it back starting all the way on the bottom and work all the way around the fender? sry about all the confusion and ?s but i want to do it right

 

[Yamaha V6]

You can also use a pipe with the car loaded & on the ground & "roll" the pipe through as the car moves forward.

I cut my 91's VERY close, but I wasn't worried about it that much because of the rust that was there anyway.

Also make sure your rear suspension isn't hurting from age & constant overloading.

Edit:
They may be the same width as the original wheels (basketweaves, you have an 89, right?), but the offset may be incorrect. The 16x6" slicer has a +42mm offset, so go from there.

<small>[ December 14, 2003, 09:32 PM: Message edited by: Yamaha V6 ]</small>

 

[SHOguy 92]

Just be careful if you go the hammering route. You hit it to hard and it will crease out and good luck tryingto gt that back in. Don't do anything to drastic because if you mess up rear 1/4's have to be taken off, they don't just bolt up (you probably know this) its just rpicey so be VERY careful.what you could do is, grind back the ip and braze back over it so nothing can get inside the quater. Brass doesn't rust so I'd go with this route that way yo wouldn't have to cut it weld it up and then worry about rust or painting it so it don't rust. If your decent at welding it should be no problem at not be visible.

 

[GR8WYT]

I have trimmed the fender lips on my car and I will post some pictures later today. I was told in no uncertain terms by several bodymen not to use the "rolling" technique on these cars because of the way the fender lip is formed. There are two sheets of steel that are tack welded together and they do not roll well. At best, you get a bad bend, at worst you get broken paint and broken welds. Trying to roll the metal at the front of the wheel well where the plastic spat is located is doubly tough. I ended up having to cut the plactic too.

Of course there will be a number of individuals that will disagree with that, I'm just telling what my experience has been.

Stay tuned for pics.

 

[sdpatt]

GR8WYT:
I have trimmed the fender lips on my car and I will post some pictures later today. I was told in no uncertain terms by several bodymen not to use the "rolling" technique on these cars because of the way the fender lip is formed. There are two sheets of steel that are tack welded together and they do not roll well. At best, you get a bad bend, at worst you get broken paint and broken welds. Trying to roll the metal at the front of the wheel well where the plastic spat is located is doubly tough. I ended up having to cut the plactic too.

Of course there will be a number of individuals that will disagree with that, I'm just telling what my experience has been.

Stay tuned for pics.

I second what is stated above. The tack welds in the rear fender lips hold the two sheets of steel together. Trying to deform them will have a much better chance of changing the complexion of the outer fender than creating clearance for the tires. .

I used a jig saw with a fine toothed metal cutting blade to allow the 35mm offset, 7.5" wide wheels and 225/55-16 tires to fit inside my fenders. I had to cut up to approximately 1 cm of metal, but no farther than 1/2 way into the tack welds. I finished the inside of the cut with a grinder and a fresh coat of paint. The cut edges are now cleaner than the factory edges used to be.

This was a multi-step process and I cut only as much material was needed to provide positive clearance for the tires. Some 225/55-16 tires aer much wider than others.

The plastic spat at the forward edge of the fender erquired significant trimming. The material was cut to about the centerline of the plastic fastener hole. A new hole was drilled in the spat and the fender liner to secure the trim.

Here is a left rear wheel about as far outboard as you can get it inside the fender. A couple of shots of my car. You can see the thickness of the fender lip at the upper front portion of the radius.

 

[pattyd]

ok i took a careful look and saw that i had only 3/16 of an inch to bend which was to small and with what u guys said i took the cutting route and used my dremmal and cut it out with out hitting my new macco paint job. Then i sanded it and now I have 3/4 inch of clearence thumb .. when my dad sits in the back seat on that side it clears with about 1/8 inch of room. Dad weighs 250 lol so i patched up the cutt edge with a thin line of undercoating rubber. All is good for now no more rubbing and im pretty sure i didnt break any welds. Thanks for the help guys

 

[GR8WYT]

Here's the pictures I'd promised. Excuse the dirt. The first one shows the plastic spat area. I had marked it with a felt marker for reference. I removed the spat, ground down the metal using an angle grinder and then trimmed the spat to match. I sealed everything up with self-etching primer and some dupli-colour. The second picture shows the top of the wheel well looking up from the floor. If you look carefully, you can see the Christmas lights on the house reflected in the wheel.

Congratulations on your modifications. thumb

 

[SHODOGG]

This is why I like Gen 2's heh. No problems putting on 17's with 235/45's all around

 

[pattyd]

GR8WYT thats exactly what i did.. it looks just like yours thanks