Tire rub out of nowhere

[geoffsgt]

My rear tires just started rubbing on turns. I put the 305/35-18 Nitto DR's on more than a year ago. Last week i first noticed a little squeak when I turned. Why would this show up all of a sudden? Nothing has changed on the car since the tires went on. I guess I kind of have a lot in my trunk, but nowhere near as much as I had when I drove to Houston this summer, and I had no squeak then.

Only thing I can figure is my shocks/springs are getting old and are just compressing more on turns. Kinda hoping this is the case, as I'd really like a reason to start the suspension work I've been meaning to do. But on that note, if that is the case, how can I go about lowering my ride height without continuing to have rubbing issues? FYI, I'd probably be going with a coil-over set up at the very least.

Help please!

Oh, and it's definitely tire rub, not just some random squeak. You can see marks on both the tire and the fender where it's hitting.

 

[02nightmaregt]

What kind of springs if any do you have? Is it rubbing the quad shock? I have 315/35/17's out back and c-springs and i'm not rubbing. Your sould always roll your fenders.

 

[geoffsgt]

Yar, I tink dis dern ting got some springs on it. Shore do bounce a lot

No but really..... 100% stock suspension. It's rubbing on the fender, then the suspension compresses on one side when turning. Especially if it's a bumpy turn.

 

[COramprat]

My guess is you have worn out shocks and they are a bit more lively now. I dropped my car 1.5 inches and I get some front rub on stock tires. I'm hoping spacers will help. I know on the rear with 315's you may have to roll the fenders a bit.

 

[geoffsgt]

Is there any danger to having tire rub? The inside of the fender (where it folds over the wheel well) is actually slicing into the edge of one of my tires. I'm stretching the life of these tires already. I'd hate for it to be any shorter.

If nobody else has any ideas, I'm thinking it's time to see how much money I can spare right now and put together a shopping list

 

[birdman941]

.....................

 

[geoffsgt]

I definately do feel some lateral movement back there sometimes.

Tire pressure is fine.

 

[geoffsgt]

So if I go and replace my bushings and then do a coil-over kit front and back and drop the ride height (I'm thinking like 1-1.5 inches), do you guys see me having to get the fenders rolled?

I've never heard of anyone rolling the fenders for this size tire on stock ride height.

Edit: Forgot to mention... Did a burnout today and the tire rub got worse for a few minutes. Let the car sit still for a few minutes and when I got back in it was pretty much back to normal (the normal amount of rub, that is...).

 

[COramprat]

I think you need to find why you have rub at the stock height before you start work on upgrading. It could just make matters worse.

I think with the burnout the car may have sat on the rear and compressed the shocks. Could have taken a few for them to come back. First thing I would go for is some good rear shocks. How many miles on the car?

What size wheels do you have? You probably have some sidewall flex with the wider tire. Mine got really noticable when I went to 275's on stock wheels.

 

[geoffsgt]

The wheels are 18's, 10.5" wide in the back. Car has a little under 50,000 miles on it.

The rub only happens in turns, especially if there is a bump mid way through the turn, so I would think it must be spring or shock related (although I also think my bushings are getting on the old side and need replacing). The gap between the tire and fender looks normal standing still.

50k is pretty long to still be on the stock shocks right?