305/35-18 up front question

[Grant 302]

That is a lot of clearance to the bolt, but something is definitely rubbing somewhere. Have you checked for any play in the wheel bearings or ball joint?

I am have wider tires (305) and less back space than the drifts (45 vs 43 mm). I will crawl under my car and see if I can spot anything else that might get into the sidewall.

I always check for play whenever the front wheels are up and for track prep. I'm 100% certain that hasn't been an issue.

Ok, I have a similar wear pattern on the inside of my driver's side tire. But, when I turn the wheel all the way over for a right turn, the wear pattern contacts my brake duct. I am not saying this is your issue, but I would double check it along with looking for any play in the wheel assembly.

Also, for piece of mind and to eliminate the bolt as the possible issue, you can stack a couple of washers where the link mounts to the strut to gain more clearance.

I am re-routing my ducts with longer hoses this winter so that I get more clearance.

Thanks for looking at your car. I have more clearance to the bolt now than when I took those first two pics last year, so I thought the issue was already resolved. I have the passenger side duct pretty well flattened and taped in that area, but will check again for contact marks before my next track day next weekend.

It is obvious that the tire is contacting the strut body. The strut is closer to the tire than the sway bar bolt.

The strut body is closer near the wheel lip, but further in the area of the sway bar bolt and contact area. But I'll keep that in mind next time I have the fronts off. I haven't noticed any rubbing or marks on the (old) strut body, and I've swapped struts since to LS units...so I think I would have noticed. Probably doesn't matter now for me since I've change the front end geometry a bit.

 

[Grant 302]

Changed the oil today...so I looked around on the passenger side duct and there's no sign of contact. Also verified that the bolt sticks out further than the strut body at that point...and that there's no contact on the old strut body.

Unless anybody has any other ideas, I'm pretty sure now that the contact was with the sway bar bolt.

 

[blacksheep-1]

Grab a tire marking crayon and mark the tire, run the car and check for transfer.

 

[steveespo]

Grab a tire marking crayon and mark the tire, run the car and check for transfer.

BINGO! Lipstick works well. Don't let your wife find out though.

 

[Grant 302]

Grab a tire marking crayon and mark the tire, run the car and check for transfer.

Great suggestion, but I'm not putting the tire that close to the bolt again on purpose!

BINGO! Lipstick works well. Don't let your wife find out though.

Yeah, she's already annoyed about my influx of parts and shirts at the moment. I keep telling her that brakes are maintenance and don't count!