modding shallow fender wells for lowering...?

[not yellow]

just ordered a set of H&R coilovers. looking to lower my ride by a good 2+ inches. i noticed that the front fender wells are very shallow and look like a prime candidate for rubbing on hard bumps/corners. has anyone modded/cut the fender liners to make more room? or have any ideas/suggestions?

 

[STRICK-]

there is no more room. I lowered my BCs so far on my stock wheels ate through the fender liner, right into a huge welded seam. Any lower and it would have cut the tire in half right down the middle. Mazda sure didnt leave any extra space for us to play...lol

 

[not yellow]

hmmm... that's too bad. maybe if i just remove the fender liner on top i can at least get a small amount of extra room. but then am i putting myself at risk of eventually having rusty fenders?! perhaps i could line the inside of the fender with a durable adhesive material to help protect it...

 

[STRICK-]

take off your fender liner and youll see the big metal fender rail underneath . It would have to be ground down and im uncertain if it would compromise the structural integrity or not.

 

[not yellow]

haha.. doesn't sound too promising. any idea how close you were/are to the liner to cause rubbing?

 

[STRICK-]

i dont have exact measurements,but really close. I only ran my dampers at 16/30 because any stiffer made for a poor DD ride. if i stiffened them up it might have been ok

 

[madvillian]

believe it or not the back two fenders always caused far more trouble than the fronts. if i were you, i wouldn't mess with any of the plastic fender liners in there though, they are there and are important for many reasons

 

[STRICK-]

believe it or not the back two fenders always caused far more trouble than the fronts. if i were you, i wouldn't mess with any of the plastic fender liners in there though, they are there and are important for many reasons

x10

 

[CnoTataymo]

Aren't you running MX-5 wheels right now? If so, and the tire size is 215/45/17's, you'll be fine. Nothing will happen to the plastic fender lining. The overall diameter of the MX-5 wheel/tire is way smaller than the stock MS3 wheels/tires. Just lower the car and start from there.

 

[not yellow]

Aren't you running MX-5 wheels right now? If so, and the tire size is 215/45/17's, you'll be fine. Nothing will happen to the plastic fender lining. The overall diameter of the MX-5 wheel/tire is way smaller than the stock MS3 wheels/tires. Just lower the car and start from there.

you are correct on the sizes. i had these wheels tucked under the fender on my MSP, just not looking like i can go that low with the MS3... which is fine. i'll just have to mess around with the ride height until i find the sweet spot. also looking to pick up some 18x8 at some point which will change things a little bit, but rocking the MX-5s for now.

 

[CnoTataymo]

What 18x8's are you thinking about getting?

 

[not yellow]

don't know yet, been looking around at different options. i want something clean and 5 spoke. it's nothing that hasn't been done, but i absolutely love RX-8s!

 

[MM BOOST]

For the record, my setup is BC coils with front a few threads from the bottom in the front, and I was having rubbing issues on full lock and bumps with wheel turned. I had 18x8.5" rota svn's with 235/40/18 tires at +48 with 5mm spacers, effectively +43. I went inside the fender line and cut down all the parts near the front that buldged out that would rub, I now have no rubbing issues up front. Just wanted to let ya know. It wasn't extreme modification, I just took a pocket knife and cut slivers out of the parts that poked out that werent smooth and followed the contour of the fender liner.

 

[nickster]

Why don't you just roll the fenders?

http://www.rollyourfender.com/

You can also do the same thing as the link above with the handle of a wooden hammer. Keeping the wheels on, jack the car up just a bit to fit the hammers handle between the tire and the fender lip. Bring the hammer down slightly and roll it along the tire... doing this will bend that fender lip upward, getting it out of the way of your tire. Go back and fourth moving the handle down slightly with each pass.

TADA! NO RUBBING!

 

[not yellow]

For the record, my setup is BC coils with front a few threads from the bottom in the front, and I was having rubbing issues on full lock and bumps with wheel turned. I had 18x8.5" rota svn's with 235/40/18 tires at +48 with 5mm spacers, effectively +43. I went inside the fender line and cut down all the parts near the front that buldged out that would rub, I now have no rubbing issues up front. Just wanted to let ya know. It wasn't extreme modification, I just took a pocket knife and cut slivers out of the parts that poked out that werent smooth and followed the contour of the fender liner.

sounds like a decent compromise. the only thing i'd be worried about is getting rock chips, water, grime and eventually rust in the fender well where the liner has been cut away.

i was poking around more today. didn't actually remove the liner, but just pressing on it i could feel areas where there seemed to be lots of room behind the liner and other places there was very little. seems like the weld that strick mentioned is the ultimate limiting factor.

nickster- FYI, we are talking about the liner inside the fender(above the tire), not the edge of the fender where it would be rolled.

 

[nickster]

Gotcha!.. LOL, nevermind. Damn thats slammed!