So I reluctantly lowered the car by purchasing the Tokico HPK to replace my aging shocks and springs a year or so ago. Stock replacements from Mazda were retarded expensive and I figured there would be no harm in lowering the car a bit. In fact, it does look a ton better.
However, lowering the car caused my tires to rub against the fender wells in some situations. Where there is plastic liner to hit, it has rubbed through the plastic, which is in two places. The front driver's side when turned hard right, and the very rear of the rear driver's side given passengers in the back and/or a hard enough bump. You can also see where the other tires have hit the metal fender well and rubbed them to a metallic shine as well.
My wheels are stock and my tires are stock size and same brand at least, 215/45/17, RE760. So it has to be the inch or so of lowering that has caused the problem.
What I am wondering though is if using spacers would back them off the wheel well enough to save my fender liners. It seems like there is some room to spare between the tire and the fender itself to move the wheels out a bit. How much is hard to say, and whether or not it would help is also debatable. Spacers aren't exactly cheap, but would be cheaper than a wheel with less offset.
I am curious what others have done. I am guessing most people just live with it, but it would be nice to be able to carry passengers and not cringe over every bump. Might be worth a shot to go to a 5mm or possibly a 10mm spacer. A flusher wheel would look better as well.
However, lowering the car caused my tires to rub against the fender wells in some situations. Where there is plastic liner to hit, it has rubbed through the plastic, which is in two places. The front driver's side when turned hard right, and the very rear of the rear driver's side given passengers in the back and/or a hard enough bump. You can also see where the other tires have hit the metal fender well and rubbed them to a metallic shine as well.
My wheels are stock and my tires are stock size and same brand at least, 215/45/17, RE760. So it has to be the inch or so of lowering that has caused the problem.
What I am wondering though is if using spacers would back them off the wheel well enough to save my fender liners. It seems like there is some room to spare between the tire and the fender itself to move the wheels out a bit. How much is hard to say, and whether or not it would help is also debatable. Spacers aren't exactly cheap, but would be cheaper than a wheel with less offset.
I am curious what others have done. I am guessing most people just live with it, but it would be nice to be able to carry passengers and not cringe over every bump. Might be worth a shot to go to a 5mm or possibly a 10mm spacer. A flusher wheel would look better as well.
