flyboy1294

After a few weeks of craigslist hunting I finally found a good deal on tires and wheels for my Mustang. 17x9's with brand new Nitto 275/40 R17s mount on them !

Anyway I mounted them up, and I'm getting some rubbing with the 275's in the front. Is this too wide of a tire for my application? It was my understanding that I could run 275's all around. I've seen some members on this site run that setup along with seeing some Mustang's at car shows.

Any help would be appreciated greatly. Thank you!

Jazzer The Cat

The tire is not too wide, but rather the off-set of the wheels is not ideal. My guess is they are rubbing on the outside of the fenders and sounds like these would be wheels designed for an SN95 Mustang.

Pull a wheel off and measure the back-space ***HERE*** and let us know what it is.

Jazzer

flyboy1294

Thanks Jazzer!

I am getting about 25mm offset when I measure. But from what I read that seems to be normal for most aftermarket wheels. Another interesting thing is the wheels were originally bought and put on a 2003 Cobra, and I do not see any rub marks on the tires. So this situation is kind of perplexing. I may try to swing by a tire shop this weekend and let them see what they think.

I do have my stock 17x8 bullitts with the 245/45R17s on them. I guess if I can't find a better solution I can always mount those smaller tires on the front wheels...

NYstang

Have a pic of the wheels?


and when do they rub? if it is at full lock, that is because the 03-04 cobra has limiters so that you cannot turn the wheel to the same point as the other Mustangs for this exact reason.

Jazzer The Cat

They rub because the off-set of the SN95 ('03 Cobra) and your S197 differs by approx. 5/8". They are going to be this much further outward on your car and why the tires rub on the fenders when you turn. There is no solution for this issue other than making more room for clearance upon turning sharp, installing rack-limiters, as NY suggests, or installing a new set of wheels designed for your year

Jazzer

black_on_black

Could a small wheel spacer be used?

flyboy1294

It is close to full lock. I can still steer the car but not as tightly as before.

flyboy1294

Jazzer, my Mustang is a 2004 New Edge style Mustang. I'm not totally up to date on the lingo used for these cars yet, but isn't a S197 a 2005+ body style? I would believe that the 03 Cobra and my 04 GT were similar in many ways. But maybe I am wrong...

So no matter what width of tire I run I will still get this rub? Where should I begin searching for rack limiters?

Thank you greatly!

Jazzer The Cat

Oops... my bad Don't know why I thought you had and S197, musta read too quickly after seeing your join-date of 2012. In such a case as this, 275's are fairly common to rubbing up front. They will usually rub on the front sway bar and/or the fender tabs @ 6:00 & 12:00 positions. You can easily bend the little tabs of fenders back farther to solve that issue, if this is part of the problem. The rubbing on the inside is just an issue of not turning as sharply or a set of rack limiters to not allow steering wheel to turn quite soo far. I recommend you just not turn quite so sharp, as rack limiters will remove more steering angle than necessary to avoid rubbing and a bit inconvenient.

Jazzer mis-understood the question

flyboy1294

Not a problem! It seems like most of the rubbing is occurring on the sway bar. I am also partial to the don't-turn-so-tightly method due to the free cost.

With that said, I will be driving the car 105 miles today. If there any problems I'm sure they will rear their ugly heads then.

I'll respond back with pics when its washed this evening!