So a while back i bought a set of mesh wheels from a guy in greensboro for my SE. I spent the time to sand them down, paint them and make them nice and purty and threw on a new set of tires since the old ones were too tall to clear the fenders (185/70R14) and i went with the stock size (205/60R14) well today i got them mounted up on the car and everything and...

they are still too big!

I guess what im asking is what can i do to still be able to run the wheels, but not have such scrubbing issues?...and keep in mind im on a very VERY tight budget...

My first thoughts are to take the new tires back and get the switched to a smaller size...

P.S. in the picture that is with no weight on the car. when i put weight on that fender the fender will touch the tire....

P.S.S. here is a before and after picture of the wheels.

 

You could roll the fenders a bit, that's cheap...

 

well that was my first idea but then i realized that it was stickin out a lil too far to do that

 

Get a lower profile tire, should solve your problem. Unless you can't exchange them.

 

if you can't exchange teh tires...

get some coilovers and camber plates you'll be able to make 'em fit

i'm running 195 60 15... no problem

 

Oh, yeah. Those are stickin' out more than I thought!

Another route is fender flares, ZG flares off older Nissan/Datsuns can be made to fit with a bit of trimming. A lot of people would rather not cut into factory sheet metal though, I don't know how you feel about it.

 

with the amount of rust on your car i'd say just fender flares...

 

Stock fitment for SE's was 195/60-14's - your wheel offset is wrong. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the wheels you have are likely the Epsilon mesh wheels meant for widebody RX7's, except for the bolt pattern spacing.

You could try taking the tires back and exchanging for 195/60-14's, which should be better, but you're only talking about 1cm in width that is split between both inside and outside, so that's not going to completely fix your problem.

The long term solution is to get the right wheels and tires on that car. Rubbing will quickly lead to cut tire treads (possibly dangerous to you and anyone near you) and damaged fenders ($$$ for bodywork).

Those aren't safe to drive, as is.

 

LD: I think you mean that the stock fitment is 205/60-14.

I agree that the problem is with the offset. The GSL-SE typically needs a high offset wheel (around 40 mm). The 12A cars typically use around a 17-25mm offset. The needed offset does change with wheel width, so you might need something a little different if running wider than stock.

 

Well I still have the stock wheels that came with the car, I am not so much worried about the width of the tires...more the height of the sidewall...i know a 205-60 will have a taller sidewall than a 195-60 because the "60" is related to a percentage of the width of the tread...or something close to that. I just dont know how much of a difference it would be.

 

I'm running 195/60/14. Its a good bit wider than the 185/70/13's and it still keeps the speedo the same.

 

205/40r17 on mine, no issues here..your wheel offset is the problem.

 

longduck you might want to check your info, my car says 205.

i think i'm +27ish on a 7 " running 195 60 15s and no clearance issues

 

You might try a 215/50 size. Would be a bit shorter, but I can't see the pics right now so I don't know how much more clearance is needed.

Maybe just take a step back and do it the right way. Sell the meshies you've got and get something that fits your car. If the wheels were sticking "in" too far, rather than "out" too far, then you could use some spacers. But since you are sticking out too far, you're kinda screwed unless you go the wide body route...



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4 choices, coilovers to raise the body, fender flares, (I have a write up in the archives on how to trim the sheet metal flares to install the Datsun flares), go with a much lower profile tire, (40/50, if they even make them in a 14" tire), different wheels. As a side note, what is the wheel brand, backspacing and wheel width? If they are Epsilons then they are very rare in the SE bolt pattern and will sell easily for 600+. If you're interested, I have a pair of SSRs, 15X7, SE bolt pattern. $300 shipped with the centers freshly powdercoated in gloss black, 250 as is. Back spaceiing is 4-1/2".

If you weren't so far away, I'd say bring your car here and I could trim out the steel flares and install the Datsun ones. Simple easy solution and the car would look really sharp.

Measure the distance that the outer edge your current tire protudes past the outer edge of the fender, front and rear. Your setup looks very similiar to what I had with the Epsilons, which eventually led to my installing the widebody kit. Had I known that the ZG flares were a viable option, the widebody may have had an entirely different look. The Epsilons would have worked fine, with the oem spring height since the car came with them when I bought it. Installing lowering springs killed whatever clearance I had.

I've found this website very useful for virtual test fitting different tire/wheel combos.

http://www.wheelsmaster.com/rt_specs.jsp

 

Well to be honest, I have no idea the brand of the wheels, they have no markings on them at all. and i really havent looked to see what the backspacing is either, i got a good deal on them so i picked them up.

 

add 1 degree of negative camber, roll the fender lips so the tire won't catch the lip and pull it down (then slice the tire), and consider a switch to a shorter tire.

Carrol Shelby Racing sold wheels for 1st gens that looked a lot like these. Mesh style with machined aluminum lip. . I had some gold ones 13x6 12a bolt pattern. 205/60/13 was the perfect fit.