Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Not my photo, but just what can happen. I will say that a few years back, I had a friend who "thought" he had his clearance issues solved. He refused to roll his fenders as well. However, the tire rubbed while he was at speed on the highway and blew the tire. Luckily he didn't loose control of the vehicle and was able to pull off the road, but it's a senseless risk to take with aftermarket wheels. From my perspective, if you are using aftermarket wheels which are not the same size/offset as the stock wheels, you should roll the fenders on the FD (mainly just in the front).

Needless to say, he got his front fenders rolled the following week.

ZDan

I don't know what car that is ^^^ (80s Mustang?), but you can bet that the OEM tire size is about 3" smaller in diameter and about 2.5" narrower than a fricking 28x11.5x15 drag tire (equivalent size: 295/55-15)!

What car did your friend have, and what wheels and tires did he try to run?

It's not just a question of all non-stock fitments "needing" the fenders to be rolled. The actual wheel offset and tire size matters.

With +40 offset up front, 225/45-17 or 235/40-17 won't be a problem if ride height is reasonable (25"+). A reasonable amount of camber (-1 is the minimum I'd consider for the street anyway, aside from clearance concerns) would buy additional clearance.
Quick search for "safe" fitments on +40 offset reveals general consensus from those in the know that even 245/40-17 should clear, but I'd probably go -2 on camber for that size.

Whether you do it yourself or get a professional, rolling can result in wavy fenders and/or cracked paint. For such a modest fitment, to me it wouldn't be worth it.
The rolling job done by the PO on my rear fenders is not so hot. I had the fronts professionally rolled, still some minor waviness and paint crackage. If I didn't want to run 255s up front, for sure I would have left them unrolled.

For sure the OP doesn't have to worry about a tire rubbing through and blowing out on him, unless he's totally slammed and running massive positive camber, even then highly unlikely...

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

FD, and they were some flavor of Enkei's (this was probably around 2004-5 as most FD owners in this area have sold them).

Doesn't really matter. Point is it can be dangerous, period.

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

I pulled the trigger on the Michelin Pilot Super Sports, and they're fantastic. Don't waste your time on anything else. It used to be that I'd shy away from Michelins, because even if they were good/better, they were ridiculously expensive. Not anymore.

They also look cooler in person/on the car.

HiWire

Excellent - I'm getting Super Sports for my set of tires.

ZDan

Pilot Super Sports are *great*, but honestly I am a little surprised at how very little grip there is below ~45F. Takes very very little to get sideways these days even in Atlanta! Wife's 3 on General G-Max AS-03 has way more grip than my FD! If grip in cooler months is more important than being able to thrash around the track, I think the Pilot Sport A/S 3 might be the way to go. I might get those next time (have another set of wheels/tires for track days).

HiWire

I also considered the A/S 3, but I decided that the Super Sports were more appropriate because I store my FD after track season (mid-late November). I am thinking about getting the A/S 3 for my Saturn SC2 daily driver.

ZDan

It is pertinent to the conversation whether your friend's extreme rubbing issue and subsequent blowout happened with 275/40-17s on +35 offset wheels up front or with 225/45-17 on +40 offset.

I was nowhere NEAR rubbing at cruising speeds on 255/40-17 on +40 offset even with only -0.5 camber and lowered 1" to 1-1/2" (24.8" at middle of the fender opening). It only rubbed occasionally under a combination of steering input and bump travel, and gave exactly the same deformation of the fender lip at the same point as the OP's. There was no wear apparent on the tire, and I ran them that way for probably 8k miles before finally getting the fenders rolled.

Your friend must have had a LOT of continuous rubbing to wear through the sidewall! Which should have been very apparent. I'm betting his wheel/tire setup was not exactly comparable to the OP's.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

We'll never know since that incident was almost 10 years ago (but it definitely wasn't something obscene as you suggest with a 275 on the front). You can continue this strawman debate if you like, but the point still remains that if you use aftermarket wheels with the way the FD fenders are designed, you can rub. Rubbing can cause damage to the tire. The permanent fix for this issue is to modify/roll the FD fender which most owners have done for years. There are workarounds which can aid, but they are just attempts to avoid the problem rather than solve it.

ZDan

Strawman? I merely asked if it was at one extreme or the other. Although I'm pretty sure it *must* have been at the 275 +35 end, because even at 255 +40, the issue isn't anything like bad enough to erode through a tire and cause a blowout.

Yes, and you can know what your relative risk is based on exactly what tire width/height you are trying to run and the wheel offset.

It's weird that you call running reasonable tires and reasonable offsets avoiding the problem instead of "solving" it. If you run 225/45-17 or 235/40-17 on +40 up front, you will avoid rubbing and there's no problem to solve. If you want to run wider and/or taller tires and/or lower offsets, you might need your fenders rolled. That's all there is to it.