Correcting the rear wheel to fender offset. Options

[Jonny Retrofit]

Hi Guys,

We are running 8 x 15 Fuchs on the back of our narrow body '14. With careful tyre choice and a mild fender pull this works great on the passenger side of the car. On the driver side, however, there is 5mm less clearance which appears to be a common issue.

The wheels look great and I want to keep them so have been thinking about how to correct this offset. One option would be to modify the trailing arm front pivot tube. E.g. shorten on the inboard side and lengthen outboard, bringing the arm in by 5mm.

Any thoughts on this approach with respect to the suspension geometry? The only thing I can think of is that the damper would be at a slightly different angle but I can't see 5mm across the length of the damper making that much difference. We don't have a rear ARB. Pretty sure the driveshaft has enough slack to cope with the 5mm reduced distance.

Thoughts welcome!

[horizontally-opposed]

Agree with others—the right move here is, unfortunately, widening that fender.

You don't want to affect suspension geometry, particularly on only one side of the car, to get tire clearance. You're messing up more than you're gaining.

If it's a matter of getting the tire closer to the inner fender, and you can do it on both sides of the car equally, you could look at wheels with custom offsets. Or, if someone really knows what they're doing (i.e. an engineer and materials expert), you might be able to take a bit of the padding off of the back of the wheel. I wouldn't trust "just anybody" in messing with that, though. Your life, and others', are worth way more than whatever getting a paint gun out will cost.

Especially if the car is having trouble putting the power down. That tells me it's quick. Sounds like fun, and I've love to learn more about your car! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)