[200q20v] wheel well liners and 17" rims

[Phil Rose]

Brett,
As I've mentioned in previous postings, my opinion is that the Firestone
SZ50 tires are excellent. The big (225/60) pontoons you've seen mounted on
my 15" BBS wheels are SZ50s. :-) Mine now have been run at three WG track
events plus another 12000 miles and they seem to have plenty of tread
remaining (at least 50%). Excellent grip, good turn-in and as you've noted,
_very_ quiet. Expensive but worth it IMHO.

Interference from that rear-liner "wrinkle" has been frequently mentioned
here (where have you been?), so check the 200q20v archives for a
description of a simple heat-gun/hair-drier fix. Don't know why your liner
has a sharp edge contacting the tire, I recall the contact area is a smooth
rounded edge. Yours have some previous modification?

Phil



At 9:44 PM -0500 11/11/01, Brett Dikeman wrote:
>Well,
>
>Just bought the Ronals that a Gary had up for sale, along with the
>firestone SZ50 tires on em(no rollover/exploding SUV jokes please :-)
>Universal sentiment among those at today's shindig(at a different
>Gary's place) was that they look right smart on the car.  Traction's
>great, the tires are quieter than the almost completely worn D60A2's
>that were on the car.  Front end shimmy and high speed groan are
>gone; looks like either the Dunlops were out of round, or the stock
>rims are bent.  Mileage has dropped substantially(!) from a usual
>22-24.5mpg to about 20.5 mpg.  I knew the larger wheels would equal
>higher speeds per rev, and I know bigger/wider tires have more
>rolling resistance, but I didn't expect such a drastic effect, I
>guess.
>
>There's enough clearance on both sides...or so I thought.  I
>discovered that the driver's side rear tire was hitting something.
>
>Pulled in tonight and took a peek with the flashlight.  It was
>immediately obvious what was rubbing; little shreds of rubber pointed
>the way.
>
>Looks like it's the wheel well liner, front edge, almost by the edge
>of the rear door.  Comparing the two sides, the drivers' side is
>definitely different.  There's some sort of fold in it, and the fold
>is sticking out and acting like a knife every time the car turns very
>hard to the right or goes over a -large- bump when the car's
>suspension is loaded on the drivers side.  Clearance is about one
>finger there; at the top of the fender+wheel, two fingers clearance
>both sides.
>
>I'll post a pic later, but has anyone run across this before on a 200q20v?
>
>B
>--
>----
>"They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary
>safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
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Phil Rose				Rochester, NY
'91 200q				mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net