Help, new wheels scraping on '85 Coupe GT addendum:

[Fisher, Scott]

Ed Kellock writes:

> That would make three that scrape more on the left rear.

I bet Phil Payne could find some people whose cars scrape more on the right
rear.  Or Jim Haseltine, or some of our Aussie/Kiwi listers, or anyone else
with right-hooker Audis.

Once, years ago and on a completely different kind of vehicle (wasn't it
Ameer who talked about his MGB?  I've had three of those, but this trick was
on my '74 M.G. Midget which was 11 years old at the time), I noticed a
certain list to the driver's side when the car was parked.  While rebuilding
the front suspension for other reasons, I swapped the front springs right
for left.  The car sat flat again at rest.  Those of you with scraping left
rear wheels might want to try this first, as it's free except for your time
to swap springs side to side.

Oh, and come to think of it, the Midget squeaked its left rear wheel too,
though that was because I was stupid enough to put 185-60 tires on in place
of the 145s that came off.  I ended up putting in 1/4" spacers at the rear
but under extreme circumstances the inside of the tire would rub the
bodywork.  

> I have an '87 Coupe GT on which I run TSW Evo 15x7
> offset 40 wheels with 205-50-15 tires.  Eric Renneisen
> has a newly acquired 85 urq lowered with stock wheels
> 225-50-15's (I think).  Both rub the back part of the
> wheel well arch on the left rear solely or at least more
> than the right.  My car had some body work in the left
> rear quarter panel prior to my ownership and I always 
> thought that was the culprit.  Now I'm not so sure.

My tale of absolute lack of woe ensues... About three weeks ago I installed
the following:

15 x 7 Konig something or others (on special, bought from
http://www.tires.com)
45mm offset
195-50HR-15 Pirelli Sport Veloce
Stock springs
No rubbing, squeaking, binding, or complaints of any kind.

Well, at first I complained (tongue very much in cheek) because the car was
SO much slower through the corners -- that is, in the past there were
corners in which I'd basically have to get off the power or run too wide,
and after putting on the new tires I can take all those corners with the
throttle mashed to the floor.  Therefore, the car MUST be slower. :-)

Since then, of course, I've been progressively working (on the far too rare
instances when there's no SUV or Camry on the ramp in front of me) on
braking less, carrying more speed into the corner, and enjoying the fact
that I'm now 500 to 800 RPM higher when I get on the gas.  In most 2nd-gear
corners this is enough to push me up into the powerband instead of leaving
me in the soggy bit below 3000 RPM or so.  I like it.  A lot.  And the look
-- with the same offset and an additional inch of rim diameter *and* width,
plus the very open twelve-spoke wheels and the shorter sidewalls from the
50-series tires -- is very nice as well, subtle (compared to gold 20-inchers
on a purple car with a 3-foot wing, that is) but dramatic.

Bottom line: All in all, I'm very glad I stayed conservative in the tire and
wheel selection, as the results on an otherwise stock '83 CGT have turned it
from a decent-handling commuter car to a sparkling, high-grip sport coupe
that's better able to utilize its limited power.  Next: figure out what's
making the steering wheel judder at the first application of brakes, figure
out the rough idle when cold, but mainly take it up into the hills so I can
really have some fun with the new wheels and tires.  They're easily the best
$600 upgrade I've ever made to any car.

--Scott Fisher
  1983 CGT
  1993 100CSQ