Tire rub problems, suggestions?

[My98Rot]

Just got new wheels for my Ti and they had a slight rub problem because i believe the offset is from a 5 series and I thought it was nothing to worry about. Well today I had 4 people in the car for the first time and the rear fenders literally sat right on the tire and I ended up having to stop for fear of ruining the tires and fenders. I'm looking to correct this in the cheapest and most effective way possible, would getting stiffer rear shocks help? I was thinking that they might hold the cars weight better and stop the body from bouncing down into the tires or indeed sitting directly on them. Does this idea have any substance? I really like these wheels and would really like to avoid selling them, but at this rate I might as well pitch the rear seats and save the weight. Please help.

[cooljess76]

Buy/rent/borrow a fender roller or pay a shop to do it. It would help if we knew the tire/wheel size and offset, but most people who run 5 series wheels use 215/40's.

[My98Rot]

Thanks jess, I was thinking about that but my main worry is A) paint when rolling fenders and B) would rolling the fenders be enough? I'm just worried that once they are rolled then the tires will still rub. Just wondering if perhaps upgraded shocks should be installed in conjunction with a fender roll.

[tiFreak]

unless you're flaring the fenders really far out, just rolling it wouldn't hurt the paint

there are people who have rolled their fenders and are lowered on 5-series offset rims with minimal rubbing, I'd suggest just rolling the fenders and running the skinnier tires and see where that gets you, after that you can consider stiffer suspension

there's also a little piece of the bumper that sticks out where the tire will rub, should take 5 minutes to dremel it off of both sides

[cooljess76]

Pretty much, anything is possible. It just depends how much time/$$$ you're willing to invest to reach your desired results. I almost bought a set of 17x12/17x11 CCW classics on ebay a couple months ago. The only thing that stopped me was tire costs. Most fender roller rentals(ie; ebay), include a heat gun to soften the paint prior to rolling. With a fender roller, you can literally flare your fenders until the arches are horizontal if you wanted to. Your other option is to have your fenders "pulled". For this, I'd highly recommend having a body shop do as it requires serious structual manipulation. And then there's always the widebody option. Since there's few if any "kits" available for the Ti, you'll certainly have to do some fabricating. 5 series wheels aren't that aggressively offset. Chances are, you can fit them with a mild fender roll and lower profile/narrower tires. There's plenty of us running 5 series wheels on our Ti's, most of us have 17x8 et20 wheels with 215/40/17 tires mounted and our cars are significantly lowered. As for your rear shocks, they're either worn/blown or they're not. I mean, you could install Bilstein HD's which will likely raise the rear end if that's what you want, but I wouldn't recommend it. Even then, it might still rub over bumps and stuff. How often do you drive with a full load of passengers? And finally, the bumper piece that TiFreak was referring to is the top corner of the rear bumper where it meets the wheel arch. Even after a fender roll, some people experience rubbing. This is because the inside corner of the bumper(plastic) needs to be filed down.

Just remember, once you roll/pull/modify your fenders, it's not reversable. So unless you always plan on running lower offset wheels, you'll need to run spacers if you want to fill the gap.

[My98Rot]

Good point about it being permanent Jess. I might see where it rubs in the front and try to address that but my main worry is the rears. Not looking to spend a ton of money, if total costs exceed 200 I'd consider just getting rid of the wheels even though I'm completely in love with them. Given my budget I'd say heat gun and a roller are probably my only viable option. I went out and took a look at where on the tire it rubbed and the outer edge of the sidewall of the tire was touching the lip of the fender meaning that if they are rolled out enough the tire should just go up inside the fender well like they did before the new wheels were put on.