What would you do? I think the tire shop ordered the wrong backspacing...

[spastic_chicken]

Right before Hearsecon, I ordered some new wheels and tires for my coach. I didn't go with anything very large, I went with a 16" wheel. But I had some problems with the transmission, so the car has only seen about 20 miles total on her new wheels. Mostly being from the tire shop on the new wheels, and then on and off the trailer for a few shows (including Hearsecon). My car isn't a trailer queen, it's just a piece of shit.

I was working under the car yesterday and found a very very big problem. It appears that the backspacing of the rims is off, and the upper control arm is eating the bead of the rim like a lathe. I plan on speaking to the shop about this within the week, but I'm hesitant to speak with them yet. I'm concerned that simply bringing the car up there will not resolve this problem in my favor.

- The tire shop did order the tire from his vendor and was PROMISED the backspacing would be correct.

- The tire shop test fit a rim, but only on the rear. The lugnuts and wheel locks hadn't come in yet, so it was just fitted to check spacing. It didn't dawn on me to have him try it on the front, I thought they knew better :/

- As a result, the tire shop left the tires with me and had the lugnuts sent directly to me. I installed the wheels myself and didn't catch the fuck up :/

- I have a friend that is concerned that the tire shop will try to get out of making this right by saying that my balljoints are bad. This friend is suggesting I replace the balljoints before bringing this up with the tire shop. I still have my last set of tires, and the wear is pretty even. The insides of the front tires are a little worn, but not real bad. The car is currently on ramps, and I have to finish changing out the trans before I can check the balljoints. I was going to do this by putting on the old rim and seeing how much slop there is. Is there any truth that the balljoints could be bad?

- I'm concerned that the shop might use the length of time as a reason not to fix it. It's been a couple months. But the car just hasn't been driven much for me to notice the problem until now.

- If the shop doesn't try to make this right, can I get a spacer to help? Will I need longer wheel studs? I'll probably need to have the rim surface remachined to smooth it out, won't I?


What would you do? This is really bothering me.





Here's a picture of the damage, you can see aluminum shavings hanging from the balljoint.

[corpses bride]

Yikes!!! Well that sucks, I my self would think that if you were told they would work they would have considered both. On the other hand you installed them and didnt catch it. Im sure they will say that they would have but who knows. As for the machining are you thinking the rim? You dont want to take much off, I had a couple rims machined that someone did the same thing to. Unfortunately after havong them machined they cracked after about 3000 miles and would seal. They do make spacers which ive used on my 56 p.u and didnt require longer studs. you may need to though. Sorry i dont have any hard facts for ya. just my 2 cents

[hotroddwayne]

If they don't make it right with you, buy a set of disc brake spacers. They come in a few different thicknesses & are universal. Lay the rims face down & use a little RTV silicone (ust a few dabs) to secure them to the back of the rims centered & let it cure... all it does is hold them in place centered while you put them back on. If your rims use lugs with a neck on the back that's a huge plus to compensate for spacing out the rims a little. Doesn't look like you need much clearance.

http://www.streetsideauto.com/products.asp?SubID=271&ptid=3805&brand=BCZG&series=Disc+Brake+Wheel+Spacers&ResetVQ=True&LookupType=NON

[Creepy Cruiser]

You can also grind just a little bit off the front for the control arm, just don't take off to much and ruin the structural integrity of it.

[Beladona_13]

You can also grind just a little bit off the front for the control arm, just don't take off to much and ruin the structural integrity of it.

X2 I've done this before when there were clearance issues with no trouble afterwards...

[Hoodlum Rocky]

When i did the disc brake conversion on my 62 chrysler the control arm would hit the rotor bad when i turned but not straight ahead, so to fix the problem i just heated the end of the control arm and rolled it in toward the ball joint. No problems and no weaking the control arm. It just looks like it is the edge of the control arm that is hitting it from the picture. I would not remacine the wheel i would just take a file and get rid of the sharp spots, for your own sake. The wheel spacer's like dwayne posted is a option you should not need one thay is real long even if you just get something that i as thin as a 1/8 inch you will just have to roll the a arm that much less. i would not freak that much, the fun of modifing car's: if it was always easy everyone woiuld be doing it.