spizzi

hey all,

I'm a little irritated. My wheels showed up and I brought them down to the local tire shop for tires and fitment. Well well well, the wheels do not fit. They barely get over the front brake calipers, the clearance is probably less than 1/16th inch (I can barely get the thickness of a credit card to slide through the space) and the top of the tire almost touches the wheel well fender. The ET is 35 and the size is 18x8". Time to return them and ask for a refund? Any other ideas?

2.7tDallas

if you remove the inner fender well liner screw...

so do you mind telling us what type of wheel?

spizzi

can you reassure me that your brake calipers almost touch your wheel too? I seriously mean that I could barely slide a credit card through the clearance. Makes me a little nervous.

And btw, with my Pro-System, the tires almost touch the OUTSIDE fender part of the wheel well. The tire doesn't even stay under the wheel fender; it sticks out about 1/4 of an inch and if I were to hit a bump, I definitely will carve a nice slice into the tire.

Do I need to roll the fenders now? Even the tire guys were more concerned with the tire getting sliced by the upper wheel fender than the caliper clearance issue.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated. I need to make a decision soon on the return.

2.7tDallas

the inner fender liner screw is right under the fender lip

I think those are really meant for 4.2 and s6's that have fender flares

spizzi

about slicing the tire? I am not exaggerating how close the "cutting" edge of the wheel fender is to the tire. Nor am I exaggerating how close the inside of the wheel is to the top of the brake calipers. If you can slide your credit card easily through the clearance of your wheel and the top of the caliper, then you have a wheel that I want.

BTW, they're the 5-spoke replicas, not the 9 spoke.

spizzi

manufacturer. The liner screw that you speak of, it isn't this that jeopardizes touching the wheel, it's literally the wheel fender edge (the sheet metal edge of the fender that hangs down).

2.7tDallas

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/5503/picture_063.jpg"></center><p>inside - see how much brake room I have?

spizzi

I appreciate you taking that picture. However, it is times like these that I wish I had a digital camera so I can take a picture of the two problem spots that I am concerned with.

Can you take a close up picture of the top of your brake caliper (the side where the caliper is parallel with your spokes) and the clearance of the inside of one of your spokes?

And possibly a 3/4 view shot of the top of your tire where it meets the top of the fender/sheetmetal/painted part of your car (not the inside top of the wheel well)

This is really great that you have the courtesy to take pictures like these.

DWP

My Stoptech calipers actually peeled the stickon balance weights off when they were centered on the rim. But they never touch the rim itself.

2.7tDallas

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/5503/picture_064.jpg"></center><p>