I purchased a new set of Goodyear 285/40/18 tires and mounted them on my Ford OEM 2000 Cobra R wheels (18 x 9.5). Much to my surprise, the tires rub on the rear fender lip. I'm amazed at this because I see so many of you guys are running 295 or even 305's on your SN-95's. If anybody is running a 285/40/18 tire I would really like to hear about the wheels you have these tires mounted on including the width of the wheel and offset. Thanks for your help!
Is anybody running 285/40/18 tires on teh back of their SN-95?
- Thread starter dlefever
- Start date
I just bought a '97 Cobra and the PO had Nitto NT05 285/40/18s on the same 2000 Cobra R wheels on the back, no rubbing that I can tell. No signs on the tires or the fenders/lips, and the car's dropped about 1"-1.5"
What's your suspension setup?
What's your suspension setup?
Nevermind, just went out and looked again, they're 285/35s. I would definitely be rubbing if they were 40s
I purchased the tires with the 40 profile because I recently changed the springs from Kenny Brown race springs (FRPP "C" springs) to 2001 Mustang Bullitt OEM springs to lift up the car so I could actually drive it on the road and not scrape. I wanted to fill in the gaps in the wheel wells and the 40 profile tires front and back did a great job with this since they are taller than 30 or 35 profile tires. My son thinks that my Cobra looks like a 4x4 truck, but I think it looks OK. Everything was fine until I had a full car with 2 guys in the back and I could hear the rear tires scraping on the inner quarter panel. I hate that noise, so I'm trying to figure out what my best option is to resolve. Any suggestions?
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Take the rear tires off and see where they're rubbing. I would roll your fender lips just so you don't catch one and tear a sidewall but you may also need to beat your inner fenders with a hammer. Also check the quad shocks, it could be rubbing on those, just remove them if so
Thanks, CobraHuck. My plan was to roll the finder lips so I don't slice any rubber. The quad shock setup is long gone, so I would not have a problem there. I wish I could figure out how to put a larger size image on this site, then I could show you how much clearance I have with the fenders and the tires. It seems to be a tricky scenario to get the right look with the wide tires and to drop the car and still have something that you can drive on roads and speed bumps and not scrape the entire exhaust...but that's another story.
:beer: Sure thing man. I can kinda zoom in and see, it looks like it has similar clearance to my car with the 1.5" drop springs and 285/35s. It is definitely a pain trying to set up your car where it looks good and functions well.
I love my cars low, so speed bumps have to be crossed at an angle and I always have to be on the watch so I can dodge potholes lol. And I just look at scraping exhaust as a way to show you're low enough :-D
I love my cars low, so speed bumps have to be crossed at an angle and I always have to be on the watch so I can dodge potholes lol. And I just look at scraping exhaust as a way to show you're low enough :-D
How old are your shocks?! I would check that first. I have 315/35/17s and never had a quad shock issue. Not sure why guys get rid of them. Anyway mathematically my sidewall is 110.75 and yours is 114 plus you have an inch higher rim. Not to beat a dead horse but why did you get a 40 series tire? You also have to consider the offset of the rim. MMFF and 5.0 Mustang and Super Fords both did an excellent piece years ago in their respective magazines on max tire and rim sizes for stangs. Might be able to find the archive.
Thanks for the advice, and I will definitely look for the article on max tire and rim size in MMFF. I get what you guys are saying, the bulky 40 series tire is my problem. I purchased this particular set of Goodyear F1 tires because I found a screaming deal on them on Tirerack a few weeks back, and I wanted a softer ride. Softer ride? Yup, I said that because I'm almost 50 years old. You guys just wait until you get to be my age!
To answer questions about shocks and my suspension, my Cobra is set up with old school Kenny Brown Level 5 suspension including Koni shocks (only two) on the back and they are only a year old. I was running a set of Michelin 285/35/18 tires on the back before I purchased the Goodyears and there were no rubbing issues with the Michelins. I thought I would be OK with the 40 profile tire because the width of the tires (old Michelins vs new Goodyears) were exactly the same. Now I know that the profile can make a big difference. I think my best bet is to roll the lip of the rear fenders enough so that I don;t run the risk of cutting the tire but realizing that rubbing will always be a potential issue with my tires. Thanks for the advice!
To answer questions about shocks and my suspension, my Cobra is set up with old school Kenny Brown Level 5 suspension including Koni shocks (only two) on the back and they are only a year old. I was running a set of Michelin 285/35/18 tires on the back before I purchased the Goodyears and there were no rubbing issues with the Michelins. I thought I would be OK with the 40 profile tire because the width of the tires (old Michelins vs new Goodyears) were exactly the same. Now I know that the profile can make a big difference. I think my best bet is to roll the lip of the rear fenders enough so that I don;t run the risk of cutting the tire but realizing that rubbing will always be a potential issue with my tires. Thanks for the advice!
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