NO MORE! - Tyres Rubbing the Arches

[Cali_bay]

Been out and about in the bus today, but had an issue with the front tyres rubbing the arches.

I have T/Haus drop spindles on a standard beam, with T2d coilovers. My tyres are 185/65 15's.

Basically when I drive it on my own it only rubs occasionally on big bumps, but with two up front it’s been rubbing pretty frequently on cornering. To the extent that the steering pulls around at bit. :shock:

The T2d coils are set in the centre of their adjustment, so I can take them up three more notches, but I’m not confident that this will be enough.

Anyone else had this issue and what can I do? Don’t really want to tub the arches.

 

[creationblue]

Im running (for now) WW spindles with Red9 EZ rider kit and with the Red9 on its highest setting with 185/75/14 it rubs like fook! With my 14" Rostyles i have 185/65/14 and that gives plenty of room so no rubbing. Im ditching all the above tho for a Red9 Wishbone so shouldnt suffer again thank god! Really pissed me off last year!

Just

 

[r73]

Hmmm, i sympathise, see my 'dropped spindle setup' post. :|

 

[Cali_bay]

Hmmm, i sympathise, see my 'dropped spindle setup' post. :|

Just had a look, sounds familiar

Was wondering as well about going back to stock as you mentioned in your post....didn't have this with my last bus on turned beam. Could live with the worse ride, don't like the steering problems with the rubbing.

Im running (for now) WW spindles with Red9 EZ rider kit and with the Red9 on its highest setting with 185/75/14 it rubs like fook! With my 14" Rostyles i have 185/65/14 and that gives plenty of room so no rubbing. Im ditching all the above tho for a Red9 Wishbone so shouldnt suffer again thank god! Really pissed me off last year!

Just

Don't want to have to buy another setup.....too many £££££ already.

 

[moler]

Is that your bus in the signature pic? are those MWS empi rep's? if so then the offset could be wildly out and be the root of your trouble.

 

[r73]

Is that your bus in the signature pic? are those MWS empi rep's? if so then the offset could be wildly out and be the root of your trouble.

could be part of the prob, although i'm running standard steels with 185/60/14's and stil get a lot of rubbage 2 up !
thing is whe hardly use the bus not fully loaded and 5 up! it is a bit scary hanging off the wheel as the tyres/beam hit as i'm sure a lot of you know!

 

[r73]

Im running (for now) WW spindles with Red9 EZ rider kit and with the Red9 on its highest setting with 185/75/14 it rubs like fook! With my 14" Rostyles i have 185/65/14 and that gives plenty of room so no rubbing. Im ditching all the above tho for a Red9 Wishbone so shouldnt suffer again thank god! Really pissed me off last year!

Just

the red 9 wishbone set up looks great - just cant stretch to it tho cant wait to see how you get with it and the different settings 8)

 

[Dirty Harry]

It is possible to narrow your standard beam while mounted on the bus, mabe this can solve your problem, and i agree with moler the empi 5 spoke have a good offset on a bug but on a bus :?
http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=27070&p=260713&hilit=beam#p260713" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[baycrazy]

With these spindles you will need to run:165/50x15 or 165/60x14 and take alittle material off the bottom of the beam
The coil-overs will help more if you pre-load the springs to max.

 

[TransporterHaus]

baycrazy is right. Smaller tyres and the shocks on their top setting will sort it.

2 issues are - weight in the bus and how much spring the front beam torsion steel still has. These do affect tyre rub. Smaller tyres will stop rub on the inner arch and smaller tyres and the coilover shocks stop rub on the top of the arch.

 

[Trikky2]

Interesting.

I had thought the point of drop spindles was that it meant a lowered suspension that was not compromised as long as the vehicle was not heavily loaded.

Looking at this thread and that of R73 it would appear this is not so Its a pity.

I like the look of the lowered buses (lowered not slammed - that just looks daft to me :lol: ).
I left mine stock since I use the bus for camping breaks and holidays and the need for practicality outweighs the desire for the look.

Its funny how modifications often lead to a better understanding of why something was originally built the way it was :lol:

 

[r73]

My tyres only rub the top of the arches, I dont doubt the original torsion springs are weak and this will add to the problem.
the tyres i fitted were recomended by T2D 185/60/14. these equate to a height of 577mm (-55.5mm from std) and have a max load rating of 82 (475kg). Fitting 165/60/14 will equate to 553mm (-24mm from the 185/60's), however, I think as it is the tyres look quite small relative to the actual suspension drop, any smaller and it will look like theres too much air in the arches, also more importantly I dont think these size tyres carry a load rating of more than 75 (387kg). An alternative could be 175/60/14 565mm (-12mm)height and a load index of 79 (437kg). these will put the beam closer to the floor and as well obviously.

The front axle weight of a westy poptop is just over 1000kg. This would mean you need at least 84/85 as a load index. Apart from the obvious difference in sidewall strength - and you can tell the difference, I'm not sure about the insurance implications in the event of failure/accident. As unlikely as this is to happen, most of us endeavour to maintain to a high standard, including the addition of automatic fire extinguishers, brake upgrades etc etc.

I am yet to fit the coilovers, but must admit I am reluctant to do so, and leaning more to reverting to standard :msn4:

 

[Clem]

My tyres are 185/65 15's.

Thats the problem. I have 175/55 x 15 on mine. It still rubs occasionally :lol:

 

[ant]

Im running (for now) WW spindles with Red9 EZ rider kit and with the Red9 on its highest setting with 185/75/14 it rubs like fook! With my 14" Rostyles i have 185/65/14 and that gives plenty of room so no rubbing. Im ditching all the above tho for a Red9 Wishbone so shouldnt suffer again thank god! Really pissed me off last year!

Just

I have a similar WW spindles with Red9 EZ rider kit(2"/4") but with the addition of a red9 beam and 15" rim's (165 55 15's) and have no rubbing issues.

 

[froggy]

Maybe the WW being only a 2.5" drop could be a better option for me then reading the problems everyone else is having (although might just go for an adjustable beam OR a L&P set up)

 

[matt69bay]

I've got Transporterhaus dropped spindles on mine and the tyres rubbed like a bitch
until i got some coilovers off Alex at Transporterhaus, sweet as now

 

[r73]

Maybe the WW being only a 2.5" drop could be a better option for me then reading the problems everyone else is having (although might just go for an adjustable beam OR a L&P set up)

think the WW ones add some track?

 

[67westy]

I'm running some 165/60/14s at the minute and rubbing has been pretty rare so far. Seem to get a bit when on full lock but I haven't had any whilst driving along for a while now. Didn't put a great deal of thought into the load rating on them, the tyre fitters didn't seem to think it would be a problem. I guess it could cause issues, I might have to look into it more. Surprised that the front axle weight is that high!

 

[sparkywig]

Maybe the WW being only a 2.5" drop could be a better option for me then reading the problems everyone else is having (although might just go for an adjustable beam OR a L&P set up)

think the WW ones add some track?

I've got WW spindles, which widen the track by 12mm either side, and a (now non-) adjustable beam with 155/60/15 and it rubbed like crazy, and bottomed out on anything but a mirror like surface. It was even worse with two people in the cab. :lol:
So unfortunately it had to come up an inch or so....

 

[froggy]

Buggar, need to find another way then.