After lowering my tires scrubbing FIX? URGENT

[JonMFjon]

I recently lowered my 2001 corolla type S with tein S tech lowering springs. When i first did it my tires began to scrub when turning, hitting dips and big bumps in the road and when carrying passengers in the backseat. After a while after my tires wore down a lot the scrubbing stopped and i just got brand new Nitto tires for my 17 inch rims and now the scrubbing is back. Does anyone know what could be causing this and a pretty cheap or any way to fix it. Thanks

[Truck]

13 inches to 17 inches is a big difference. Did your 'tire guy' suggest anything like a back spacer to correct for the difference? (A lot of old muscle car guys need to account for the 'backspacing' to accomodate larger wheels/tires.)

OOOPs, sorry if your wheels are not 13's my old AE92 runs on them.

[JonMFjon]

naw he didnt...do u think that maybe it could be that my stock shocks need to be replaced with new stiffer ones?

[SpinnerCee]

Probably too low? How much was the drop F/R ?

You either have to use a smaller tire diameter (shorter sidewall) on the 17's -- ie go down from a 50 to a 45 (or 45-40) series aspect ratio tire, or use spring rubbers or solid blocks between coils to limit the up/down suspension travel (induce coil bind).

None of the options are really good -- if the suspension is too low, it's just too low -- however, if you want to keep the ride height and wheels and tires, you'll have to do some body and inner fenderwell tweaking to get the clearance you want. It should be pretty easy to tell where the contact is occuring and what you have to "move" or cut to get the room you need.

You should also account for the fact that springs settle over time, so they'll get shorter -- new struts help, but they are not necessarily the best solution for tuning ride height, but on the other hand they can give the suspension more control so that the tires will be less likely to rub when loaded or going over "uneven pavement."

[wrightz28]

Shocks don't set the ride height, springs do.