Tires rubbing but car barely lowered

[ManFlxSrsRwy]

Hey all, is it normal to rub the front tires on the wheel arch with just a 20mm drop (Eibach Pro-Kit) and 12mm spacers?

I'm running the stock wheels and over bumps and elevation changes it rubs like crazy, otherwise when driving normally i don't get any rub.

Is anyone experiencing this as well?

 

[chi11z]

Hey all, is it normal to rub the front tires on the wheel arch with just a 20mm drop (Eibach Pro-Kit) and 12mm spacers?

I'm running the stock wheels and over bumps and elevation changes it rubs like crazy, otherwise when driving normally i don't get any rub.

Is anyone experiencing this as well?

Pretty common occurence. Here's a video a buddy and I made explaining what will likely remedy your issue.

Mk7 Fender Screw Mod VW Golf GTI and Mk7.5

 

[ManFlxSrsRwy]

I will try and report back, thanks!

 

[GoatAutomotive]

Fender screw mod (as stated above), and potentially less aggressive spacers. Having zero tire to body contact is more important than living the "stance-life". I promise. 21 years at this game.

Barring that, look into the EuroSport street camber mounts. These will improve your handling and allow the front tires to properly TUCK under compression and hard cornering, by adding ~0.8* negative camber up front.

I love mine like a chocolate ice cream with all the right toppings.

I have a full write-up on the EuroSports in my "360hp Kid hauler..." thread in this same forum.

Let us know your outcome on the rubbing.

-Michael

 

[ManFlxSrsRwy]

Fender screw mod (as stated above), and potentially less aggressive spacers. Having zero tire to body contact is more important than living the "stance-life". I promise. 21 years at this game.

Barring that, look into the EuroSport street camber mounts. These will improve your handling and allow the front tires to properly TUCK under compression and hard cornering, by adding ~0.8* negative camber up front.

I love mine like a chocolate ice cream with all the right toppings.

I have a full write-up on the EuroSports in my "360hp Kid hauler..." thread in this same forum.

Let us know your outcome on the rubbing.

-Michael

Well, I should have stated that i'm running the ECS "Flush" kit which is supposed to be a 20mm in the rear and 15mm in the front, no problem about the rear, the wheels are flush with the body and no rubbing at all, but the front tires with the 15mm spacers provided in the kit where sticking out of the body quite a bit (no wonder i was rubbing) so I don't know what they mean by "flush kit", it definitely isn't.

You could also state that they are sticking out because i lowered the car but still... the only reason why people put spacers on is because after lowering, the wheel are sitting way to much inside the wheel arch to the point that it looks ridiculous, so that should be taken in to account when designing spacers.

Thankfully i'm a machinist so i managed to machine the rear spacers from 20mm down to 12mm and then i put them at the front and the 15mm (which where previously at the front) at the back to keep the thickness difference between them, so to avoid understeer.

Funny enough i'm still rubbing and my only wish now is that the fender screw mod will work! I will report back in the weekend when i get my hands on the car

About the Eurosports camber kit, i would love to run it but i'm from Europe and it seems that here there is no manufacturer which provides something similar to them, they only make adjustable billet kits which are super expensive.

Also, how do you find yourself with the 0.8 negative camber they they give you? Do they cause uneven tire wear or it's all gains?

 

[SnailPower]

I'm literally having this right now since I had new summer tires installed. I also have the flush kit and had the car lowered just enough to remove the wheel gap. While rear appears Okay, the front rubs anytime I hit something uneven and it's quite annoying. I was about to ask if anyone kept spacers in the rear in removed them from the front, but I imagine that would handle pretty terrible.

Not sure if I should just remove the spacers altogether. I also already have the fender screw mod and that didn't help.

 

[ManFlxSrsRwy]

I'm literally having this right now since I had new summer tires installed. I also have the flush kit and had the car lowered just enough to remove the wheel gap. While rear appears Okay, the front rubs anytime I hit something uneven and it's quite annoying. I was about to ask if anyone kept spacers in the rear in removed them from the front, but I imagine that would handle pretty terrible.

Not sure if I should just remove the spacers altogether. I also already have the fender screw mod and that didn't help.

Yeah running spacers only in the rear increases wheel track and this increases understeer which obviously isn't a good thing with our GTIs

 

[odessa.filez]

you could simply add more bump stop material and that would help prevent the car from bottoming on it's tires. might be a solution if you're only experiencing it on extreme dips

 

[SnailPower]

you could simply add more bump stop material and that would help prevent the car from bottoming on it's tires. might be a solution if you're only experiencing it on extreme dips

Wondering too, if I adjust the coil over to "Hard" vs soft, if this would add more restriction/remove some bounce.

 

[odessa.filez]

Wondering too, if I adjust the coil over to "Hard" vs soft, if this would add more restriction/remove some bounce.

If it's a compression setting, maybe

 

[ManFlxSrsRwy]

Well, i did the fender screw mod, removed both screws at the top of the wheel arch and guess what it doesn't rub anymore! It's nice to finally have a good looking stance as well as proper drivability.
To anyone that intends to lower the car and run spacers at the same time, I wouldn't suggest going above 12mm at the front (at least with stock 18" wheels) and definitely do the fender screw mod.

 

[SnailPower]

Well, i did the fender screw mod, removed both screws at the top of the wheel arch and guess what it doesn't rub anymore! It's nice to finally have a good looking stance as well as proper drivability.
To anyone that intends to lower the car and run spacers at the same time, I wouldn't suggest going above 12mm at the front (at least with stock 18" wheels) and definitely do the fender screw mod.

I'm happy to hear that. I initially thought my car came with the fenders rolled, but evidently not and the screw is still in there. I'm going to perform this either tonight or this weekend. Hoping this resolves my issue. I'm wondering though since you changed out your front 15mm spacers. I'm going to leave them and see how it behaves once this is done. I mean, I can't believe all this just from changing to summer tires. My all seasons and winter set never rubbed and I even had the car lower! I intentionally raised the front just because of this and it still rubs.

 

[ManFlxSrsRwy]

Well i'm surprised you weren't rubbing with the screws on, mine started rubbing as soon as i put spacers on.

Perhaps you didn't push the car quite enough to rub in the first place?
Not that anyone would beat on it too much in the winter anyway.

Let us know the outcome! I'm also curious if i could have kept the 15mm spacers at the front.

 

[SnailPower]

Well i'm surprised you weren't rubbing with the screws on, mine started rubbing as soon as i put spacers on.

Perhaps you didn't push the car quite enough to rub in the first place?
Not that anyone would beat on it too much in the winter anyway.

Let us know the outcome! I'm also curious if i could have kept the 15mm spacers at the front.

Hey man, well my new summer tires are more meaty than the winter or all seasons which started this problem.

That said... did the mod last night. Zero rubbing this morning taking the same roads I always do where I've always hit the same spots that it would rub on.

As far as how low I went with the front of the car, I'd have to measure it again. I did raise it since putting on these summer tires it wasn't just rubbing, it was SLAMMING when I hit bumps in the road. Raising the car got rid of the slamming, but kept the rubbing. The fender mod removed that aspect. I raised it just enough so the tip of the top of the tire is flush with the fender. Similar to how my rear always was set. If you look at the car from the side, it looks height wise, picture perfect. I'd probably say I need an alignment though soon. I can feel it want to go to the right slightly if I let go of the wheel.

Though yeah... you should be safe putting back on your 15mm front. I also never had issues with the rear 20mm.

 

[ManFlxSrsRwy]

I think we are safe to say that the wheel arch, along with the wheel fitment are badly designed from the factory.
They don't allow anything to be messed with, i'm on a mild drop and it rubbed like crazy, i don't want to imagine people who slam it down like there's no tomorrow.

I would have gladly kept the 20mm at the rear since it looked perfect and they also never gave me any issue, but i switched them to the front after i brought them to 12mm, but at least now it's perfectly flush at the front.
I don't personally like tyres sticking out of the body line.