Tried my rear wheels on today and they just hit the arches



I'm using a MK 6 degree beam and have guessed at the settings, so things could change once it's sorted.

Cutting them would probably do less harm to the paint, but I don't want the inner and outer arch separating if I cut through the spot welds ...

 

I would warm the area with heat gun and roll them.
The tool is quite cheap tbh.

What about machining the wheels.?

Easy solution for a man of your engineering talents.

 

what et are those wheels mark?

 

Wheels are 8x17 ET40 with 235/40/17 tyres


I could machine a couple of mm off the mounting face to make them ET42 and give a little extra.


My mate has an arch rolling tool but I've never used one and don't want to split the paint


I tried without the disc on and they clear, but hit the coil overs so can't go in much further.

 

You have to heat the panel up while rolling the arches anyway . Personally that is very close I would cut the arches and if you separate the inner and outer panel just fill it with a strong flexible bonding agent and clamp that should be fine as that's how they build modern cars now.

Cheers paul

 

Not a bad idea , not sure on how much of the rust proofing wax has made its way between the seams though as I gave it a good soaking !

 

Die grinder with something like these in

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/232169532360

Just go steady and tape up areas around it just in case you slip

 

Rolling always carries risks. Whether it's the paint breaking, not working right or warping/buckling the panel.

It also depends how rigid that seam is. The likes of Frost sell a good tool, but results to get good clearance are often hit or miss.

TBH I've had better success just whacking the edge seam with a hammer to fold it up round gradually. But even that carries risks too. ( I like the big leather faced hammer Snap On sell )

But if the edge seam is pretty strong, that can be a difficult task.

Without damaging the external paint on the car, cutting it probably is the safest option, even it means breaking the paint in less visible areas.

http://www.cjautosheywood.co.uk/wheelarch.shtml

https://www.driftworks.com/arch-roller.html

 

The seam is pretty strong and one of the wheel arches has had a small repair patch welded in, hence my worry over rolling it.


Should have just hammered the arches before I painted the damn thing, but plans changed along the way...

 

Yep....

TBH, given how close that looks, you'd struggle with rolling to get good results.

If you can adjust the camber, running some negative may help, but also maybe not what you want to do.

Looking at the photo with brake disc removed, it does look like moving the wheel inwards would be a good option, or even if it was only a few mm..would mean less cutting of the arch itself.

But it looks like there's going to be some cutting one way or another.

 

Try Arch Enemy for a professional job.
Never used them myself but my friends have multiple times with good results.

Definitely do not machine your wheels if you can make the space by rolling the arch.

 

Mark V8. To me the lack of clearance would be hard to get over with any form of rolling. If you are wanting such wide tyres to clear the bodywork under all driving conditions ( over bumps and hard cornering etc ) cutting the arches and making good would be my choice. A good fabricator should be able to sort it out.
My Saff has only got 215/40/17s on it but is lowered and I had to have front and rear arches rolled for clearance.

 

Ok so i have had a think and the arch repair will cause issues if rolling.
So i would use a air saw and cut the arch then use some panel degreaser to try and disolve any wax there epoxy prime the exposed edges and seal with upol white tiger sealer touch up with paint after.

2mm off the brake disc mounting face could help too.
Or could you machine the rear of the mounting hub to arm??

 

Thinning down the brake disc hat would be a cheap/easy option to gain a little clearance. I'm sure 2mm from that wouldnt pose any problems.

Probably preferable than machining the wheel

Although 2mm from each would give 4mm which is a reasonable amount and means no tampering with the body or paint.

 

Thanks guys, plenty of food for thought.


I'm not going to rush into anything yet.

 

I had my done many years ago by auto tech in chesterfield Ł70 a corner and it looked like it came from the factory it was that good , no cracks etc but I did take him a week to do off and on. Gently heating and rolling very slightly multipul times.
Just cut and clean then bond together , on my rally car they've sealed the rear quarter panels where it meets with arch extension and it's solid the only way you would damage it would be drilling it .

Cheers Paul

 

Well, that's one rear arch butchered






After lots of measuring, not enough room to move wheel in and a bit too much to cut out of the lip.

Started with heat gun and arch roller (these seem to be designed to work on newer cars with wafer thin metal) ended up bashing it with a copper mallet to fold it completely back on itself at the top

To cap it all the quarter panel has distorted a bit and needs work to fix

The joys of messing around with old cars !

 

Yup.....there was no point diving into it with the illusion it would be easy !

First time I tried mine.....it had already had a 1/4 panel, so the lip was strong as fuck, would barely move with any method, even whacking with a huge hammer.

So just decided fuck it, angle grinder out and ripped the entire section of arch out lol. Welded it all back together higher up and then welded a single skin of a repair panel to restore the arch shape again.

At least lots of tyres will fit now without any touching.

 

That will cure the problem for sure !

 

Dont really know what to say as it may sound harsh. Unfortunately with the wheels and tyres you want to fit they are pretty wide and to get the clearance you need rolling the arches isnt going to work.You have 2 choices IMO, go for a narrower wheel/tyre combination or bite the bullet and get the arches modified by a specialist fabricator. I just think if you were hoping to keep the arches standard looking you are going to be struggling.


Rolled rear arches



Rolled front arches but my tyres are only 215/40/17s

 

What you have done is extreme but the only way to deal with the problem for markv8.

 

Not extreme really.

If I want to fit larger tyres, race tyres etc etc and still have the outer arch remaining 100% as it should....then it was the only option instead of fucking about with a dozen other ways that would never work and always give tyre trouble.

Weld it up, seal it up, throw on a lick of paint and jobs done forever ( well at least until you let a bodyshop paint the car a few years later then they start rusting because they didnt do their job right !! ) lol

Even the guy who painted the arches at the time, it was a good 5 years or so til the bodyshop got near the car and they were still perfect then.
2 weeks after the bodyshop painted the car, one arch started rusting.

Stupidly I left it to rust and ended up having to replace one arch again last year.

 

This pic is on the bump stop with no coil over fitted, 235/40/17 on 8x17 ET 40 with the disc in place. Aluminium bell is just under 8mm thick.

So they fit, but my rear arch is buggered and the splash guard will no longer fit ...

 

No real need for the bell to be that thick, especially the rear.

You could easily lose 2-3mm there and get them re-anodised or whatever coating they have

But as the arch is fecked now anyway.....may as well just do all the work to the arch to accommodate the wheels/tyres, and perhaps a size or 2 larger.

If you were to try the likes of 888's on it, they tend to be wider than most tyres of same numerical size. Worth baring in mind.

if you can give yourself a good 5-10mm clearance over what you have now, you'd be well covered for the future.

 

For a lot of people with a road car they would probably not have the balls to do what you have as they would be worried that it may alter the factory arch look so that is why I said extreme. However as you found out if you want to run wider wheels and tyres without worrying that they will foul the arches it is the only way to do it properly. I dont know how Mark is with welding, spraying etc but if you are not 100% confident in doing it yourself get a good bodyshop to do it for you. Quite a big job but do it right first time and you have the permanent solution.

 

In no way does it alter the arch look...that's why I did it this way. It does take more effort, but ultimately when space is tight...most often it is the inner arch that is the problem, not so much the actual outer arch.

 

Just to clear something up.

Please read Mark's thread and you will see he is far better fabricator and painter than some so called specialists..........

I work in the restoration trade and Mark's attention to detail is amazing.

 

Absolutely, the work he's done on the car is nothing short of superb.

 

Well he should be able to the work himself with some pointers from Stevieturbo and it will be sorted.

 

Have you already machined the wheel down as much as possible yet?

Also put on a narrower tyre, 235 is well wide.

I had the rear arches rolled on my old sapphire to stop them cutting into the tyre but at a low height and with 225 wide tyres on on acceleration the tyres still rubbed on the outer edges inside the main wheel well.

Don't forget track day tyres have a squarer shape to them rather than normal road tyres so always come up a bit bigger.
Also your rear wheels are gonna have less camber being on a 6 degree beam

Cheers Paul

 

I've still got room to come in a few mm by machining either the wheel or disc bell.


At the moment with the arches hammered if I jack it up hard on the bump stop it just clears, there is a 225 width RSR tyre available, but it's a 45 series and might cause other issues being taller.


I'll make good all the damage done and wait until the beam has been set up before doing any machining.