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Re: Tire Chewer

To: triumphs@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Tire Chewer
From: Bob Lang <LANG@ISIS.MIT.EDU>
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 15:02:34 -0400 (EDT)
Hi,

Sounds like Dave M. offered some "good" advice (pun intended), about 
loosening the sway bar and re-measuring, but there is a more fundamental 
question - are you using any spacers with the springs? You can adjust the 
ride height in increments with spacers that Good Parts sells. Keep in mind 
that a 1/4" spacer will raise the the car more than 1/4" - so don't go 
too crazy there.

But I need to point out a couple of things.

The frame heights that you quote don't seem to unreasonable. With the 
slight "rake" from fore to aft (with the aft a bit higher) will make the 
weight distribution better... look at any of the "fast TR6's" to see what 
I mean.

Now, a 1/8 inch variance between sides is not that bad... sure, I know 
you want a level car - but what are you doing with your car? In other 
words, say you go nuts and get the car perfectly level. Then you corner 
weight the car (humor me - maybe you're going to race it or something!) 
You find the cross-weights to be way off - result: the car is undrivable.

In other words, measuring the ride height is just one thing to do to get 
the car balanced... the corner wieghts and alignment are other things to do.

That having been said - you mention that the car is chewing tires... you 
were not too specific about exactly what "chewing" means. I'll assume 
that you are seeing tire to fender rubbing. You further specify that you 
are using 16 X 7 Panaports - but you did not mention the offset or 
backspacing. This can be critical - especially when you lower the car.

Last - you mention 215/55-16 tires... my calculations from years ago 
indicates that 225/60-16's are the same height as the stock 185/80-15 
O.E.M. tire... so this should not be the direct source of your rubbing. 
In fact your tire might be more than 1/2 inch shorter than the stock tire.

That having been said - what sort of camber/caster are you running. 
Further, are the little steering "stops" still installed on your lower 
trunnions??? The reason I ask this is that without the stops, the arc 
prescribed by moving the verticle link through the entire range of motion 
can account for a lot of forward/aft movement of the wheel center - in 
other words, I've seen wierd offset 7 inch rims with wide tires rub the 
wheel openings at full steering lock... So, _where is the tire rubbing_??? 
And, _under what circumstances do the tires rub_??
  
rml
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