The street tires on my rallyx Neon have seen better days. They should make the several hundred mile trip to Tulsa for the rallyx nationals, but I'm a little concerned. I also have a set of 15" GM wheels with a matching bolt pattern and bore size, and the tires on them are in far better shape, only 1.5 years old and a few thousand miles on them. I threw one on last night, and it seems to clear everything, but I'm guesstimating there's only about 1/16" clearance between the back of the wheel and the brake caliper. Is that too close, or should it be okay?
If it's not touching I'd say it's OK.
I might check them after the first run for signs of interference.
Okay, I guess once the car is back together, I'll take it for a spin in the neighborhood, and see if I hear any new bad noises.
Once I get there, I have wheels/tires I know will clear, this is just for the highway trip to Tulsa.
Have any 3-5mm spacers laying around?
1/16" is about 3mm, which is an acceptable clearance to the rim. if you're talking about clearance between the outboard face of the caliper and the inboard face of the spokes, then i'd say that minimum required clearance has to be checked with NEW pads, because the caliper will never be farther outboard than it is when NEW pads are installed. as the pads wear, the piston pushes outboard, which pulls the caliper body inboard. if you had 3mm clearance with NEW pads, i'd say those wheels could be used on that car at any time. however, if that 3mm clearance is with half-worn pads, you would definitely have an interference problem with NEW pads.
In reply to AngryCorvair:
Conveniently enough, this is with pads/rotors that have less than 100 miles on them. I did the front brakes in prep for the competition.
OT: The pads had tons of material left, but one of the rotors had the strangest wear to it I've ever seen. There was actually some wide areas with material missing. I'm guessing iffy metallurgy. Replacing them got rid of the pulsation issue I was having, so I'm happy.
eastsidemav wrote:
In reply to AngryCorvair:
Conveniently enough, this is with pads/rotors that have less than 100 miles on them. I did the front brakes in prep for the competition.
OT: The pads had tons of material left, but one of the rotors had the strangest wear to it I've ever seen. There was actually some wide areas with material missing. I'm guessing iffy metallurgy. Replacing them got rid of the pulsation issue I was having, so I'm happy.
i've seen that quite a bit lately. the FIL's 2005 chevy pickup had that happen on the rear. literally chunks of the machined face were falling off. i had a couple of my own do the same. i attribute it to the chinese garbage they sell to us claiming to be brake rotors these days.
eastsidemav wrote: I'm guesstimating there's only about 1/16" clearance between the back of the wheel and the brake caliper. Is that too close, or should it be okay?
That's more than some OEM setups.
It's a lot more than my front tire to spring clearance. You can smell it when I brake hard and everything flexes.
