Recently, I've bottomed out a couple of times during spirited driving.

The previous owner had aftermarket 18's installed.

I love em. they are 225/40/18 in the front and 245/40/18 in the rear.

All 3 times i've done it, i was going about 60 mph, hit a dip in teh road, and the front tires tap into the wheel well.

What should i do? I really like these tires, but am worried that one day they will blow or something and ill end up spinning out on the highway.

I'm in Cleveland so bad roads are quite common when i get out of my city (independence, aka "the bubble").

Are there any cheaper springs that are a little stiffer so that they wont dip so much when i hit a spot in the road? i dont want to mess up my handling though. :sigh:

I don't know. I'm going to be switching to winters soon, so it won't matter, but I'm still worried.

Thanks for any help,
-Dan

 

What kind of springs/shocks are you running? If its only springs you might want to do some research on proven springs and shock combinations or coilover setups. I run 18's (225/40/18 front and 255/35/18 rear) and have not been close to bottoming out as of yet. I am running Tein H-tech springs on stock shocks so its a mild drop. All in all, bottoming out is bad and its probably destroying your shocks if they aren't destroyed already.

 

maybe check to see if you're lowered at all (by the previous owner). i have 18's but i have a stock ride height ('til i put eibachs in) and i have about a 1.75" gap between the top of the tires and the bottom of the fender. my other car is lowered 2" and a sharp dip in the road could slap the undercarriage easily...

 

Sounds like your car's struts are not working.

 

with 225/40/18 in front and 245/40/18 in rear, i have about 1.5-1.6 inches between the top of the tire and the wheel well/ fender lining thing... all the way around.

am i lowered?
i hope thats teh case because it would be if something was broke.

i bought the car used, i think im teh 4th owner. i dont know how to tell if the springs are stock because im not THAT good with cars, and i dont know what the stockies look like.. if someone knows, ill take a pic and post it here.

thanks for the help guys.. please inform me that its because i am lowered

 

These cars have shocks, not struts, and I'm sure his shocks are working fine. What he has failed to mention is the offsets of the wheels. This is whats likely causing the rubbing. His front wheels probably aren't quite the right offset.

 

does he mean rubbing? or bottoming out? there's a big difference.

 

Sorry, I meant rubbing.

I just said bottoming out because that's kind of what it is. The wheels rub against the fender lining after a big dip in the road at high speed (highway).

It sounds kind of like chirping a tire.

I don't know what the offsets are or what an offset is. I didn't install the wheels; They were on the car when I bought it.

 

It has to do with a lot of things...esp what size and offset are the wheels? Are your fenders rolled or anything?

 

I have no idea of the offsets. where can i look. i dont think my fenders are rolled either. The best i could do is take pics.

Thanks for the help so far