I'm running 225/40/18 tires up front with 18x8 +43 wheels. The tires definitely "poke" a little bit, but don't seem to rub while going straight, even when I hit a mild bump. The only time I ever rub is when I am cornering hard and I hit a little bump mid turn. Rubbing while cornering hard definitely upsets the balance of the car a little bit and I really want to avoid this in the future if I can help it.

Would dialing in a little camber prevent this? It would obviously prevent rubbing while going straight, but when the car is turning most of the tire is outside the fender anyway. I'm running height adjustable Koni Yellows and could raise the front up a little bit, though I would prefer not to.

Any thoughts on adding camber instead?

 

why dont you just roll/pull your fenders a little. I wouldnt mess with your alignment, just gonna be paying for tires more often. Or youd probably be better off down sizing in tire a little bit like a 215/40 or a 205/40. But dont know if your looking for a stretch

 

I would sell my wheels before I pulled my fenders. The answer to that is an emphatic "no".

 

Well they you better sell them because your fenders should be rolled for that setup. The camber won't make a difference when turning it will probably just change where it rubs. The danger is once it rubs through the fender liner it could grab the fender lip and damage it.

 

So basically is there no way to run a car hard with stock fenders and +43 wheels? I figure there would be some track guys who could chime in on this. Surely it can be done. A lot of those guys run some crazy wide tires up front.

 

+1

Either get different wheels or roll your fenders.. If you don't then your fenders will get pulled by the tires and you will be worse off

 

And what good would rolling the fenders do if the tire is turned and therefore completely outside of the fender anyway? Rubbing is not an issue when driving straight.

Seems to me like I would need stiffer springs or a thicker anti-roll bar instead.

 

So basically is there no way to run a car hard with stock fenders and +43 wheels? I figure there would be some track guys who could chime in on this. Surely it can be done. A lot of those guys run some crazy wide tires up front.
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Yes but they roll their fenders and usually pull them some as well.

The issues is that there are several ears of the fender that protrude out which is where the finder liner attaches to. If you have the wheel turned and under compression rubbing the liner, eventually what will happen is the tire will rub through or flex the liner and it will grab one of those ears, when the tire drops back down it tears the shit out of the corners of your tire and yanks the whole fender lip down causing irreparable damage. So if your rubbing in this location its just a matter of time. More negative camber can help alleviate this, but no guarantee and you wont know until the damage has been done if it was enough or not. I speak from experience, I learned the hard way. Your best option is to do the preventative work to your fenders now to keep their stock outer appearance integrity. Or risk it. Chances are with the right camber, you can get away with just rolling. Whats required to roll your front is cutting back the finder liner a few inches back from the mount tabs, then roll the tabs and lip back out of the way. The liner will stay in place. If you want to maximize the amount of rubber you can run on this car, its a necessary evil. Honda didn't do a very good job from the factory on this one. I'm running 255/295. There is no way in fock your going to be able to do that on untouched fenders.

 

When I am cornering very hard (hard enough to get pulled over if a cop saw me), and a hit a bump mid corner, there is only mild rubbing. If a little bit of camber could fix this I might do it. But I am not modifying my fenders.

My coilovers are adjustable and I can just raise the ride height up a little bit to avoid rubbing. This is not the "cool" thing to do, but it would be effective. I could also install stronger anti-sway bars, which would probably be a decent idea anyway.

 

So basically is there no way to run a car hard with stock fenders and +43 wheels? I figure there would be some track guys who could chime in on this. Surely it can be done. A lot of those guys run some crazy wide tires up front.
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Yes but they roll their fenders and usually pull them some as well.

The issues is that there are several ears of the fender that protrude out which is where the finder liner attaches to. If you have the wheel turned and under compression rubbing the liner, eventually what will happen is the tire will rub through or flex the liner and it will grab one of those ears, when the tire drops back down it tears the shit out of the corners of your tire and yanks the whole fender lip down causing irreparable damage. So if your rubbing in this location its just a matter of time.
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This is bang on. Ask me how I know haha. No serious harm in running a bit more front camber. Fwiw, I'm at -3.3 (track alignment), and the wear isn't too bad on the street, but not amazing either. Your only options are to bite the bullet and do a mild fender roll, or sell the rims and get something less aggressive. Pay a little now, or ALOT later.