So I'm the proud new owner of an 08 sport. Love the car to death after just 2 weeks, but ran into a small problem after putting on a new set of steelies and snows the other day.

The wheels are the Unique 83 from Discount Tire Direct, with Cooper st2 studded tires with the stock 195/55/15 size. Going over large bumps at highway speed, they are rubbing in the rear only. Sounds like plastic, so I'm assuming the fender liner? The wheels apparently have only a +41 offset, but there are no clearance issues to the calipers or suspension.

Am I correct in assuming they are sitting too deep in the wheel wells? The tires have only been on for 3 days, so I haven't had time to pull them back off to look for rub marks, but I can't see anything that looks obvious from looking underneath and around the tire. It's the rears only.

Is the offset too little? Am I indeed rubbing the plastic fender liner if anyone knows? Should I be searching for hub spacers to bump them out that extra few mm?

Thanks!

 

For snow tires, you should have really gone down to 14" in size to 185-65/14 or even the base size of 175-65/14. Narrow and tall is better for handling in snow.

The 15" steelies from Discount Tire should not be rubbing in the rear. Also I don't think the rear has any fender lining, I never noticed any on my 2007.

Possible that you are bottoming out in the rear, more unsprung weight due to 15" steelies and heavier tires, and also maybe weakened rear shocks could account for it. How many miles are on your Fit?

 

Heavier wheels/tires/more unsprung weight would not cause bottoming out.

There is no rear fender liner.

Offset is acceptable for fitment, there shouldn't be any rubbing.

 

Only 75k on it. Guess I'll have to investigate when I get a bit of time.

 

Figured it out. Offset is too little, tires are bumping into the plastic clips between the fender and the bumper. Too bad they were sold as a direct fit, which they are not!

 

Its a bit odd for you to be rubbing with a wheel and tire combo like that since it almost is effectively stock spec (minus the offset); HOWEVER, I may idea on what's causing the problem in combination to the offset.

Excluding wheel width in this theory, those Cooper ST2s (Weather-Masters I assume?) in the size of 195/55R15 may actually be a little on the tall side believe it or not. The ST2s according to Cooper's site have a 23.74 inch outer diameter were as the majority of non-winter tires usually range from 23.3 to 23.5 inches in O.D.

Another thing to keep in mind... Spring/shock sag. Suspension components are of course wear items. I'd check out the car to see if has an rake (front end noticeably lower than rear OR vice-versa) and if it does start checking out the shocks and springs.

 

The rear does sit noticeably lower than the front to the tires, but it's rubbing with the car almost empty in the rear. I've had the rear loaded up a few times with chainsaws and ropes with the stock alloys on as I do tree work, and they never rubbed with several hundred pounds of gear in the hatch.

Regardless of the condition of a 7 year old, 70,000 mile suspension, it shouldn't be rubbing. Apparently a fraction of an inch is a mile in this case.

 

you are correct: the offset is too little and they are a trifle too far out of the fenderwell. rubbing should be on the outer side of the fender liner. take a look. Your stock wheels are 53 to 55 mm offset so at 41 mm they are pushed out more than a half-inch each side. thats a tad too much.
And I believe the Coopers are a tad larger than the calculation; check the overall tire diameter with your stock tires on tirerack specs..
that being the case spacers would mekre it worse.
talk to discount tire and see if you can trade the steelies for ones with more offset.and last make sure the rubbing is not due to the liners not being fastened as designed and are loose.
good luck.

 

Mahout and hootie, great input. It's hitting the little black plastic clip that seemingly clips on the seam between the fender and bumper, quite literally an 1/8" of clearance would solve it. I understand the offset better now, and realize a spacer would exacerbate the issue, not help, by putting the wheel even close to the fender. It's just hitting the very edge of the tread, not quite making it to the sidewall of the tire. 4mm = roughly 1/6", and I'm positive it'd be fine with that extra clearance. I'm calling DTD first thing in the morning to see what they can do.

Unfortunately, they seemingly only offer those steel wheels and the 15's offer the highest offset, the 14's are actually worse by another 10mm.

 

I've got to hand it to Discount Tire Direct. Dealt with Austin Sprague in customer service. I'd fly out there and hug the guy if I could. He let me pick out new wheels, which ended up being some MB Interline, which are nearly $40 more per wheel, but get me up to the +43mm offset, closest I could get without wheel price getting ridiculous. Then I dropped down to a 185/65/15, which should further narrow the profile. He's doing it all as an even swap, and covering shipping on the replacements, as well as return postage on the steelies.

Seeing as I needed just a smidgen more clearance, I'm positive this will take care of it. I'm just beyond stoked about my experience with them, as I've had some really good experiences lately, and want to share!

I don't mean for this to sound like an ad, but I've gotten hosed on some purchases in the past, where your "stuck with it", and really happy I'm being taken care of.

 

That's great customer service, hope the new ones work out better for you.

Though 65 seems quite tall for 15 series, it's within range.

 

Fantastic calculator gd3, where is that from? Looks like tirerack perhaps?

 

Tire Size Calculator & Converter, Tire Size Conversion | Discount Tire

 

Had the same problem. Got some Konig rims at Discount Tire, rubbing at those clips that protrude out. Filing it down helped some, but still rubbed. After several months, found some '04 Civic wheels (15") which have 45+ offset. No issues now. And this is with 205/50 tires.