Fender Rubbing

[jrbruc84]

So I just finished putting my CCX back together and after one trip around the block I have a slight rub when I go over small bumps. It rubs on front inside of the passenger rear fenderwell. The body of the car is exactly dead center on the frame. I have the older orange adjustable koni coilover shocks on the rear and appear to be in working order. Any suggestion as to why only one side rubs?

[Detroit Bill]

When you align the car the top and the bottom of the tire can be moved in and out.
If you move both the top and the bottom of the tire out you gain clearance.

That might be the situation. I have the same situation and I am hoping I can fix it that way.

[RICK LAKE]

jrbruc84 JR, After you got the car back togeather did you set the ride height? needs to be done. Having the weights check in all 4 corners with your body weight in the drivers seat too would be done before and alignment of the car.
Is the car a coil over shock or torsion bar? Not sure if there is an adjustment on these bars, would think so. After you have the height and weight done, road test for rub. If it only happens around a turn and you have coil shocks in the front a would increase the spring rate about 50-75pounds. Say you have a 300# spring on the front, goto 350 and see if this stops the rubbing. Torsion bars are a whole different problem. See if you can get ahold of Peter Bear who what the guiy who started CC and ask about getting a stronger set of struts. The last hope is changing the front sway bar for more flat tracking of the car. THis part will need a video of the car making turns and looking at how the car turns. You are looking for a flat, no body roll. If the corners each go down we need different springs or torsion bars and maybe a bigger sway bar. YOu didn't say what motor was in the car and weight of it. This is important for setup up a car. YOu are looking for a happy medium between street soft ride and track handling. I know I added 25% higher rated front springs to my car and it made all the different in the world on handling and the tracking of the car. With stock setup it plowed every turn. Watched video and made changes and what a different with just the spring. Flattracking and quicker turning, no body roll.
IF you can find someone with weight scales like a dirt tracker, or good alignmentshop with scales this is where you need to start. I got a guy to get my weights on the car for $50.00 and a case of beer. It's worth it.
Good luck Rick L. Ps yes to can play with the alignment to clear and rubs on the body but it is not fixxing the car correctly and could cause perwear on tires, joints, and handling issues. YOu have come this far, finish strong and go the rest of the way.

[jrbruc84]

Rick, How do I set ride height? The rub is in the rear fenderwell. These are koni orange coilovers that are adjustable.

[RICK LAKE]

jrbruc84 What size tires are you running? 15"or 17" wheels"? It sounds like the rearend is not square in the rear of the car. You need to measure front to back clearance between body and tire. Also need to level car front to rear. You have a tubed frame. It's a pain in the butt. Put the car up on blocks at all four wheels. Flat surface and measure from ground to bottom of frame on the main tubes. Need a good eye for correct height and measure it. Adjust coils on shocks to adjust height. Match the turns on both rear shocks at the same time. The easier way would be to weight the car at the 4 wheels and balance the car first, then adjust the height you like to clear fenders. If you can't get the clearance you may have to slot the main plate for the jag rearend. I am going with the fact that all the bushings, nuts,bolts, support rods are tight without play.
My era started with 15" wheels and 5" at all 4 corners. I autocross and road race the car. It now has 17" wheels and 4" clearance at the frame points. I upped the front springs by 150 pounds. With the battery in the trunk over r/r wheel my ratio is 49/51 balance. The rearend springs are still stock 250#. I get 1.5" of squat that helps with traction. MY rear as front support bars that are adjustable to keep the rearend in the correct location. I can move either side to push back or pull one side forward.
I am not 100% sure how the rearend in your car bolts in. If it's a Jag rearend there are 4 bolts that bolt to the frame on the top. You may have to slot 1 side to get the rearend square in the fender openings. The other thing is when you get the car aligned, make sure the thrust align is (0). This means the car tracks true. These cars are built in buck for the frames and bodies. over time the bucks wear out and they keep using them anyway and figure your body man or you will figure out how to fix it.
You may also want to call CCX boys and ask about how to fix this problem. You spent alot of money on this car and disappointed with poor product manufacturing. See what they say and they may have a different way to fix it.
If you slot the top mount and get the rearend square again and worryed about the slots, have them filled in with weld. Make sure the battery is pulled before doing any welding. Clean and paint the area after repair.
Hope this helps. If you want to call, 7322543536 between 7:30 pm and 10:30pm NJ time. Rick L.

[jrbruc84]

[jrbruc84]

Rick, man you are full of info! Wish you lived next door! I just posted the pictures of the rub. Its a Jag rear and you can see on the black fenderwall, the rub. This is the passenger side, not the drivers side like you see in the photo of the car from a distance. You mentioned that your rear has front support bars. Are you referring to the torsion bars? Now that you see what I am talking about, whaddoya think needs adjustin?

[DanEC]

Rick has an ERA with the Jag suspension mounted in a carrier that has two bolts at the top that secures it to the frame. Each hub has an adjustable rod link running forward to the chassis that locates the entire assembly (and thus position of the wheels) in the wheel opening. The carrier simply pivots around the two attachment bolts and everything is located front/rear by the links. I had a similar rub in the front of my driver side wheel well of my ERA and the fix was to lengthen both rod links by about 3/8 inch to pivot the entire assembly to the rear slightly.

How does the Jag rear assembly mount in your Contemporary? Is it bolted in solid to the frame? Does it have any rods locating the hubs front and rear?

[RICK LAKE]

jrbruc84 You have a couple of choices here,
The easiest one is to go to a body shop and have the fiberglass cutout to clear the tires. This will also work down the road if you go with 17" wheels. ERA does this to their cars when the bodies are built my car went back to ERA for this change. I when for 15" to 17" and they clear with 335's in the rearend and no hit marks.
Not so easy idea is to get a set of custom rims made with the correct back space to clear the body. If you want to go cheaper, they sell back spacers that go behind the rims between rim and rearend housing. They come in different thicknesses. IF you normal drive, they will be ok. IF you are going to drive hard, I would recommend this and do the rims.
Worst case, like I said, the rearend is not square in the body and need to be remeasured and centered. You may still need to have the inner body well modified. I don't know if ERA will sell you the Patch kit. Just need to find a glass man that willnot RAPE you for this repair. When done add 3 -4 coats of undercoating on the body only. This will help protect the paint and stop bullet marks in the paint from debrie kick up. Some guys use foam board and spray it black.
All you can try and do is this to start. Put the car on jack stands, remove the rear shocks,(all). Put tires back on. Put a pump jack under the tires and go through the range of motion and is where it rubs and how close the other side is. You might only need 1/4" to clear the body. Again back to slotting the mounting plate to clear the body. You have 15" wheels for now but after you goto 17" I doubt you will return to 15" except on long cruises over unknow roads. That extra ground clearance can save an oil pan. I trailer my car in 15" wheels and race in 17". I went from 335 PIlots(Mich) to 315 Nitto tires. YOu have my number if you want to talk. Rick L.

[jrbruc84]

[jrbruc84]

Dan, I just posted a photo of the differential mounting to a plate on chassis. I do not have the carriage nor does it have the drag rods connecting the hub to the chassis, only a bolt on stopper that bolts to each drive shaft with two u bolts. It is about 3 inches long with a metal plate on the end an butts up to the frame. Each end appears equadistant to the frame. See the next photos. Would a bad or out of adjustment shock absorber cause this? I say this becuz if there are two shocks and one is set hard and the other soft, would that cause the up and down movement to twist diagnally instead? Rick makes good suggestion with the spacers but I really would like to find out what is causing this. I have 15 inch tires. The rubbing occurs over bumps or turns.

[jrbruc84]

[RICK LAKE]

jrbruc84 Is it Bruce? If this is only over bumps, replace the shocks, but I don't think this will fix a body hitting problem. It's a tire rub. Put 1 thin spacer in the r/s of 1/8" I think that will clear the tire. The other thing is we don't know what the rear camber reading are? You might only need to add shims to the r/s drive shaft to help clear the body. Was the rearend apart? They might have not reinstalled all the shims and this will cause the same problem. Call me in the about 3 hours. Rick L.

[jrbruc84]

Will call you in three hours with more info. Thanks, Rick! (This number 732 254-3536)

[DanEC]

I agree with Rick that you may need to get the rear alignment checked. Could be camber or toe-in is out. When you say you recently got the car back together - what all did you do to it? What size wheels and tires are on the rear.

[Thor maine]

Is your car a early model? I had a similar problem with mine, body #102, I purchased the directed size tire 295/50/15 on 10 inch rims with the directed backspace. Did the correct ride height adjustments , but I had hard contact with both front inside corner of the rear wheel wells. When I called Peter Bayer at Contemporary all I got was "yes we are aware of the problem and have taken steps to correct it" I said good I just purchased my car a month ago what are you going to do for me??? Peter Bayer's response was "NOTHING" . After a few more calls ( about the tires hitting but also a lot of other parts that did not fit quite right and over $1200.00 dollars in back ordered parts that had not arrived) Peter told me to "F*** Off" and not to call back anymore! So anyway I was left to cut out a portion of the inner rear fender well and move it and re glass it up.