'64 Skylark rubbing tires when turning

I recently bought a '64 Skylark convertible project car. When you go around a corner you can hear the front passenger tire rub badly. The seller said he put new shocks and springs on some 15 years ago and it has been driven little since, mostly stored other than the occasional drive around the block. My guess is that from sitting the springs have sagged and are no longer holding the car up well. Additionally, brakes were converted to disks. The wheels are 215/60R15's. My understanding is that it came with 14's originally, is this correct? It would stand to reason that the car would have lost some clearance when the bigger wheels were put on. I'm green here so please be gentle.

Does anyone have recommendations for great shocks that will give me a little more clearance without substantially sacrificing handling? Thanks in advance

 

14" wheels came from the factory but with plenty of room for 15" wheels. They were probably changed so that the disc brakes would fit under the rims.

Shocks won't give you more clearance.

Also check to make sure that the ball joints are good as well as the rest of the front suspension components.

 

Just went through most of this last winter. I now have 15 miles on the car! The car is a '64 special that came with a V6/3 on the tree. It was put away in 1980 with 33,000 miles with no thought to long term storage. Its now sporting a fresh 455 and a four speed. I replaced the original f78-14 tires and wheels with 1971 Monte Carlo 15 x 7" rally wheels. I also changed all 4 springs for a "tougher" stance.

The springs that I thought were gonna be too mushy are only about <1-2" less in height than the new 1965 GS 401 springs. Same on the rears. The 401 actually weighs more than the 455. I have a spare set of factory GS 401 fronts that are the same height and coils as the new ones. I still have the 4 wheel OEM power drums though. The front tires are T/A 235-55R-15s and the rears are 270-35R-15s (55R's may have fit) with no sign of a rub at all.

If youd like, I can measure fender lip height off the floor. Youll need to find exactly where the rub is to get a better idea of where the fault lies. Feel free to email me at yachtsman36@charter.net to discuss this further. Bill in sunny Two Rivers, Wi.

 

Find out where it's rubbing first. If it's the fender liner, it could be a diameter issue with your tires or a spring height issue, although I'm betting with 215/60 series tires they're most likely the same diameter or close to it as your stock 14" wheels and tires were. It's not the diameter of the wheel that makes a difference, it's the diameter of the tire. One of my cars has 20" wheels on it where it had 14" originally, but the tire diameter is the same as stock. As mentioned it's probably a backspacing issue and it's rubbing your frame at full lock. When they switched to disc brakes that will normally change the backspacing needed as your track width (the distance center to center of the wheels/tires) will normally change between the discs and drums. Your discs probably spaced the wheels 1/8" or so farther "in" so they most likely needed to get wheels with 1/8" less back spacing, and they most likely got wheels with stock backspacing....they make cheap wheel spacers to correct this if you don't want to spring for new wheels but you need to make sure your lug studs are long enough and allow enough of the lug nut to still have enough threads engaged when using them.

 

Hi,

I have 245 60 r14s on my 65 lark it has AC springs even though the car doesn't have AC so have a little more clearance, I did add AC springs on my 65 Cutlass as well and they clear them, they do run a little on lock to lock but not under normal driving conditions.

Maybe width, maybe try a 65 series or slightly different offset, also is the rear axle 64/65 as width changed in 66 so could cause clearance issues.

Regards,

 

I've got 215/70-15s on 15x6 with a 3 1/2" BS on the front of my `65, and 275/60-15s on 15x8 with a 5 1/2" BS on the rear. Keep in mind that I have a `68 housing in the rear which adds another 1/2 on each side. I also have Hotchkis 1" drop springs all the way around. They are close but nothing rubs, so with the proper backspacing you can get bigger tires on your car. I'm not sure about the front but I can say with absolute certainty that no bigger tire will fit under the rear fenderwells without some modifications. I have 1/4" to maybe 3/8" clearance on both the inside and the outside.

 

Thank you all for the great replies. I found a couple videos that showed how it is done. I have a good idea now what I need to do.

Any suggestions on where to get the spacers and how thick I might go?

 

Larry70GS, thank you for that tip. The wheels are not stock, they are off a 71 Skylark I believe. So if I were to add 1" of spacing it should bring them to stock backspacing specs.

 

Just about any auto parts store or tire shop like Les Schwab should have them. You can also get them online. But, seriously, make sure if you've got open lug nuts they engage all the threads in the nuts. Here's a link and pic. Most are 5/16" and I can't tell you how thick you need without being there, but that thickness usually takes care of most issues.

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/AFCO...OfTXhdhsf1Q--nQiJrnqW7_WcvtHC7S0aArAcEALw_wcB