Just acquired a 81 280zx 2+2 5 speed with no major modifications that I know of. It needs work, and I doubt this will be my last post... but:


The rear tires are rubbing (225 60r 15), this is most noticeable on the driver side where it has pulled up a bit of the wheel well and is causing it to whine (think chirp the tires). This only happens when going over a bump at speed, accelerating, or anytime weight is shifted to the rear. I have banged down the part of the wheel well that was pulled out and made it smooth, but repeatedly the tire pulls it out. Looking at the passenger side, no part of the wheel well is pulled out, but you can see a little wear on the tire where it is rubbing. Are the tires to big? Are the struts shot? Something else? I'm new to these cars, but my guess was the tires were to big. The tires look stuffed, and the car does not bounce when I tested the suspension. Any help would be most appreciated!

My other Z (83') is running a 205 75 on a 14in rim and its alot of sidewall, but I never have any rubbing.


pics would be helpfull

I have about 3 fingers worth of spacing with nothing in the back on < 1/4 of a tank of gas. Quick calc buts the tires at around 25" with rim.... Could be wrong on that.

Pictures included are: A closer view of driver side (problem side). A wide view , and finally a close up of what is going on. I have set it flat several times and it keeps getting ripped up. Finally the last picture is of the passenger side that is fine right now, though I do see some rub marks on tires.

Wheels I assume aren't stock, are they wrong offset? Would that cause this?

Edit: Spelling

ya there not stock wheels
tire size looks fine to me, how far do the wheels stick out? could be the offset.

205/60-15 is stock tire size so your wheels are oversize as far as the outside diameter goes.
They should still clear just fine on the upper center fender flare if you had the car lowered.

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Buy some 225/55-15 tires and I would bet those clear just fine. (plus your speedo will once again read correctly)

mine just reads 0 and FAST

I know it's kind of a long shot, but your wheels are backwards, and the tires look like directionals, maybe the one on the driver's side is backwards... I have no clue if that would cause your problems though... the way the suspension moves, I wouldn't think would let the tire come that close to the fender lip...

No idea if it is lowered. They stick out about 1/2" from the wheel well, is that what is causing the problem? The wheels are pretty wide, I would say about 8-9 inches I am not sure how much narrower of a tire I could go... As I said I just bought it so I am not sure what they did with it. Tires are new (I guess they did 2 burn outs on a Camaro and did not hook up right), I just need to be able to drive her while I do some quick restoration work

Car sits level left to right and back to front.

Those look like some pretty negative offset wheels to me. Looks to me like either it's different wheels, or roll 1/4 panel.

So I need entirely new wheels, no tire size would make this work?

Thanks for the help guys.

did you read my post?

lol so what part of his post gave it away?

Lol my bad, I just read bojo's post, it's been a long day

Spent the last couple days looking for a 4 tires that would fit with no luck. Ended up with another 2 195/60-15 for the rear so all the tires would be equal. So I replaced the 2 225/60-15 with 2 195/60-15 so the whole care is running on 195/60-15, and it looks fairly silly. But I needed to drive the car, and get those 225's off so I can sell them, and I got a good deal (45 a tire mounted and balanced). Now that its drivable I can begin to work it out and see what the problems are on my Z.

Thanks for the help.

i dont know much, but in the past i have checked out a 1978 280z, and it rubbed the tires in the wheelwell when turning due to a couple things, for one, it had bad struts all around. and 2 it had a rim size bigger than stock...theres a few basic variables that could be your problem...

this reply probly wont help u, but hey! i tried anyway