Bumper bracket scuffing

[Dave.]

I have just fitted coilovers and am having a few scuffing issues when on full lock or when cornering hard and it's catching on the part of the wheel arch liner that juts out due to the bumper bracket.

What's the best way of curing it? Can I bend it or anything??

 

[Philip.]

I have a non-sport and had/have the same problem.
I cut it out neatly and sanded it down a bit, not as bad at all!

 

[Vish]

Mole grips to bend it out of the way. Or saw/angle grind the excess off.

 

[MartinR]

time to get out the special tool.........hammer..... lol

 

[Tom@JMS]

You can knock it upwards lightly, but to much and it will prevent the bumper from being put back on without a wrestle.

To be honest you are running a soft set of coilovers, so if you are experiencing scrubbing on road use the car is too low. At an extreme (such as a track day) the tyre could grab the bracket and bend it downwards taking the tyre out with it (yes I have seen this happen.)

 

[The Boosh!]

You can knock it upwards lightly, but to much and it will prevent the bumper from being put back on without a wrestle.

To be honest you are running a soft set of coilovers, so if you are experiencing scrubbing on road use the car is too low. At an extreme (such as a track day) the tyre could grab the bracket and bend it downwards taking the tyre out with it (yes I have seen this happen.)

Mine needs sorting I think.Outside of my tyres look knackered after that trackday as tyres were rubbing on that bracket. Looks like my trackings out by loads but it isn't.

Another fix is to put more camberon the front apparently.

 

[jenic]

The best fix for this problem for me was 15's, much less scuffing on the bracket compared to 16's.

You must still be pretty low luke!

 

[Tom@JMS]

Yes, that can help. But it usually means your car is simply to low with the coilover / ARB spec you are running. Stiffer setup will eliminate roll and thus you can lower the car more.

If you are only getting light scrubbing a 5mm raise might stop it completely and won't make the slightest difference in terms of appearance (if that's what floats your boat )

The problem comes if the car is experiencing a heavy load mid corner (and scrubbing the bracket), if you then hit a bump such as a paint strip on a track day, that compression could catch the bracket and pop the tyre - not safe.

 

[The Boosh!]

It isn't low on the front though? I could do with some better suspension tbh! I will try raising it when i'm next home and see if that makes any difference.

 

[Tom@JMS]

That's fairly low, for a properly drive car anyway. I'd look to raise it 5-8mm.

Take a look at this image, it's my car with the relatively firm AST kit on. Steady state cornering you can see that there is still a element of body roll, imagine yours doing the same, possibly more, and you can imagine how close the bracket will be to the tyre.



I think there is a common misconception that low = go (usual spiel about center of gravity etc). Sure to an extent, but sometimes I have customer cars turn up that are simply running on the bumpstops!!!

 

[The Boosh!]

I will raise the front and see how I get on. I will leave theback though as thats as high as I can go on the rear lol.

Rake ftw

 

[jenic]

This is my height luke, takes a lot to get it scrubbing on track

CIMG0290 by mjenic, on Flickr

 

[The Boosh!]

i'd say yours is lower than mine on the front.

 

[jenic]

Thats weird then, I'm still waiting for ktec to bring out different rated front springs for the coilovers. They were supposed to come our nowish, stiffer springs would improve them a lot imo.

 

[Dave.]

Well I have fannied around with the height of the cat and have raised it around 15 to 18mm, no catching now so much better in the twisties, only thing is on full lock the steering feels funny, might just be because it's now running a degree of camber...

 

[Tom@JMS]

Have you had it tracked? Hard to get the V-maxxs miles out due to the cam type adjustment, should be there or there abouts.

 

[sideways danny]

Well I have fannied around with the height of the cat and have raised it around 15 to 18mm, no catching now so much better in the twisties, only thing is on full lock the steering feels funny, might just be because it's now running a degree of camber...

the toe will change by altering the height. You'll be running more toe-in by raising the height. Will likely have reduced the camber at the same time.

Oh, I set it to just under 1.5degrees of camber before btw, not 1 degree

 

[Tony Hunter]

As Dan says,as soon as you alter the height it changes everything so it will need to be checked.Had your driveshafts rub on the chassis rail yet?

 

[Dave.]

Arse! I didn't realise changing the height would do that, but too late now going to bedford tomorrow for the day!

Oh dear

 

[Tony Hunter]

Doh!

 

[franx]

Like Tom has stated, raise it a little


Mine was scrubbing on the brackets; lowered on the recommended rideheight by H&R ! Raised a bit to 5mm and problems gone

 

[franx]

I mainly had the scrubbing on hard corners going 50mph+ , it just was'nt safe knowing that a piece of metal was pressing on me tyres at these speeds