Ride height for Ultraleggeras?

[Mr Squashie]

Just swapped these over from my MX5 today and much to my disappointment they're rubbing horribly at full lock, and probably while driving quickly too but I haven't bothered trying. One of the previous owners fitted what appear to be the absolute lowest and cheapest springs available for extra cred at McDonald's, but now I can't drive the bloody car properly 🧐
I'm hoping that swapping from the Rainsports that are currently on there to some Pilot Sport 3s may help slightly, then again it may make things worse as I'm not sure which tyres are more balloon-like.
If that doesn't work then I'm going to change springs, and may as well change the old dampers as well while I'm there, but I don't know what springs to get. Obviously I don't want the tyres to rub, but I'd still like to be a little bit lower than stock. Can anyone offer some advice?
Tyres are 195/50/15 and wheels are 15x7 ET37

 

[Mbeau]

You sure it's not just catching on the front bumper mounting point, makes a horrendous noise. You should be able to see some marks on the tyre where it catches. You can normally just tuck it up.

That size wheel, tyres and offset should be absolutely fine. It won't be anything much causing it.

 

[Mr Squashie]

I'm not really sure where it was catching to be honest. I originally thought it was the wheelarch liner as it was hanging down and split, but after some careful massaging with some pliers it still seems to be happening 😂

 

[Bluebeard]

Impossible to say without looking at it in person.
But just from the pics, I’d say you need some spacers. Those wheels look too far in.

 

[Mr Squashie]

Impossible to say without looking at it in person.
But just from the pics, I’d say you need some spacers. Those wheels look too far in.

I assumed they'd be further out than the stock wheels, unless the stock ones are 6.5 wide not 7. New to Clios and clearly haven't done any research!

 

[Bluebeard]

I assumed they'd be further out than the stock wheels, unless the stock ones are 6.5 wide not 7. New to Clios and clearly haven't done any research!

The width of the wheel is only part of it though. If the offsets are massively different, a 6.5 wide wheel ‘could’ stick out more than a 7.

 

[Mr Squashie]

I think the standard offset is 45, the OZs are 37

 

[imprezaworks]

Are they 55 profile

 

[Mr Squashie]

Are they 55 profile

50 profile, so not a massive change over the old tyres. Went from 195/45/16 to 195/50/15

 

[plenty]

I am running 15x7 Ultraleggeras with 195/50/15 without any rubbing. My ride height measured from ground to arch is 61 cm rear / 60 cm front however I have run considerably lower also without issues.

When I acquired the car it had 10mm spacers which I quickly took off as they didn’t do the handling any favours, but the tyres didn’t rub even with the spacers on.

I do not and have never run front arch liners so not sure if that makes a difference.

 

[Mr Squashie]

I'll whip the fronts off tomorrow after work and see if I can work out what's rubbing. So far I've "trimmed" the front wheelarch liners, but if nothing else jumps out at me I might just take them off completely

 

[Mbeau]

Look up where the front bumper clips and bolts into the front of the wing. There is a metal bracket that the 10mm bolt(if still there!) Screws into the bumper. Two of my track clios running 15" wheels with similar offset would catch in corners on that metal bracket, especially when I had B14'S or lowering spring on standard shocks as damping is quite soft.

There are a few threads on here about it. Tucked the bracket up and sorted. Some trim it too.

 

[Coops Mk1]

That size and offset of wheel and tyre should not rub, there's something else amiss here

 

[Mbeau]

That size and offset of wheel and tyre should not rub, there's something else amiss here

Not on anything else other than what I stated above. Unless the arch liner is all loose or something is not clipped up 🙈

 

[Mr Squashie]

I'm taking it to the tyre place to have the PS3s fitted this afternoon, I'll have a proper look under there while the wheels are off 👍

 

[Mr Squashie]

I'm guessing these tatty bits of arch liner are the culprits, can't see anything else that could possibly interfere with the tyre.

I'll either trim these back when I get home or just remove them completely, depends how many beers I have in the fridge 😏

 

[Mr Squashie]

Scratch that, new tyres don't seem to rub at all 🤷‍♂️
Problem solved 😂

 

[Mbeau]

There is nothing left of the arch liner to remove, I reckon the tyres have removed them for you 😂

 

[Mr Squashie]

That's actually what was left after my attempt at "gently persuading" them yesterday. Ripped off as much as I could with some pliers but they were still catching on the Rainsports. Pilot Sports don't seem to be THICC enough to have that issue.

 

[Mr Squashie]

A lot less ballooney and a lot more purposeful 👌 Actually weighed the old standard wheels as they came off the car, 17.1kg including tyre. New ones weigh 12.1kg including tyre 😲
The 14" BBS wheels that my MX5 came with weigh 4.7kg each, I've lost more than an entire MX5 wheel per corner 😎
Doing some quick maths, according to internet lore each kg saved of unsprung mass is equivalent to 6kg sprung mass, so I've basically lost a fat guy from my passenger seat 😏

 

[JimF]

I've looked into wheel weights massively and there's no hard an fast equation to work out the equivalent sprung/unsprung weight relation... BUT... 4.7kg a corner is a huge saving! The car will be transformed!
Looks great by the way. When I was shopping for my Clio I was never keen on this colour but now I've seen it again for the first time in ages it looks fantastic!