Can Realignment Fix Rubbing (M7 Springs)?
 

It has been 4 days since installing M7 springs on 215/35/18’s (I was told to wait approximately a week before realigning the car). When I was driving back home on the freeway I was getting a rub on the rear driver side wheel every time I hit a dip or bump going 65-70mph on the freeway (about 5-6 rubs on the 20 mile trip home). By the way, getting no rubbing on surface streets.

I was assuming that having the car aligned would fix the rubbing issue on that side, but a friend of my brother said, it wouldn’t. I called the shop that installed my springs and they said it should fix the problem. :confused:

I just wanted some input from NAM prior to getting the car aligned/checked out this Tuesday, or if anyone else has experienced the same problem. –NV MINI

my guess is that an alignment may actually make it worse - with the M7 springs installed the rear camber increased and actually created a little more clearance - if you get the car aligned and the rear camber adjusted back to normal (only adjustable on 05 and later and only 0.5 - 1 degree or something) the tires will get closer to the fender...

I ended up trimming the plastic inside the fender as my 215/45/17 on 17x7.5 with 40 mm offset and M7 springs was rubbing big time front & rear. After 2 rounds with the dremel I'm almost "clear"... :grin:

what size wheels and offset do you run?

you can most likely fix it by giving it a tad more neg camber on the back, but i'd first find
where it's actually rubbing before taking her in.

you need to specify to the alignment tech that your primary is to
rid rubbing, then trying to get it as close to factory spec.

on a lot of lower cars I've done that had rubbing issues we just rolled the fenders. Baisically you just bend the metal lip on the inside of the fender or take off the tire and cut the lip off will a dremel or grinder ect... If that's what is rubbing its a simple fix that won't damage the car and isn't noticable at all just take your time and be careful if you do it.

18s are also pretty big for a car this small, you are probably going to have to trim trimmy trim trim.

It’s been 5 days since realigning the car, and there’s no longer a rubbing issue on the rear drive side wheel as previously mentioned. :thumbsup:

If you increased rear negative camber to fix this then just drive safely as your car will have quite a bit of increased understeer.