SVO Wheels + '94-98 Brakes = Uh-Oh!

[ZephyrEFI]

Well, I found out what the horrendous noise was, seemingly coming from my wheel bearings. Check this crap out.



Those ribs on the wheels were rubbing on that spot in the middle of the caliper bracket!!




So, the question is, what do i do about this?! I hesitate to grind on the wheels where fractions of an ounce make a world of difference in how the car drives. And I also don't really want to weaken the caliper bracket. There's always a wheel spacer, but then we start to get into possible fender rubbing.

I had thought the horrendous sound was kind of like one of the wheels wasn't tight, even though I checked all the lug nuts, and that was probably true!

[ashley roachclip]

I would think a pretty thin spacer would work .

[xctasy]

Yup. Two choices.....1/16" spacers, or relief grinding the wheels. Same issue with all LSC based wheel offsets.

The caliper should stay as is unless your an engineer, and can prove its stronger linished back.

Que Zephyr 351C from 03-07-2009, 02:01 AM

This is the wrong car, but I have the same wheels on my Zephyr.


I used 94/95 spindles, 99 PBR calipers, and Lincoln LSC turbines. The calipers just barely rubbed the spokes. I meant to mention that we I was using the same wheels on my car as Kevin on his Fairmont wagon, oops...

I just made .075" spacers (a little more than 1/16th of an inch thick) at work until I could get the calipers smoothed out for powdercoat, paint or polish (haven't decided yet).

[82GTforME]

I would think a pretty thin spacer would work .

Agreed although the stud may need changing.

I'd say if you took them to a machine shop they could remove a small amount of material and you would never know the difference in balance.

I had to clearance the outside a pair of Mach 1 calipers to clear a set of " 17 inch " knock off Bullitt wheels which they should have cleared. There I had noticed it on the road because of the minute amount of wheel flex. Yours is hitting on the bracket so it's the wheel spacers or machining I'd say.

[4-barrel Mike]

I lightly sanded the high spots on the casting flanges off of my SN95 brackets to clear the LSC wheels. I have ZERO concern that it weakened the brackets.

Mike

[ZephyrEFI]

Alright. Thanks for the input so far. I'm actually thinking of 1/8 or even 1/4 inch spacers. If you look at the gouges in the ribs, they're pretty deep. I want to be able to rotate the tires on this car, so I feel like I could run into trouble again if I rotate the non-gouged wheels to this axle. I guess there's probably not much danger of rubbing the fenders. When I went to these wheels from the '01 Bullitts, there's now more than enough room, I think.

I'll look at having the wheels machined too.

[Patrick Olsen]

I would be waaaay more comfortable taking some material off the caliper bracket than I would be clearancing a set of wheels.

[ZephyrEFI]

I would be waaaay more comfortable taking some material off the caliper bracket than I would be clearancing a set of wheels.

I agree. The only reason I'm thinking that is the damage is already done to them. Seems like it might be a good idea to smooth them out or something.

[Patrick Olsen]

Probably not a bad idea to try to smooth them out a bit to remove the stress risers, while removing as little material as possible.

[Mustang-junky]

Removing weight close to the center of the wheel will have less effect on the overall balance of the wheel and tire assembly. You should be fine just smoothing out the gouges in the wheels. Personally I would add a small spacer if you were to rotate the wheels.

Jess

[ZephyrEFI]

I went and saw a 1/4" spacer at the store today and was surprised by how thick it was. So, i think what I'm gonna do is order some 1/8" spacers, grind/sand down the calipers a bit, and then maybe ask at a local machine shop about taking some material off the ribs on all 4 wheels, just for my own peace of mind. Maybe look at longer lug studs too.

[ZephyrEFI]

Alright, I ordered the 1/8" spacers. I looked at longer lug studs, but the next length you can get beyond standard (1 31/32") is 2 1/2". I wouldn't think jumping up that much in length is necessary with such a small spacer. Let me know if i'm wrong, but I have closed-end lug nuts with my wheels (the correct ones for SVO wheels) and I would like to keep them. I worry that if I go too long in a lug stud, the nuts won't be able to tighten all the way down on the wheel.

Not only that, they are ARP, and therefore WAY more expensive than standard. I've seen where Dorman claims they offer different length ones, but I have yet to see what lengths they actually offer. Anyone have experience with that?

[BMW Rider]

I doubt you'll have any issue with the stock stud length and the 1/8" spacers.

[danco86]

I run 1/4" spacers on my car without wheel well issues, and I'm lowered 1.2"
.
I doubt you'd have any issues, as I'm sure you're a more positive offset than me. I did however install longer studs. Cheap and easy. I did spacers only because the 5.95" backspace caused my front wheels to run the sway bar at full lock, and I already added a rack limiter.
I think you'd like the widened stance on your car too.
Do you still have your bullit wheels?

[ZephyrEFI]

No, I'm running SVOs now.



I'm definitely doing the 1/8" spacers in front just to be sure it will clear. I don't think i could go much more than that though. One thing I've found talking to people is that you Mustang guys seem to have more room under your fenders than we Boxy Fox guys do. I've considered adding spacers in the rear to pull the wheels back out to where they were. I swapped from SVO axles/brakes to SN95 which pulled them in 1/2". We'll see.

[ZephyrEFI]

Ordered 1/2" spacers for the rear! Along with 2 1/2" wheel studs. Should be cool!

I'm still waiting on my front spacers to come.

[Supersonic G.T.350]

I'd grind The wheels in an instant. There's so much meat there to play with and driveability is easily taken care of with a tire balancer, that's what they're there for.

[ZephyrEFI]

I'd grind The wheels in an instant. There's so much meat there to play with and driveability is easily taken care of with a tire balancer, that's what they're there for.

Yeah, I suppose that's a way to look at it. Still haven't addressed the wheel question quite yet, but i probably will tomorrow. I did grind some material off the caliper brackets though. They are cleaned up, painted, and ready to go back on.

[Supersonic G.T.350]

The thing for me honestly is the majority of the damage has been done. It's taken care of itself with little to no issues. Once it's done it can't get any worse, right? It looks so little that it would be a non issue for me man and I'm not the type to look past safety. I'd clean up the ugly, get rid of the stress risers and call it good.

[ZephyrEFI]

Alright, here's a look at the grinding i did on the wheels.



The rib at 12:00 still needs to be ground in the pic. I left it so you could see what they were like before. I'm bringing the wheels to be balanced tomorrow, so we'll find out then whether or not this was a really bad idea. I'm pretty sure it'll be fine though.

[Mustang-junky]

Looks good.

Jess

[4-barrel Mike]

Well done!

How's your spare fit?

Mike

[82GTforME]

Alright, here's a look at the grinding i did on the wheels.



The rib at 12:00 still needs to be ground in the pic. I left it so you could see what they were like before. I'm bringing the wheels to be balanced tomorrow, so we'll find out then whether or not this was a really bad idea. I'm pretty sure it'll be fine though.

Looks good Brad!

What method did you use to insert your picture?

[ZephyrEFI]

Looks good Brad!

What method did you use to insert your picture?

Hahaha, I'm trying Imgur.

Haven't tried the spare yet. I also waited to grind the rear wheels. You know, in case this was a really bad idea. So, I'd only have to replace 2 wheels, rather than 4. I'm going to wait until next year to rotate the tires. I'll grind the rears then.

The guy at the shop didn't say anything about the wheels not balancing out or anything, but a test drive will have to wait until I fix my new, magic fuel issue that popped up when I was about to take one. Still pretty sure the wheels are fine.