What to do about camry fenders cutting tire walls?

[drako]

Hello everyone,

I have a 94 Camry V6, whose OEM wheels and tires were replaced with 16' Borbet wheels (Borbet Type E; 16x7.5 inches) and Yokohama 215/55 16' tires (Avid V4).

At high speed on the freeway, the two rear fenders (or fender skirts) cut into the tire walls whenever the car runs over large dips in the road. On surface streets, this almost never happen. More, the right rear tire is affected much more than the left rear tire. My guess is that the right rear suspension has given up faster than the left one. The tires don't protrude from the body, but they are just wide enough to overlap the inner edge of the fenders (or fender skirts). Note that suspension is all stock.

Someone told me that I could fix this problem by doing something called "rolling" the fenders, essentially bending the 1 inch of fender metal inside the wheel wells in so that there is more room for the tires. There is a special tool for this procedure. Does anyone know what it is called?

I live in Orange County, CA. Any recommendation on a shop where I could get this problem fixed? If there are other ways to fix this problem, I would also like to hear about them.

I hope to get this fixed and retain the tires+wheels package I have now on the car. The next step would be aftermarket suspensions to make the ride a little firmer. The stock suspensions left a lot to be desired.

Thank you in advance for you advice and opinion.

Regards,
Lawrence

[91camryDX]

Welcome to TN!

[smokey8890]

Originally Posted by 91camryDX

Welcome to TN!

wouldn't a camber kit fix that problem since it tilt your wheel in a angle.

[EKam]

Sounds like your wheels offset is screwed. 16" rim shouldn't even give a chance of rubbing.

But in your case, you can either roll the fenders or cut them. They use a special machine to roll the fenders, so you should find it easier if you just cut them and put the rust proof stuff on exposed metal.

[Luc]

You definitely have the wrong offset on the rims. Before doing any fender rolling and/or cutting, try and get the correct offset wheels if you bought them from a store, while still keep the tires, this way, they may not need to charge you extra. Otherwise, you can cut with a reciprocating saw as I had did on my Gen4 and friend's Solara. Just spray some rust proofing/undercoating on the exposed metal afterwards. I never rolled a fender before and should probably be done properly, otherwise, you may crack the paint.

Luc

[drako]

How do I find out what is the offset of the wheels? Where do I measure this? I don't think I can return the wheels today since I have had it for more than the return period. Thank you all for your replies.

[2dcamrystick]

i had the same problem i just rolled my fenders no harm no foul. my problem is that i have weak struts but if i didn't have weak struts than it would have just happened when i dropped my car. i got some 17 with some 50 series tires on em.