Have a question about my rear suspension on my 67 Camaro. I just bought the car, the guy put a set of 255 x 70 x 15 tires on the rear. My rear end from what I can tell has the original mono leaf suspension (which will be one thing that I will change). But I am having a problem with rubbing when I go over a bump at speed or go over a bump that is uneven (like entering my driveway)the tires will rub the fender. My question I guess is am I going to have to go to a smaller tire maybe a 235 or will changing the rear springs to a milti-leaf spring work. Also will the multi leaf springs change my ride height much at all. I am sure that someone has had some dealings with this problem in the past. Thanks for the help.

 

what width rim are they on? also, are you sure they aren't a 255/60/15? a 70 series tire really shouldn't rub at all, but a 60 series in that size usually will rub. I just ground my quarters back to almost the welds (never beyond) and I got rid of all my rubbing

changing your springs won't really help you at all. it is usually that the tire is too wide and the backspacing of the rim isn't deep enough.

new springs shouldn't really change your ride height at all, unless the springs you have now are really worn out. also, with a multi-leaf spring you won't be getting as much binding of the spring on hard launches so that should give you a better ride also

also, you are rubbing on the quarterpanel not the fender. fenders bolt to the front of the car

 

I have 15 x 10 on the rear. I think that my springs are really wore out as any little bump will make them rub. I have about 2-1/2" of clearence from the bottom of the quarter panel and the top of the tire. Thanks for the help.

 

Are you certain of your tire/wheel combo? 255-70 tires on 15x10 wheels??? Sounds like an awful lot of wheel for 70 series tires! The backspacing of the wheels may be way off and making the tire rub on the inner wheelhouse. I recently worked on a 68, we put 5 leaf on at the owners request. The rear of the car moved up about two inches. In the end we removed the #3 leaf to lower the car and soften the ride slightly.

 

Your exactly right don't know what I have been looking at but the tires are 255 x 60 x 15. But you said that you put 5 leaf springs on and got 2" more of right height. How much was it raised once you took out the 3rd leaf. What did your ride height drop too from stock? Do you think that that would fix my problem or am I just going to have to change my tires maybe to a 235 x 60 x 15. Really don't want to change like the look of the larger tire but if I do then I do. Thanks for the help.

 

Best to identify the location of the rub first. If the wheels have incorrect backspace (rubbing inner wheelhouse) it would be best to replace them. Ideally your tire should be centered in the wheelhouse. If the rub is on the quarter panel "lip", you can trim the edge down slightly to clear the tire, if someone hasn't already done this. On my 2nd gen I trimmed the lip down to 3/4" wide and added extra spot welds. I would not trim to less than that. When we removed the 3rd leaf we also took out the bottom short leaf/spacer and gained about one inch. Heres a pic of the car.
Should also mention, the multi leaf did stiffen the ride quite a bit over the mono leaf but not to the point of being bad. The car handled alot better.

 

aren't you glad you can say one thing online, and we can know what youare talking about,even when you describe it wrong?[sm=usa.gif]

a multi-leaf really shouldn't raise you too much. even if your springs were worn, and you put good springs in the chances are that the 255s would still rub over bumps. you would still have to roll or shave your quarters for enough clearance. your best "safe" bet is to step down to a 245/60 and just stay with an 8" rim for the easiest job.

you can also go through Eaton Spring and get different drops on their springs because they can de-arch them