Joined: 11 Jul 2008 Posts: 343 Location: Perth, WA
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:41 am Post subject: Notching out wheel well...keeping it low
Hey guys,
Just wondering if anyone has had their wheel wells notched out for the control arms? As when you go low, they tend to smash the well and send a nasty shock through the car. Ive read on a few sites now of people doing it, just wondering what exactly is involved.
Its fine with just me in the car, but once other people get in and the roads are a bit iffy (ok so like most of the roads) it happens. I wanna keep the car as low as it is, even go a little lower, as i raised it to stop this from happening.
Now i realise it probably wont be legal, im not to worried about that if i can manage to hide it fairly well.
Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 656 Location: Perth - SOR
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:02 pm Post subject:
there are some pics over on CL and also on VSC of people who have done it.
generally they use a hole saw and drill a round hole, i cant remember the size exactly but its around 2-2.5" i think. they drill a pilot hole to line up also then hole saw.
the other way to do it is to cut basically a sqaure-edged 'U' shape that faces the outside of the car each side and bend the metal up.
with both of the above methods many of those guys just left it/too lazy to go further. ideally you would then either weld a round cap peice over if you drilled a round hole, or weld in 2 triagles and a rectangle peice of metal around the bent 'U' bit. Both of these ways will return the strength to the area and stop shit flying in the engine bay!
a lot of Honda guys do it, on one of the threads i found of it being done there were pics of several older generation Civics, Preludes, Accords etc with it done. They seemed to be doing more the 2nd method, but more involved with angled-side box sections welded onto the strut towers.
as far as doing it, i would say try taking it to any competent metal work shop that does custom work. depending how they want to do it they will do one of those above methods. then they can respray the engine bay towers again and you should be right. As far as it being illegal well i guess it would be as you would need to prove it was done well and hadnt weakened the towers, but if you got it professionally done and repaited etc i doubt they would even know...
Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 656 Location: Perth - SOR
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:04 pm Post subject:
^ FFS i just clicked you're in WA. in fact i think you went to that tech day and had an exhaust put on your car? with the iron chef sticker on the back? if that is you i saw you the other week, car looks good an is a good height haha
Anyway, i would recommend Cronic Customs in Wangara. good guy, does bulk full custom work. rolled my guards for me on my lexus, did a good job, easy to deal with, price was good. Give him a buzz, he'll probably say to go up there for a look. He works another job during the days but is there after 5pm most nights and does w/ends too (got my guards rolled on a Sat)
Joined: 11 Jul 2008 Posts: 343 Location: Perth, WA
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 3:51 pm Post subject:
Yerp thats me, what wheels did i have on it when you saw me? (had a few different sets on in the past few weeks - nissan stockies/avs 6spoke/350Z)
K thanks for that, il have a chat to him about it. After browsing on VSC a lot lately, im really wanting to get my car looking VIP (well closer than it is).
Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 656 Location: Perth - SOR
Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:43 pm Post subject:
haha yeah vsc will do that to ya!
wheels i cant remember but i seem to recall it had stockies on it cause i thought i recognised it then saw the sticker and remebered the other rims i saw on it at the tech day, 20s or whatever
Ive got issues with the tyres scrubbing my inner guard liners/wheel arch lips front and back on mine even with the front coilies wound right up - only really happens over nasty bumps but its still an issue.
Thinking I need to get my guards rolled a little so let me know if you find someone who can do a good job with these sorts of mods - maybe we hit em up for a group buy of their work _________________
Joined: 11 Jul 2008 Posts: 343 Location: Perth, WA
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:06 am Post subject:
Yeh mate, as ant said he has his guard work done at chronic customs and did a good job. Thats good enough for me, far to many dodgy people out there. And ive seen his guards at the tech day, looked perfect to me
You had those mega wide 5 spoke wheels that stuck out heaps at the tech day yeh? Definetly need some guard love there if you wanna go low.
My car came from japan missing its plastic inner gaurds and the metal guards shaved so thats saved me some work there, although when i get the wheel sizes i want, a slight flare may be in order
Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 656 Location: Perth - SOR
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:16 am Post subject:
Mattis - yeah give chronic customs a call. i forget what it cost me for my 4 guards rolled, i think about 120$. took him a few hours on a saturday morning. did a good job, i just had to touch up the flaked paint underneath afterwards.
Black_JZS - fk i'm so jealous of your shaved guards. i didnt go it cause i was worried about weakening the panel and then having nightmares of cops trying to get their hands up the guards (which they wouldnt be able to haha) then feeling the shaved lips and putting that on a Yellow Sticker and then how the fuck would you fix that?! but since yours came like that you're right!
if i could have shaved my guards i could have gone another 10mm of offset and like 1" more dish all round
Joined: 11 Jul 2008 Posts: 343 Location: Perth, WA
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:27 pm Post subject:
Lol yeh no idea what would happen if i got a sticker for it...but since i passed compliance and the pits i cant see it being a drama. And that will be my argument if they try and do me for them, just plead ignorant and hope for the best.
Yeh im thinking i will go 19x9 +20 and 19x10 +15 maybe? Il get a tape measure out and see how much room i have, but those sizes seem about right. Damn this stupid aussie dollar. I got streeter to price me up some rims (in the above sizes) and it came to just over 5k. I think 5k without tyres is just a little too much atm, considering on old exhange rates i would be looking at about 3k.
Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 656 Location: Perth - SOR
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 12:36 pm Post subject:
shit dude, 5K!? what rims where they? (or just brand if you dont wanna reveal haha) just curious cause he priced like 10 different sets of rims for me!
my rims (19x9 19x10s), full set of Work Lock Nuts, set of Work Hub Locator Rings, and optional extra set of Red Centre Caps cost me like $2800 all up lol that lot now would, like you say, be like $5k+!
as for sizing i think it depends on camber and stretch. i have 9 +27 up front with -2 camber and its sunk. but my guards arent shaved so they scrub under lock + compression sometimes. i reckon you could go another 10mm off that, so around 9 +17 or so without issue with -2ish camber and 235/35s. rear, i have -2 again and 10 +24, but my guards are only 1/2 rolled. if they were flat or shaved and a touch more camber i would easily say 15mm is doable.
sorta depends if your cars daily and how agro you want to be haha you can take another 5 or 10mm off those offsets, especially up back, and just increase camber to suit depending how far you want to go.
EDIT - fuck man if you are going to have to part with $5k on this shit, you can do a test fit with my rims if you want some time? will depend how much camber you have but would at least give you an idea...
Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 656 Location: Perth - SOR
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:00 pm Post subject:
oh and on the jap performance centre site i saw these 19s, i emailed for specs but never got a reply, but maybe they might be good for your car? for 2800 with tyres and here already might be worth a look?
Joined: 11 Jul 2008 Posts: 343 Location: Perth, WA
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:13 pm Post subject:
ant_jzs160 wrote:
shit dude, 5K!? what rims where they? (or just brand if you dont wanna reveal haha) just curious cause he priced like 10 different sets of rims for me!
Lol nah i dont mind "revealing". SSR vienna LM9's, still not 100% sure but ive always loved that style of wheel, and how have the car to pull it off.
Quote:
EDIT - fuck man if you are going to have to part with $5k on this shit, you can do a test fit with my rims if you want some time? will depend how much camber you have but would at least give you an idea...
Cheers for the offer mate, will let you know when the time comes.
Yeh its definitely something il have to play around with, but for now im not willing to spend that kinda kesh on rims as much as id like to, just doesnt make sense atm lol. Yeh my car is my daily but ive been thinking of just taking train/bus to work, so if worse comes to worse il be happy to do that. It will save me money - parking in the city is heaps, plus fuel and wear and tear. And im prepared to go that little bit extra to really get the look i want this time round. My silvia i had 17x8 and 17x9 +25 which looked great, but im after that perfect fitment. Im sure you know what i mean Ant, kinda like you and your s13 haha.
I might grab some spacers for my current 19's and see how i go with that.
Last freaked with by Black_JZS on Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:32 pm; freaked 1 time in total
Joined: 11 Jul 2008 Posts: 343 Location: Perth, WA
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:16 pm Post subject:
ant_jzs160 wrote:
oh and on the jap performance centre site i saw these 19s, i emailed for specs but never got a reply, but maybe they might be good for your car? for 2800 with tyres and here already might be worth a look?
Haha as soon as you said that i knew the ones you were talking about without even looking at the link. I went in there a few weeks ago and checked them out with Jason (midnight off silviawa). Not my "cup-of-tea", plus he really wants those exact rims for his Gloria.
Danny couldnt tell us sizes, he didnt know but was willing to allow test fitting, though i have no idea how id get my car down that driveway and over those speedhumps...
Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 656 Location: Perth - SOR
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 6:01 pm Post subject:
ahh LM-9s, nice. similar to the VS-XX on my old silvia! haha
yeah, once you get onto offset you just get obsessed with trying to get every last mm !!
Hmm, he should just measure them and work out the offsets? all you need to do is measure overall width and backspacing and you can work it out from there. As you say, no-one with a car to do those wheels justice would ever get in the place lol
i dont have the money or real want for them, but id almost go there just to measure up and get the ofsets on them im sure someone would buy them especially now the exchange rates are so bad, but no-one is going to want to commit without knowing specs
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