I Reckon The Rear Wheel Is Sitting Too Far Back Against The Bumper

[DanRM 0 1 Cars]

Hi I have a 1.6 gti fully standard as far as I'm aware. I've noticed that the R/O/S wheel is sitting very far back towards the bumper and looking at the bumper the tyres have rubbed a bit. I did notice this a while back and took the bumper off and put it back on checking to see if anything had broken on the bumper side. But reading through the posts recently I understand it could be more serious.

 

I currently don't have the car at the moment so I cant take any pictures square on nor measure it, but if I remember correctly the gap is about the thickness of my little finger between bumper and tyre. As I've said as far as I know the car is standard running on 185/60/R14 tyres. This is only on the drivers side rear where as the passenger side looks central which is how I came to notice the difference.

 

Can anyone give me some idea of the things I should check or what the problem is, as I'm currently sorting out the mechanical problems and soon will be moving on to the suspension and brakes.

 

I'm not sure if the images will show but theres a couple here http://forum.205gtidrivers.com/index.php?app=garage&do=view&id=218

 

Cheers

Dan

Edited January 11, 2013 by DanRM

[farmer 328 1 Cars]

possable rear beam failure or maybe has been kerbed and bent something

[Anthony 1,002]

Ignore the gap between the wheel and valance, and look at the gap between the wheel and rear quarter/sill - is this equal on both sides?

 

If that's equal, then chances are that something is amiss on the bumper / valance mounting.

 

If that's unequal, then chances are that something is amiss with the beam.

 

Also, worth remembering that all 185/60R14 tyres are not created equally, and if you've mismatched tyres, they could be quite different sizes - I've seen 185/60R14's that are as large as 185/65R14's!

[TooMany2cvs 65]

Measure wheel-centre-to-wheel-centre both sides, see if they're equal.

[patpug 1]

We've been through a conversation about this recently in Oz: http://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101701

 

It turns out that it is possible to for the front beam mounts to be fitted 180 degrees around the wrong way. First thing to do though is check that your wheel base is 2420mm. Easiest / more accurate to measure from either the front or rear edge of a rim instead of the centre.

 

pat

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

We've been through a conversation about this recently in Oz: http://www.aussiefrogs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101701

 

It turns out that it is possible to for the front beam mounts to be fitted 180 degrees around the wrong way. First thing to do though is check that your wheel base is 2420mm. Easiest / more accurate to measure from either the front or rear edge of a rim instead of the centre.

 

pat

This is only true on 1900 cars. The front beam mounts on 1600 cars have the mounting pins centrally on the bracket. The 1900 cars have the pins slightly offset, and also have "D" and "G" stamped in which stands for for "Droite" and "Gauche" in French or "Right" and "Left" in English, to clearly show where they are fitted.

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

Comparison pic

[patpug 1]

This is only true on 1900 cars. The front beam mounts on 1600 cars have the mounting pins centrally on the bracket. The 1900 cars have the pins slightly offset, and also have "D" and "G" stamped in which stands for for "Droite" and "Gauche" in French or "Right" and "Left" in English, to clearly show where they are fitted.

 

Didn't know about the difference between the 1.9 and 1.6 mountings and the 'D' and 'G' had me going for a while until high school French slowly started to filter through the memory banks, but we got there in the end - bit slow down here in the colonies when it comes to the old French

 

Has anyone over there actually used the offset of the 1.9 mountings to change the wheelbase, and therefore change the handling characteristics of the car?

 

Pat

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

 

Has anyone over there actually used the offset of the 1.9 mountings to change the wheelbase, and therefore change the handling characteristics of the car?

 

Pat

 

we are talking only a few mm here. I suspect it was to compensate for the slightly different diameter of the 185/55/15 and 185/60/14 tyres. If it was significant, the rear sandwich plates would be different.

 

I fitted 1.9 ones to change the characteristics as my wheel was a bit close to the front of the rear arch!!