Rolling Arches

[Nath88n 37]

I have recently got a set of Yoko Advan AD08R's, they are great but the shoulder is wider than other tyres.

So the 185 on a 6inch rim are slightly rubbing on the rear of the arches, mine is a base spec. It's rubbing on the rear of the arch where it tapers in and on the edge of the inside lip of the bumper.

I guess it's possible to space out the ends of the bumper?

Looking at the arch and I see that it's not really a lip and it looks to be two skins, how possible is it to roll/push this out a few mm? Has anyone done it on a GTI or base spec?

 

I'll grab some pictures later.

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

With the bumper, if you mean what i think you mean, you could sand a few mm off the edge of the bumper so it doesn't touch, but that could look weird. If you spaced out the ends of the bumper, it'll probably poke out at a dodgy angle, which wont be ideal.

 

As for the arch, it is two skins, but the bottom-most edge is just the single skin. Again depending on which bit is touching, you could potentially roll the lip inwards and upwards, but you'd probably need to cut slits in it first to get it to bend uniformly, and then you've got to consider coating the exposed metal and not inviting the rot in. And that's a point of no return type thing that you may live to regret.

 

Is it out of the question to drop a tyre size? Not always an ideal solution, but might be better in the long run?

[Nath88n 37]

The tyres are correct 185/55/15 and they feel good, so it would be nice to adjust the arch slightly. However if it involves cutting, I'm not so sure.

I guess it's not possible to push outwards?

[pugdamo 111 2 Cars]

Im sure that tyre size is the correct size for a 1.9 GTI and im not sure if you already know but GTI's have the arch trimmed out behind the kit.All i could get to fit well on a base model was 14 inch wheels,i used to run 185 55 14's with no issues,IMO 15 inch wheels are to big for base models without any issues.

[Nath88n 37]

Car is facing down a hill with the handbrake on to compress the rear;

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2014 by Nath88n

[Nath88n 37]

 

Edited December 24, 2014 by Nath88n

[boldy205 75]

You could always sell me the wheels, problem solved!

[pugdamo 111 2 Cars]

even rolling the arches wouldnt cure that problem,the onlt options you have is either different wheels or rally style arches with it cut out behind but the work involved with doing that would be crazy,

On my old XS i ran 195 45 15,s but they were a falken tyre and the side walls used to taper in at the top,i had koni adjustables on the back that were on the hardest setting and i couldnt have people in the back,that was all i could do to cheaply sort the problem,i used to love the look of it so wasnt to fussed with the negatives

 

 

 

[calvinhorse 870]

Pugdamo- that's lovely

[pugdamo 111 2 Cars]

Thankyou,that is the best car iv ever had,was such good fun,i sold it to a friend because i wanted something newer and i got a hdi d turbo 306 but after a couple of years i was bored,i was promised 1st refusal if my mate ever sold it but it never happened,found some lad owned it local to me and i tried to buy it back but he wouldnt sell,then a few years after that saw it laid up in a driveway looking very sorry for itself,now im sure its in car heaven.

[Henry Yorke 269 3 Cars]

1.9 GTI wheels never fit a base model with 195/50 or 185/55 tyres. You can get away with 195/45 I believe if it isn't too low at the back and you have a bit of axle wear (negative camber). Despite being a 6J wheel it is the offset which causes the issue as a drum beam is a bit wider than a disc beam as well as the arch profile. This is why you can fit 14" Peugeot GTI wheels with 185 tyres and drop it on its backside yet the same tyre width and rolling radius doesn't work on 15". I also found the shoulders of the fronts caught on the arches too and I had these (badly) lipped up. My experience is based on the below with an unlowered rear on the yellow one back in the 90's and the XS on Harriers (same offset as the 1.6 wheel)

However you seem to have Peugeot Sport Compomotive 15" wheels which were made for the 206 Cup cars, so I think they will be a lower offset like ET28 or something. You might be able to get some material machined from the spacer to bring them in a bit but it depends how close to the inner arch you are and your beam condition (though looking at the pics again you might have a discbeam fitted). The chunky tyres are what are causing issues, and as Damian said, you can get others with a slightly narrower footprint and slopey shoulder.

I would advise against messing with the rear arch as I have seen many do it over the years and then the water starts to get in. Even with Rallye arches it is quite a comprehensive job as the two skins start to separate just above the arch so I think you need material welding in to fill it. I think Allye did it on a white UK Rallye before he fitted the arches and there were some pics online.

I don't think flaring of the rear arches looks right on a 205 (or a 306) as it is very difficult to do nearly and often ends up with ripples in the rear panels and can make a clean shell look tatty.

I hope this helps. Wheels can be changed cheaply, good shells are harder to get now.

[allye 530 3 Cars]

I cut mine and put the arches on over the top, wouldnt do it again though.

 

Might be worth asking mark, aka swordfish, as he had his arches pulled out on his xt, not quite sure what that involved but he tracked his 205 on 15's fine.

[jaak 0]

I have a ’90 205 Look with rear beam in good condition (i.e. wheels are straight) and learned, also in hard way, what is stated above: 185/60R14 tires will rub against the rear bumper and outer edges of wheel arches of non-GTI 205 if the offset is low. The wheels I used were OZ Superturismo GT 14x6 with ET 15 (PM me if interested in a mint set of 5). Front wheels didn’t rub but sat a little outside the wheel arch.

Then I bought Azio Lights in 14x5.5 with ET 24 and there are no rubbing issues. There is maybe about 5 mm room between the tire and rear wheel arch.

As I plan to add Rallye arches, which would solve the front wheel issue, and the OZ’s look too sweet under the car, I have two questions regarding the rear wheels.

 

1. Has anyone actually rolled the inner edges of rear arches fully against the body? If so, did it require making cuts, as mentioned above?

 

2. Does anyone have a solution for the rear bumper issue? If the GTI arches have larger diameter, is the bumper edge also further back, which would eliminate the rubbing issue? Or is trimming and trying to move the bumper a few mm further back the only solution?