Question
Left rear tire as seen
Scott:
I am restoring a 1969 Triumph GTt6+. I replaced the non-original oversized wheels on the car with 15" Dayton chrome spoke wheels that are 5" wide. I put on 185/55/15 tires on these wheels. They look great and only marginally change the circumference of the wheels. However, they tend to stick out too far, thanks in part to the hub conversion which added 1/4". My rear fenders sometimes hit the tires on hard turns or when hitting a bump in the road, especially the right one which stick just a tad further out (maybe one inch at the maximum. I have replaced the rear leaf springs, but that didn't help much. I want to raise the entire suspension at least one inch. Visually, this doesn't appear to be a problem. But I can't find anyone who knows how to do this. My other option is to find a narrower tire or spend a lot more bucks and get other wheels with a deeper backspace. What is my best strategy for keeping the car from riding the rear tires?
AnswerRaising the overall ride height would require you fit spacers in the 4 differential mounts and increasing the height of the rear links. That move the whole suspension (differential/spring/driveshafts), but to your point, I've never hear of anyone going that path; my searches of all my normal triumph performance mods don't mention anyone raising the rear ride height. We typically do the reverse to lower the right height for racing by cutting off and rewelding the differential mounting brackets, spring spacers and shortening the rear links. If you pursued raising the rear ride height with spacers, I would suspect you would want to consider a panhard bar or similar to make sure there isn't flexing/shift of the differential, since it would now be at a larger moment arm.
Raising the body is another option;
There are no real bump stops on the GT6/Spitfire, so another option would be fabricate a bump stop that would limit suspension travel.
Yet another option would be to flare the wheel wells, but you don't mention if your objective is to keep it classic original; I can only assume so by your getting ride of the non-original wheels.
As you know & state, most individuals solve this dilemma by buying wheels with the correct backspacing to keep the tire in the wheel well; they go through several trial fittings of wheels and tires to get the clearances correct.
modifications for lowering rear suspension; fyi...
http://auskellian.com/paul/links_files/performance_enhancements.htm
Of course, if yours is a rotoflex, that adds another level of complexity if you want to rework the ride height.
Sorry to say, I don't feel like I've been a lot of help; the lowest cost solution would be to flare the wheel wells, but if you're going traditional classic, it isn't very "purist" My GT6 has fender flares that are small and subtle, but if you aren't familiar with the make, you may not pick up on it.
