Car is a '94 civic hatch.
My 225/45-15 r3s03's still polish the arm with a 3mm spacer. (this is with a 15X7 and 42mm offset).
Has anyone thought about notching the trailing arm where the tire is, then welding in an arc-shaped filler plate to make room for tire clearance?

 

You can shave about 1mm from the upper arm.

 

The upper locator/control/camber arm isn't the problem, it's this one...assy #3(the big one in the pic- rear trailing arm)



[Modified by jg, 5:19 PM 3/10/2003]

 

You need 38mm offset wheels. I ran 38s with a 3mm spacer and had no issues.

I wouldn't modify the trailing arm. For starters it'd be illegal in most race classes.

 

I use 38mm offset wheels and 5mm rear spacers. 225-45-15 Hoosiers. Rubbing appears to be gone.

 

I had to cut away and bend most the sheet metal on the quarter panel on my hatchback to fit the 225's. I would have a tough time moving them outward any further without raising the car too far.
What sort of spacers are you guys using? The 3mm H&R's I bought, don't have a "hubcentric" raised area in the center
Not realy concerned with legality on this one. Just verifying opinions on whether or not this would be structurally sound.


[Modified by jg, 4:14 AM 3/11/2003]

 

With your offset, you'd probably need to use an 8 to 10mm spacer. Dunno if they make 8mm but 10 for sure. And like you mentioned, your ride height is probably the reason you get fender rubbing. Try raising it a little...

 

I ended up notching the trailing arm to fit 225's in the back. It wasn't illegal in my class, but I did have to claim prep points on it. Anyway, the notching does compromise the rigidity of the trailing arm somewhat, but you'll only realize this if you go off fairly hard, which is what happened to me 2 years ago. Slightly bent trailing arm was garbage, so I replaced it with yet another notched arm

 

thanks guys.
I'm going to try notching the appropriate area in the arm, then welding in a longer vertical plate(maybe with some speed holes in it ) lengthwise on the backside of the arm to reinforce the arm- basically "boxing it". Should work.