How is my wheel hitting my strut?

[ThatTallJackA]

2016 mustang GT non-PP
purchased some cheap rep wheels from American Muscle to use as winter beaters, link here.
Rep winter wheels, 19x8.5 30mm offset.
I had the black accent package wheels, 19x8.5 42mm offset, on the car prior.

I swapped to my winters and when I put them on and checked there is clearance (almost a full inch of clearance from strut to rim lip).
Fast forward 4k miles, I did my oil change and while the car was up I noticed the drivers side front rim lip is scuffed, and my struts paint is rubbed down in that spot. There is still an 1" of clearance.

How am I hitting my strut? is something broken? These rep wheels should have given me 12mm extra clearance to my strut compared to my stock. My OE wheels never hit it, so I am lost as to how this is hitting it.

Any ideas?

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[kz]

Something got stuck between strut and the wheel ? Otherwise your spindle would have to be really loose at the bottom strut mount for that to happen - bolt would have to be gone as OEM setup doesn't allow for that much camber...

 

[EFI]

My guess is something got caught up in the wheel and dragged up to where it nicked the strut.

There's 0 movement on the strut while it's bolted to the spindle, and like kz said the whole spindle would have to be loose to allow the wheel to move inwards like that.

 

[Laserbrain]

Is that the only one with the scuff? Or are the scuffs on other corners too?

 

[ThatTallJackA]

Is that the only one with the scuff? Or are the scuffs on other corners too?

Only the drivers side front wheel has the scuff.

 

[ThatTallJackA]

Something got stuck between strut and the wheel ? Otherwise your spindle would have to be really loose at the bottom strut mount for that to happen - bolt would have to be gone as OEM setup doesn't allow for that much camber...

my car definitely looks like it has pretty fat negative camber for a stock alignment, but its within fords "spec" (sub -1.8 degrees)

I got some 5mm spacers im going to throw on as a precaution this weekend and will have a chance to take the wheel off and get a better look

 

[kz]

At 1.8 you're nowhere close to rubbing. I've had negative 2.5 with 275 front tire.

 

[ThatTallJackA]

At 1.8 you're nowhere close to rubbing. I've had negative 2.5 with 275 front tire.

Yea I am totally lost by this whole situation. Been trying to wrap my head around how in the hell this hit the strut.
I'm dropping it off at a speed shop in town to see if my alignment is just royally boned or what, will go from there..

 

[kent0464]

Yea I am totally lost by this whole situation. Been trying to wrap my head around how in the hell this hit the strut.
I'm dropping it off at a speed shop in town to see if my alignment is just royally boned or what, will go from there..

Any update? Just curious, I have maybe 1/4” from the wheel to the aftermarket coil overs and neither the tire nor the rim have ever made contact @ 3 deg camber.

 

[ThatTallJackA]

Any update? Just curious, I have maybe 1/4” from the wheel to the aftermarket coil overs and neither the tire nor the rim have ever made contact @ 3 deg camber.

Got it looked at, still completely lost on it. I have a ridiculously steep driveway (~10 degree) and had assumed it was hitting coming in/out.
Got in the car to the point the suspension was maxed out, and tried the wheel lock to lock left and right. At max lock both directions have atleast ~2 fingers width of clearance to the strut.

Starting to think that maybe the strut rub and the rim wear may have been separate events, possibly dropped the inside face of the rim into a long pothole (thanks Michigan) and scraped it?

My plan is to take a paint pen to the inside lip of the wheel and the strut, and see if it makes contact again (wears the paint off). If it doesn't touch it after a few weeks of driving I guess I just tell myself it was probably a pothole that damaged the lip and maybe the strut got rubbed by something else

 

[NightmareMoon]

That sounds like a good idea. Maybe some painters tape on the strut or a quick spray of rattle can.

I bet it was two different events. See if the marks on the strut line up with the rim or the tire, I bet they don’t line up with the rim. The inside rim could be car wash rails, a pothole, etc.

 

[ThatTallJackA]

That sounds like a good idea. Maybe some painters tape on the strut or a quick spray of rattle can.

I bet it was two different events. See if the marks on the strut line up with the rim or the tire, I bet they don’t line up with the rim. The inside rim could be car wash rails, a pothole, etc.

I didn't even think of car wash rails.... I think you may have cracked the case. The touchless wash I always went to had a piece you had to drive up and drop the front driver wheel into for it to start. Going to try to measure where the rub on the strut is and the wheel lip but think the car wash rail explains it..

 

[ThatTallJackA]

Well final resolution: I'm basically a dumbass. There was a piece of shiny adhesive on my strut that lined up with the wheel, finally took the wheel off this weekend to inspect everything and was able to just scrape it off, strut is fine, never got rubbed. Mystery solved. lol

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