[Mk2] [Turbo] Arch Flares / Arch extensions

[JLW]

Hi Guys

I think I'm at a the end of the road with the standard arches, even after having them rolled and areas cut professionally by Simon at Arch Enemy I'm still having the car rubbing on the tyres which makes for very uncomfortable driving.

I've come to the conclusion that my best idea is arch flares and hub centric spacers as per the image's below on Mike Reed's mr2 ( from america )

does anyone know which specific flares these are ?

[JD]

They look like the Ab-flug flares but extended down like the CarBenFibre versions. I've got a set but not fitted yet

https://www.carbenfibrecreations.co.uk/ ... product=42

[JAAASH]

I follow Mike's build over on mr2.com

He's using 240z fender flares. I'm looking at getting the same ones for mine at some point

[JD]

It sounds like you're going about things the right way round anyway - get the wheel and tyre setup you want FIRST and then get the arches to fit!

[C35Rob]

They're 'JUN' style bolt on arches, popular on Datsun 240z's as said previously, they're available as universal (I.e they fit nothing) fit in a variety of different sizes from many different places. You can get sw20 specific ones in japan, but they're about £200 plus shipping, import duty and vat.

I had a set for my mx5, personally I don't think they work on an mr2, but each to their own.

What are your wheel and tyre specs? How much camber are you running? Where exactly are they catching? If you're prepared to pay for bodyshop time a good place (I.e somewhere used to custom work) should be able to get a fair bit of clearance without resorting to a body kit

[2mad]

Yep there jun arches (abflug do a better fitting kit for the mr2) .. this is my brother in laws (unit18 automotive) ..banzai front cover car ..

[JLW]

Cheers Guys

Rob- Im Running Rota Torque's + Rota Torque Drifts, 8J et 35 on the front and 9j et35 on the rear with a 5mm spacer to achieve et30, tyres are yokohama
AD08r's 215/45/17 front 235/45/17 rear.

the fronts have been rolled and gained about another 5mm width and don't rub typically now, however the rear catches on the bolt that holds the rear side strip on, I'm actually going back to arch enemy tomorrow and Simon is going to cut this back and bond the side strip in place.

if this doesn't cure it then arch flares are the only way forward.

[androo007]

Rather than having the rubbish "bolt on" look - with arches being SO cheap to buy why not just provide 2 x arches to a fabricator, get them cut & welded and sprayed? Will look OEM+ and WAAAY better.

[C35Rob]

Those wheels look really nice, WORK CR kai's are some of my favorite wheels, the rota copies look just as good!

I'd definitely go with more trimming over bolt on arches, it'd be a shame to cut into what seems to be a solid shell, and it'd be much harder to sell on in the future

from the picture it looks like you have very little negative camber on the front, if any at all - i seem to remember the previous owner had some relatively high offset work equips and he had camber bolts fitted on the front to dial out some (all?) of the negative camber to stop them hitting his coilovers. it's probably worth getting a geo set up, dialing in a couple of degrees of negative camber on the front which will both increase your tyre to arch clearance and improve the handling too

it may be worth dropping down a tyre size on the rear to 235/40 17, that'll get you a few mm extra clearance too

[JLW]

Cheers Rob

Yeah they look amazing in person, such a nice wheel for the car, it would be a massive shame to cut the arches as this wasn't a cheap car at £5100, its mint !!

However I cannot stand the rubbing, I want this car to handle the best as possible and at the moment I'm having to sacrifice handling to have the coilovers on a harder setting to avoid more rubbing.

Your correct on the camber side of things, Abbey Motorsport recently used their Hunter Alignment system to set it up and Marc there mentioned that he wanted to dial in more camber on the fronts but couldn't because of the wheels rubbing on the coilovers. What we have to do to get around that is 5mm spacers on the front supposedly which will gain more room from the inside of the wheel. however I'm not sure thats going to help the arch issue.

I will see where I am after tomorrow at Arch Enemy.

[Ryan S]

Personal preference really, I personally think the blended look is horrible. The guy doing mine REEEEEALLY wanted to blend them (he blended the bottom half of the kit) but I was firmly against it. The only real issue is cutting the rear arches because once it's done there no going back!!

FYI. I have 17x7 inch wheels on the front with a 40 offset and a 40mm spacer and have slight rubbing issues on full left lock. Not enough to cause any hassle mind you.

[rev3turbo]

what about getting some wheels in the correct size and offset.

[C35Rob]

Cheers Rob

Yeah they look amazing in person, such a nice wheel for the car, it would be a massive shame to cut the arches as this wasn't a cheap car at £5100, its mint !!

However I cannot stand the rubbing, I want this car to handle the best as possible and at the moment I'm having to sacrifice handling to have the coilovers on a harder setting to avoid more rubbing.

Your correct on the camber side of things, Abbey Motorsport recently used their Hunter Alignment system to set it up and Marc there mentioned that he wanted to dial in more camber on the fronts but couldn't because of the wheels rubbing on the coilovers. What we have to do to get around that is 5mm spacers on the front supposedly which will gain more room from the inside of the wheel. however I'm not sure thats going to help the arch issue.

I will see where I am after tomorrow at Arch Enemy.

I take it the meister R coilovers don't have adjustable top mounts then? the ideal solution would be to use adj top mounts to tip the coilover in as far as possible (away from the wheel and gaining max -ve camber) then use the camber bolts to tip the hub away from the coilover and setting the ideal camber, probably somewhere around -2 degrees for a road car.

either way, there's plenty of ways around it without having to resort to wide arches, you can get a pretty decent flare/pull (i.e not just lips rolled back) on steel arches, but they will need painting afterwards

[SonicSW20]

You don't even need camber bolts - assuming the top hub bolt hole on the coilover is slotted like BC's, just pull it all the way out (positive) at the hub and torque up, then set camber at the top mount.

[craig]

I'd take those 5mm spacers off.

I had 8/9s x 17 ET35 with no spacers. Rolled rear arches, with no further issue.

Your tyre profiles are a little on the high side too for 17s. Should ideally be 40 max.

[JLW]

what about getting some wheels in the correct size and offset.

helpful mate, and what would the correct size be ?

[JLW]

I'd take those 5mm spacers off.

I had 8/9s x 17 ET35 with no spacers. Rolled rear arches, with no further issue.

Your tyre profiles are a little on the high side too for 17s. Should ideally be 40 max.

just realised I'm running 40's not 45's , sorry couldn't remember, yeah might have to drop the 5mm spacer, however with what Abbey wants to do to get me extra camber for handling by adding 5mm spacers on the front it will be et 30 front and et 35 rear !

The Meister R coilovers do have adjustable top mounts and the car already has camber bolts to get it away from the springs.

[rev3turbo]

what about getting some wheels in the correct size and offset.

helpful mate, and what would the correct size be ?

Sorry to come across as blunt, it wasnt my intention (this time ), but if i had rolled/cut arches then there is something a miss, Incorrect offset or incorrect Tyre sizes. I'd be making the wheels fit the car, not making the car fit the wheels/tyres

most popular are:
ET35 front
ET35 / ET38 back

[JLW]

So last night, Simon at arch enemy went to town on the arches and flared the fronts gaining probably 5mm, he also cut and shaved the rear arch's where they were rubbing on the bolt that holds on the side rear side strip.

And it's a 99% success, I managed to soften the ride as it needed it for handling issues ! And it still doesn't run at all, well albeit once slightly on the rear and this was over a bump known to make all cars unsettled.

I'm glad I don't have to cut up the shell as its so mint it would have been a massive shame.

Thanks for your help guys.

[2mad]

Good stuff JLW .. i cut my rear arches and primed and painted them .. worked out mint for me .. glad your happy