futuremil

Help! Turned my '02 ES300 into a Tonka

I thought my first post would be..."Hey, check out my '02 ES300!!" Not a cry for help, but here goes. In the last two week I have spent about $2500 installing Sat. Radio, GPS, Sound, Remote Start, new brakes, and the last additional were the 20-inch rims. In my haste, I neglected to research the proper offset and instead relied on the seller when they asked what type of car they were going on. They finally came and looked great on the car other than the four finger gap in the from and a decent two fingers gap in the rear. After driving on them, I realize I would rub in the rear on bump or certain turns and the trim inside the wheel well was tearing up my brand new tires with just me in the car....it was much worse with a passenger in the front seat....don't even want to image if I had even tried a rear passenger. Never had experience rolling fenders so yesterday I called around til I found a place that said they could do it. The guy removed the unnoticeable plastic trim and rolled the fenders a bit. He said he didn't want to do more because he didn't want the fender to buckle. I rode on it and for most bumps it was gone, but I would still noticed rub on a large bump or a hard turn...still with only me in the car so I was worried about the occassional passengers.

This leads to the problem at hand. Went to a local wheel and tire dealer and asked if there was something they could do like spacers to keep it from rubbing down on my tires. Left my car at lunch and told the guy I didn't want the Tonka truck look....come back after work to my new Tonka/Lex. I figured I might go from a two finger gap in the rear to maybe a three finger gap....Not a SIX finger gap with my car higher in the rear than the front!! They said that it would still rub when they tried to level it out, but it should settle some.....how much is some....and when??? No answer.

Now I'm stuck running low on funds and literally with a "jacked-up lex". Only had my car about a month, so I've been pouring out money, now I'm not quite sure what the next least costly move should be.

I can:

1) go back and ask him just level it out and let me take my chances since I rarely ride rear passengers and the the small fender roll had stopped most of the rubbing.

2) first, find out what the offset is and see if they come in a higher offset then try to sell these on Ebay. I just hope they will sell quick. Have seen them on there for $1300 new but I paid $1100 through a wholesaler with the help of a friend that is an auto dealer and just want to recoup what I spent.

3) Have them just remove the spacers altogether but I hear that the spring will be shot and I'll need new one to just get back to where I was yesterday. I've read about the coilovers but I'm trying not to be out of another $1000 plus labor.

Sorry for the long post. I'm just way past frustrated!! Anyway help would be greatly appreciated. Rims are Platinum Reflex 20x8.5 +40 offset with 245/35/20

**I didn't know exactly where to post, so I also posted in the ES forum. So if I need to do something to remove it if it's in the wrong place, please just let me know.....without all the flames, please.....Thanks**

SoCalSC4

Frankly, I'm a little confused about what exactly is going on. The tires are rubbing- where? On the suspension? Sounds like the fenders (?) - rears?
If they're rubbing the fenders, wheel spacers will make it worse, not better.
Did you mean to say he installed coil spring spacers? Perhaps that's why the car is so high.

The root of the problem is that the tires are TOO TALL!

A better size for the ES would be 225/30-20 or 235/30-20, which are narrower and quite a bit shorter - closer to the stock rolling diameter. The 245/35-20s are about an inch too tall for your car, exacerbating the tall look.

Someone sold you a bill of goods with those tires. To be honest, I'm surprised they even come close to working!

I would start by changing the tires. You can chase your tail trying to roll fenders, add spacers, raise the car, but ultimately the tires are just WRONG for that car!

futuremil

Yes, the tires are scrubbing on the rear fender well and a shop put on some kind of coil spacers. I didn't know anything about the tire height. I told the guy on the phone what type of car and he suggested them because he said the 225s didn't give the rim much protection and just figured he knew more than me when it comes to these things. Right now I'm trying to find a way to make it work without spending another $600-$1000 after spending $2500 in the past couple of weeks. I called and the guy said they're adjustable and I'll just take it by there and see if they can lower it at least half to where the scrubbing was infrequent and hardly noticeable til I can do something else.

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

I agree above and suggest the correct size tire as a solution, and quite frankly, probably the only reason it rubs...

SoCalSC4

It's true that the 225 tires don't offer much protection from potholes etc., but that's the price of putting 20s on the ES. It's equivalent to putting 22s on a GS or 24s on an LS - they're (to be honest) just too big (tall) for the car.

The newer tires (like 225/35-20 and 235/30-20) solve these clearance issues, at the expense of ride quality, to some degree. The flip side of the coin is to use big tall tires (like yours) and deal with the issues.

FWIW, I would NEVER recommend coil spring spacers for any car. Increasing the ride height is detrimental to handling due to creating a higher center of gravity... plus, it looks silly!