Hi peeps,


Some time ago I bought a set of used 17" Azev C from a coupe owner in Germany. They are ET30 (as stamped on the wheel) and they came fitted with some rather wide tyres. 245 35 17. I fitted these to my car & they cleared the brembo's fine and only caught the inner wheel arch on full lock whilst reversing, which I could deal with... But in a straight line, above 40mph there was a slight rubbing feel going on from the front. Nothing major but you can feel something rubbing/very slight drone. Its worth mentioning I have standard suspension.

I refitted my standard wheels & had a look around for any obvious signs of rubbing. The only thing I could find was on the strut there was a slightly indented part (both sides) that would co-incide with the rubbing noise. I've checked this numerous times and there is no contact when the car is at a standstill, it only seems to happen with moving. My theory is downforce pressing the front of the car down enough to compress the spring, in turn making the too wide tyre contact the strut?

The wheels have been in the garage ever since then & tomorrow I'd like to fit them to the car with the correct profile tyres (205 40 17?) fitted. However I'm starting to wonder if the rubbing is not tyre related, but offset related? I have had a search for azev offset all over this forum & there are a number of replys saying that the offsets can be different, plus wheels sold in germany were ET30 & have TUV certs and 3mm spacers.... I don't have 3mm spacers, could this be my issue?

I have had a look at the tyre size calculator, but that doesn't calculate the width difference, only the rolling radius. Can someone shed some light on weather the 205 40 17 tyre is that much narrower than the 245/35/17 that is currently fitted to the wheel? I don't want to waste a load of money getting decent tyres fitted just to find out the rubbing persists & could have been solved with a small spacer (although I really dont like the idea of spacers!).

Also, it is worth mentioning that when I 1st tried fitting the wheels, the standard wheel bolts were too long and fouled the hub when touqued up. I bought some slightly shorter ones (20mm from memory) as I presumed these wheels would have had bolts with them when new. Can any azev owners confirm if they had to use new wheel bolts or existing?

Thanks in advance!

I have some Azev C's in 18x8.5 offset is ET 35 . I use shorter bolts as standards bolts don't fit correctly , too long from memory .