Tiger front tire clearance

[Gregg Byxbee]

I have a new pair of Coker P185/70R13 tires on the front of my Mk1a. When I make a hard right turn, the front of the tires barely hit the lower part of the front apron (or valance, or gravel pan, or whatever you want to call it) making a terrible noise. I don’t know what a hard left turn does. I don’t have problems when driving the car on the street, only when backing out of my garage. I have verified that the fulcrum pin on the driver’s side is in properly but the passenger’s side is in backwards. The front end was completely rebuilt by the previous owner, so I don’t know his mechanic’s expertise at all. Does anybody else with this size tire have clearance problems or even a dangerously close call?

Thanks!

[Eric and Bonnie and Bonnie Gibeaut]

Do you have the stock steel wheels or aftermarket ones? Wheel width and offset can cause clearance problems with the front valance panel. You may need to carefully trim the bottom of it to fix the problem. Eric

[Gregg Byxbee]

Eric;

Hello again! I have 13" LAT wheels on the car. So you’re saying that this is not unheard of. My friend has a Mk1 with the same size tires (LAT 9 rims)and he says that his tire never gets closer than 1.5" from the valance. As far as I’ve been told, my car was never hit. Is there anything the front end rebuilder could have done wrong that would cause the front hubs to be just 1/2" too far forward … maybe interchanging parts accidentally? Right now I’m trying to find an alignment shop that I trust to work on this car! His inspection could reveal something. Thanks!

[George and Beverly and Beverly Coleman]

You said that the front end has been rebuilt? Do you know if the front cross member was reset as well? A good way to see if it has is to look at the upper fulcrum pins if the back end nut is real close or up against the fender well it has not been repaired and will have to be pulled, over the years a Tigers front member will sag inward and down and back this will cause the tire rub along with other issues. 8)

[Gregg Byxbee]

I have no way of knowing if the crossmember was removed. I checked for clearances of the upper fulcrum pins with the steering all the way. The left and right sides are very close to the frame … maybe 1/8"? I may have to bend the apron a bit to buy time until I can get it to an alignment shop I can trust to give it a good looking over. I can’t find a shop in the Tampa Bay area yet.

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