Hey all, so I JUST got my S4 last weekend, and I'm already a little concerned.

I have 18" BBS RXII Wheels (225), with Some Michelin Pilot Sports 235/40/18s on them.

Now, I have an H&R Adjustable Coilover suspension that was apparently adjusted wrong by the previous owner, as I'm getting rubbing on 3 out of 4 wheels. (Mostly on just the right side) I measured how high the wheel well was between the front and back, and the difference between them is roughly 1/8", or just SLIIIIGHTLY more than that. Is that really going to make a difference? It only rubs if there's a drastic change in road height and the cars weight goes down onto the shocks. But it's beating up (pulling) the actual metal on the fender.

Essentially, it breaks down like this:
Rubbing
Front Left: Mild rubbing, VERY little, if any tire evidence (evidence on fender though)
Rear Left: No evidence of rubbing anywhere... I can touch the top of the tire easily
Front Right: Evidence on tire, evidence on fender (Scraping sound on condition mentioned before.
Rear Right: This is the other big spot. Evidence on Fender and tire. Cant easily touch the top of the tire, need to wiggle my fingers in there.

I was wondering if anyone had 18s with that particular size tire that might be able to tell me how high the car (bottom of fender well) should be so that there's no rubbing. I'm worried that its going to have to go into the shop for body work. I think that one of them pulled the inside fender so hard that it cracked the paint.

If I raise it up 1/8", so that the left and right sides match, will that solve the problem? Could it be that because the left side is slightly higher than the right, that it's putting more weight to that side of the car?

My other solution: Raise the right side to match the left side, test it out. If it's still rubbing, raise the whole car up 1/4".

I wanted to take it to a professional, because I dont have the necessary tools at the moment, but I dont have the money right now to pay someone to do it.

Sorry for the length, but I wanted to be thorough. I can put up pics if needs be, but I dont think it's 100% necessary at this stage.
I just dont want to be under the car all day, trying to tweak and tweak... for 1/8".

Please help

 

i have tires of the size you mentioned BUT i also have stock suspension. my advice to you is to have the ride height raised. basically, the left and right sides should have equal ride height.

 

Right. I just dont know what the original ride height is. ... Part of the issue.

 

You really don't need to know the original ride height. You just want to make sure the front left and right are at the same height and the rear left and right are at the same height.

I've had a lot of experience adjust coil-overs on a 97 Jetta VR6 and trust me it will take a while before you get it the way you want it. I've read a couple of VW/Audi Performance books and they all recommend that the best height for the car is for it to be lowered to the point where the control arms runs parallel to the ground with the full weight of the car and a half tank of gas.

You may want to get a aftermarket rear sway-bar which can help reduce some body roll... which reduces rubbing when going around corners.

If you really like to be low and want no rubbing the next best thing to do is to get your fenders roll. Basically is flatten in mental into the inside of the fender walls giving the tire more clearance. This is something I did as well on my previous car and it cut down on nearly 90% of my rubbing issue. Here a good site with info about fender rolling http://www.robsaudiworld.com/fender.htm

 

^+1 rolling will help alot

 

UPDATE: Got an email from a guy over at STaSIS, who mentioned that my offset might be wrong. That my wheels shouldnt be rubbing, but that the wheels are too far out. ...

... Any thoughts?

 

Post some pictures so we can see how low you are...