Page 1 of 16 12311 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 172

Thread: 17" Wheel Rubbing Alert!

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2020
    Location
    Los Angeles
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    256
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked 37 Times in 28 Posts

    Exclamation 17" Wheel Rubbing Alert!

    Hi all,

    If we haven't talked, I'm new here. I got my Mirage almost 2 weeks ago. At the time of purchase, I did not realize the tires and wheels on this car are larger than factory size. Wheels are 17" and tires are 205 40 17. They look like this:
    Name:  Screen Shot 2020-06-28 at 12.24.42 PM.jpg
Views: 2066
Size:  93.0 KB

    People on here advised me of possible rubbing. I had heard rear noises that could'd been rubbing a few times before but I just experienced a full one yesterday. I was driving at night and it was dark so I did not see a dip on the street. I went over it without slowing down (I wasn't driving very fast though since it was a residential area, maybe 20-25mph). I heard a very loud noise in the back. I knew a rubbing just happened. When I got home, this is what I found
    Name:  0.jpg
Views: 2866
Size:  83.6 KB

    The rear passenger fender got pulled inside out. Driver rear side seems ok. Of all the times I heard rear noises, it's always the passenger side, not sure why. This is definitely concerning. Also my personal driving experience with these tires and wheels is I feel they make the car bumpier. I had a mechanic test drive the car and he said the tires seem noisy. MPG suffers as well. The best I was able to get on highway is 35, according to the car's mpg screen. I'm now on a mission to swap these out for factory size ASAP. I'm going to call the dealership tomorrow to see if they'd be willing to do it at no cost, but I doubt they will since it's an used car dealership and not a Mitsubishi one. If you're thinking about getting 17" wheels, my advise is DON'T, unless you live somewhere that has good and even roads.

    Do you think it's still safe to drive with this fender?
    Last edited by newtomit; 06-28-2020 at 08:03 PM.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Top_Fuel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Ohio
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    3,699
    Thanks
    2,582
    Thanked 2,537 Times in 1,471 Posts
    That seems like an odd area for a rear tire to contact if the rear end bottomed out in a dip in the road. You can take a small block of wood (with a hammer) and massage that metal back into place. Do you see any damage or rubbing marks on the outside sidewall of the tire? What about the inside of the tire?

    If you're going to get rid of those wheels/tires, don't rush out and buy anything in a hurry. You don't have to go back to a completely stock setup (165-65-14 tires on 14x4.5" wheels). There are other wheel/tire options out there that look good and still maintain decent fuel mileage. You just happen to have a wheel/tire combination that is an extreme example for a Mirage.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)


  3. The Following User Says Thank You to Top_Fuel For This Useful Post:

    mohammad (12-22-2021)

  4. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2020
    Location
    Los Angeles
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    256
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked 37 Times in 28 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by Top_Fuel View Post
    That seems like an odd area for a rear tire to contact if the rear end bottomed out in a dip in the road. You can take a small block of wood (with a hammer) and massage that metal back into place. Do you see any damage or rubbing marks on the outside sidewall of the tire? What about the inside of the tire?

    If you're going to get rid of those wheels/tires, don't rush out and buy anything in a hurry. You don't have to go back to a completely stock setup (165-65-14 tires on 14x4.5" wheels). There are other wheel/tire options out there that look good and still maintain decent fuel mileage. You just happen to have a wheel/tire combination that is an extreme example for a Mirage.
    I tried to bend it in with a plier and cloth for padding, ended up scratching pretty badly I really shouldn't try doing any repair on my own...

    Do you think it's safe to drive with the fender bottomed out like that? I'm concerned it's going to get worse

  5. The Following User Says Thank You to newtomit For This Useful Post:

    dspace9 (06-28-2020)

  6. #4
    Senior Member Top_Fuel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Ohio
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    3,699
    Thanks
    2,582
    Thanked 2,537 Times in 1,471 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by newtomit View Post
    I tried to bend it in with a plier and cloth for padding, ended up scratching pretty badly...
    You're probably going to have to remove the wheel from the car and beat that part of the fender lip back into position. Don't hit the metal of the car directly with a hammer. Hold a piece of 2x4 against the bent fender lip and hit the 2x4 with the hammer. That should move the fender lip back into place without doing any more damage to your paint. Keep the pliers and vice grips in your toolbox!

    Do you think it's safe to drive with the fender bottomed out like that?
    I'm still trying to figure out how the wheel/tire moved forward in the fender opening to contact that part of your car? Normally you would expect the tire to rub near the top of the rear fender opening...not the front of it.

    As long as you don't unexpectedly bottom-out the rear of the car, you should be OK. Remember that carrying rear passengers makes you more likely to experience rubbing issues in the rear.

    Be sure to carefully examine the tire sidewall to make sure it didn't get cut/gouged in the process.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)


  7. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2020
    Location
    Los Angeles
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    256
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked 37 Times in 28 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by Top_Fuel View Post
    I'm still trying to figure out how the wheel/tire moved forward in the fender opening to contact that part of your car? Normally you would expect the tire to rub near the top of the rear fender opening...not the front of it.

    As long as you don't unexpectedly bottom-out the rear of the car, you should be OK. Remember that carrying rear passengers makes you more likely to experience rubbing issues in the rear.

    Be sure to carefully examine the tire sidewall to make sure it didn't get cut/gouged in the process.
    Yeah, strange indeed. I did not expect something like this to happen. I thought it'd be just normal rubbing against the fender, not popping it out. It definitely did not look like this before and I did hear it happen. I also did not even have any rear passengers at all, only myself and a front passenger. Each of us weights around 160-170lbs, and was not carrying anything in the trunk

  8. #6
    Senior Member dspace9's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    Canada
    Country
    Canada
    Posts
    3,022
    Thanks
    1,810
    Thanked 692 Times in 564 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by newtomit View Post

    Do you think it's still safe to drive with this fender?
    I'd be more worried about the safety of driving with those tires, if they're doing that kind of damage. Scary really. They are like prop tires, makes your Mirage really pop in those photos, but they're a poor fit, causing damage to your fender, and on top of that peeling like an orange.

    I've had Dunlop 14" tires twice, and Bridgestone Potenza 14" once. All gave me great MPGs and handled the same. Winter tire 14" is my big next purchase.. for what will be my 7th winter driving my Mirage.

    Stay safe cheers! Emphasize safety concern and legal and they might fix stuff for free.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 42.2 mpg (US) ... 17.9 km/L ... 5.6 L/100 km ... 50.7 mpg (Imp)


  9. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2020
    Location
    Los Angeles
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    256
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked 37 Times in 28 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by dspace9 View Post
    I'd be more worried about the safety of driving with those tires, if they're doing that kind of damage. Scary really. They are like prop tires, makes your Mirage really pop in those photos, but they're a poor fit, causing damage to your fender, and on top of that peeling like an orange.

    I've had Dunlop 14" tires twice, and Bridgestone Potenza 14" once. All gave me great MPGs and handled the same. Winter tire 14" is my big next purchase.. for what will be my 7th winter driving my Mirage.

    Stay safe cheers! Emphasize safety concern and legal and they might fix stuff for free.
    Scary indeed. I'm contacting the dealership tomorrow and even if they don't agree to swap them, I'm going to get it done somewhere else ASAP. I don't feel too good driving it now that this happened.

  10. The Following User Says Thank You to newtomit For This Useful Post:

    dspace9 (06-29-2020)

  11. #8
    Senior Member Top_Fuel's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Ohio
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    3,699
    Thanks
    2,582
    Thanked 2,537 Times in 1,471 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by newtomit View Post
    ...I'm going to get it done somewhere else ASAP
    Don't rush out and buy something. If you find something, post about it and we'll give you some feedback before you spend any more money.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)


  12. #9
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Location
    SW, WI
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    7,402
    Thanks
    594
    Thanked 2,688 Times in 2,106 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by newtomit View Post
    Scary indeed. I'm contacting the dealership tomorrow and even if they don't agree to swap them, I'm going to get it done somewhere else ASAP. I don't feel too good driving it now that this happened.
    I realize my previous post may be overwhelming. You need to decide what you want first. I will use myself as an example. I prefer narrow 14" tires for my Mirage.

    Thus, I use 165/65r14 tires. I now have two sets (summer & winter) of steel rims. My 14" steel rims are are 4.5", 5", & 5.5" wide.

    I will never buy a Dunlop Enasave tire (@ any price new or used) due sidewall issues. So far, I have bought -

    165/65r14 Federal SS657 tires (approximately $42/tire @ simpletire.com)
    165/65r14 Nokian Nordman 7 snow tires. (approximately $80/tire @ tires-easy.com)
    165/65r14 Nexen N'Priz AH5 tires (approximately $50/tire @ tires-easy.com)
    All prices above include free shipping and tires were received within 4 days.

    Some day I may try the 165/65r14 Vredestein Quatrac 5 tires. Since 165/65r14 tire options are limited, nothing else interests me.

    If I decided to start buying 175/65r14 tires, I would go back to buying Cooper tires. I would try the Cooper Evolution Tour, & I could easily use 175/65r14 tires on my existing rims.
    Last edited by Mark; 06-29-2020 at 03:20 AM.

  13. #10
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2020
    Location
    Los Angeles
    Country
    United States
    Posts
    256
    Thanks
    2
    Thanked 37 Times in 28 Posts
    So far $366 is the cheapest I've found for full set tire and wheel
    https://americantiredepot.com/search...option=DE&atd=

    Yikes, this is getting more expensive than I expected. Still hoping to get a reasonable resolution from the dealership tomorrow but not too hopeful.

    I'm also going to contact some used tire shops and see if they'd be willing to do an exchange/trade-in to reduce the cost.

    If that doesn't work out, I might just drive it how it is for some more time and hope for the best!
    Last edited by newtomit; 06-29-2020 at 07:37 AM.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •