FTO AUSTRALIA

This little issue has been a long time in the making. About four years ago when I got my FTO, I replaced the suspension, wheels and tyres. Happy to name names, Superior Tyres at Aspley (since moved premises) chose all the components and sizes. Silly me trusted their judgement.
From day 1, I had rubbing in the wheel arches. Took it back and their solution was to beat the sh*t out of the arches where it was rubbing to try and make those areas bigger! A moment of insanity let me drive away or perhaps I was worried about what next they would do to my car.
So fast forward four years and the suspension has slowly settled and the tyres now rub on any large bump or moderately tight turn. And when I took my wheel off the other day, I saw the damage that has actually been done to the inside of the tyre. I am guessing that on some turn with at least moderate speed, the tyre has actually hit the strut going out to the wheel. This has sliced right into the tyre and then proceeded to shave the entire inside edge of the tyre.




Needless to say, I'm pissed but this far down the track, I don't think I've got any recourse. I'll be getting a written guarantee from the next mob that the next tyres will be the right size and don't rub at all.

god...thats a really big chunk off! may i ask what size tyre is that?

They're a Toyo. I think TEO (http://www.toyo.com.au/TEO%20plus.htm). Been happy with the on road performance of the tyres themselves, just the rubbing has annoyed me no end.

what size are they?
and what size of those rims you are using?

Correction, they're a Toyo Tranpath SW (http://www.toyo.com.au/Tranpath%20SW.htm).

Size is 215/45 ZR17 91W

Either they're the wrong size or they've been perhaps incorrectly fitted. Can anyone educate me a little here please?

i'm using the same size
but nothing happen, may be they are badly fitted

My suspension was also lowered a bit, not drastically mind you.

i got coilover all round
nothing wrong,
it should be badly fitted or you ran on something sharp

Sounds like you needed to fix the problem in the first place instead of let it be for that long, but at least you learnt your lesson and are sharing it with other to learn too which is good. The worshop you took your car too seems dodgy but you probably should of realized that you car is way too low, and that it's not your tyres fault.

Sometimes people need to think in general about doing certain modifications to their cars and what safety effect it can cause. Your suspension and tyres are one of the important things that keep you off the road. I am amazed on a weekly basis on how lowered I see cars. Unfortunately there are some workshops that don't really care.

If your tyres are scraping when you do a sharp turn or are doing a high speed turn wouldn't you think that is a bit dangerous to begin with? Imagine seeing an accident and doing a sharp turn, your tyre scrapes and randomly blows out resulting you in hitting the accident ahead? Even worse would be you causing that accident.

Sorry for the rant, my old age talking here. Mod safe guys.

I don't understand how you didn't lose control somewhere while turning after looking at that photo.

Boris, thanks for your thoughts.

For the record, when I had the suspension and wheels replaced, I actually RAISED the car from what it was for reasons of comfort and safety! If you have a look at the series of photos on my web site - http://cope.id.au/cars.asp, the first set is when I bought it. The second set is after new wheels and raising it and the third series is my previous car but with stock suspension. (and the last set, the Excel, well we don't talk about that )
As you can see, the second set is definitely lower than the stock suspension but higher than the first set.
That's not really a direct response to your thoughts I know. The point I will make is the point that I made directly to Superior Tyres was "I want you to tell me what suspension and what tyres will WORK on my car with 17 inch wheels". I also made a point of saying I was after comfort and saftey over performance. This was my driving car, not my racing car. I was relying on people who assured me that they knew what was best for my car. This is not something that will be happening when I replace these tyres in the next week or so and I'm hoping - as you say - that people learn from my mistake in this instance.

sublime19, a piece of rubber doesn't hold out much hope when it's got a tonne of vehicle pressure, plus momentum, pressed onto a "blade" of metal

They should of gave you 215/40... 215/45 is the most popular tyre type for most guys with 17" wheels but the fto has a diff wheel size

Also coilovers take up less space than the standard struts do so theres more room for the tyre...

what offset are the rims?

Hahahahahaha what do you expect, you've had the same tyres for 4 years geez.

LiamV wrote:Hahahahahaha what do you expect, you've had the same tyres for 4 years geez.

lol buddy I think u completely missed the point of this thread.