Hello,

I have purchased new tires for my car, and ever since, the rear tires rub on the inside of the wheel well, making significant gashes in the tire.

The current tire size is 215/50-R16 though the sticker on the inside of the gas door says 195/60-R15, leading me to believe that the rims where purchased aftermarket. The rims do say "Volvo" on them.

I had purchased the car with Pirelli 215/50-R16 tires on them and driven it for years with no issues, I replaced them with Bridgestone Potenza 215/50-R16 tires and noticed that they rub in the rear wheel well when going over large bumps. I took the car to the dealership to determine if there where any issues with the suspension that would cause this problem and they said that everything is OK. I took the vehicle back to the tire store and they replaced them with 205/55-R16 tires stating that they where a size smaller and should alleviate the problem. Well, not so much. Still having the same issue. Dealership and tire store both have no clue what to do.

Soooo... if the tire size is correct, and there are no issues with the struts, what the heck is going on? Has anyone encountered this before?

 

The wheels need the proper offset also. Offset is the difference between the mounting surface and the centerline of the wheel. It sounds like your wheels are offset too far toward the inside of the wheel well causing the tires to rub. Since there is a limit as to how skinny a tire will fit on a particular wheel, you may be forced to try other options.

You could use a spacer. These are metal shims that fit between the car's hub and the tire's mounting flange. Some people say these are dangerous. I've never used them myself so I can't comment.

You could always try the Pirelli tires again. European tires tend to have a rounded outer edge where US tires tend to have a square edge. I use Michelin with the rounded edge. (Can never go wrong with Michelin IMHO)

 

Thanks for the response. The tires are rubbing on a nut on the outside fender, not the actual wheel well as i had said, sorry for the miscommunication. So I think a spacer would just add to the problem. I can say that I recently changed my rear brake rotors, do you suppose that they could be thicker then the OEM and in turn, move the wheel out causing the problem?

 

Yes, you could have added a spacer and not known it! If you have the original rotors you could easily measure the old and new hats.

How's your air pressure? Does changing it have any effect?

I'm not familiar with a nut on the inner fender well. Could it be replaced with something thinner?

 

What you describe does reminds me when I first installed different tires on my car.It turned out even tho the size were correct it was still too big.Was a different brand and the diameter was bigger.On the side it said "reinforced" meaning more meat on the running surface.There is no offset problem in your case which can be fixed by using spacers its the tire itself.Try a different make/brand perhaps.I ended up taking the top bolt out completelly to solve this problem ultimately ended up replacing my tires with another brand which didnt had the mark reinforced on it.

 

Unfortunately, I have disposed of the old rotors so I can't check to see if the thickness is different. This does seem like a good first step though.

I had called the auto parts store that I purchased the rotors from and they swear it is OEM spec but there is no real way to confirm. I also called the dealership and they don't have specs on OEM rotors.

The tire store is going to take another look and see if it could be due to a variation in tire sizes between manufacturers. Thanks for the tips.

 

The tire size is correct for the optional 16". Is it rubbing on both wheels? Could the fender have been pushed in a little?

 

The tires are rubbing on both sides, but only in the rear. I guess the fenders could have been bent, but it seems pretty coincidental that the problem started as soon as I had the new tires put on.

The tire shop said that they are calling Volvo directly today to see if they can help out.

 

This still doesn't seem to be getting anywhere.

Firestone contacted Volvo and was told that even though the struts appear fine, there may be an internal issue with the struts that is causing the suspension to be too soft, therefore allowing the tires to rub.

Volvo dealership says that there is a stop that would prevent the suspension from traveling enough for the tires to rub.

Some new facts:
-The tires appear to be rubbing in the front when taking a hard turn
-The original rims on the car where 15". Even though the current rims Volvo brand, I wonder if the 16" rims are of the wrong offset.
-I was able to find an old receipt for the tires that where on there previously and they where the 215/50R16, the same size that was put on when the problem started, why is this a problem now and not before? The old tires where Hankook Ventus HR405 and the new are Bridgestone Potenza G019 GRID.

This has to be either a suspension issue (though it is pretty coincidental that the problem started when putting the new tires on AND that both rear struts would fail at the exact same time)
OR
it is a tires size difference between tire manufacturers (which Firestone claims can't be true as tire sizes are consistent across the board) Anyone know if this is true?