I have a stock 850 turbowagon (the actual 'turbo' model, with the Columbia 16x6.5 wheels and 205/55-16 Yokohama Avid-V4S tires, which are what the GVWR sticker says). I don't *think* this car was lowered by the original owner, all signs were it belonged to a wealthy suburban mom ("Brentwood School" on the license plate, it came from the LA area) prior to my ownership. Car has about 115000 miles on it, and is in generally darn good condition, runs great, etc.

The front wheels scrape the wheel wells on full stop U turns, have worn holes in the plastic liner, and the plastic rim on the fender edge is all busted off too. the edge of the fenders gets bent down at 12-oclock. when I go to make a full stop U-turn or parking (at low speed, of course), I feel resistance somewhat before the wheels are at full stop, and sometimes feel clunks too. Yet in spite of all this scraping, there's very little sign of it on the tire tread, just the very outside corners of the tread are slightly scraped.

is this a sign of something seriously wrong with the front end? 2 mechanics have tried to tell me they all do that. I've had the alignment checked and it was good on all points (the toe-in was a touch off, they dialed that back to spec, this improved the 'feel' on normal and high speed driving).

I do note that tirerack indicates these cars came with either 205/55 or 205/50, would using the /50s be a better choice? Does the alignment have t be reset?

 

It could just be the brand of tires.

 

hmmm. been using Yokohama's on all my cars for the last half dozen years, since getting annoyed with Michelins for riding too harsh and noisy. Haven't had size troubles with any of the other cars. This car had nearly bald tires on it, Conti SuperContacts I think, when I got it, and I replaced them nearly immediately.


picture taken a few weeks after I got the car, about 3 years ago

I dunno if thats before or after I switched tires.

 

Also is the alignment perfect?
I have heard of a bunch of people complain after changing tires.

 

had it aligned after driving about a year on the new tires. didn't change this. I need to jack it up and climb under there and see how much of the fender wells are chewed up, I haven't looked in a while. I probably should get it onto an alignment rack, and turn the steering lock to lock and see whats going on.

 

Also make sure the steering stops are not broke off the control arms.