Is the wheel too close to the caliper?

[v12horse]

1. Today I took off a front wheel just to see how my new wheels would fit and I put the wheel on and there were no clearance problems, but the inside of the spokes are about 1mm away from the caliper. Is this unsafe?

2. The brakes are stock as far as I know so I would think this would not be a problem since many people have Watanabe's on their Z's. However, I could be wrong about the brakes being stock. The calipers are red. That is not how they came is it? It says Sumimito on the caliper.

I am just a little paranoid.

Thanks in advance,

Ben

[Bambikiller240]

Hi Ben:

The calipers were not colored red from the factory, but "Sumitomo" is cast into the calipers on OEM units. I believe from my recollection of looking at your calipers that they are stock 240/260Z.

1mm gap between wheel and caliper sounds awfully close, but I don't know if it is a problem or not. Hopefully someone else can advise you.

[panchovisa]

The answer is yes and no. One mm clearance is fine if the wheels/studs/hubs don't flex/wobble and you never get any pebbles/track trash between the calipers and wheels.

You have three options for increasing clearance:

1) Mill clearance into back side of wheels (didn't think so!)

2) Shim wheel out with wheel spacer. Watch clearance from tire to fender lip.

3) Mill clearance on brake caliper. Should be no problem to remove 2mm.

[280z]

oh no ben, are those scratchesw on your new wheels?? could you just simply buy thinner calipers?

[v12horse]

Thanks guys for the answers. When the time comes to put on the wheels I will post some really detailed pictures of the closeness. Is it normal to be that close? If I have to, I will shave a bit off the caliper, but I am hoping I won't have to.

Thanks again Carl and David,

Ben

p.s. Marc, there are a few tiny scratches on the wheels, but nothing I am worried about. I don't know if I could buy thinner calipers. I don't want to change them though because even though I am doing a few mods, I am still a stickler for originality. hehehehe, if I had to I would though. What ever makes the car safer is more important than my sticklerness.

[panchovisa]

v12, one other modification to think about.

Add 2mm of washers between caliper mount ears and ears on strut (moves caliper 2mm away from wheel). Only bad thing is new thick pads may be hard to get in on outer side of disk.

You could also add a 2mm shim between back of hub and disk to put everything back into position. I'd leave that shim (a single piece, not four seperate shims) to a machine shop (it should be ground to thickness). If it is not flat the rotor will wobble (no good!).

[280z]

i think its a good idea to shave them and re-paint them. i know people are going stare and admire those wheels and a pair of bright shiny calipers would be the icing on the cake.

[Bambikiller240]

i think its a good idea to shave them and re-paint them. i know people are going stare and admire those wheels and a pair of bright shiny calipers would be the icing on the cake.

Or he could give the wheels to me, and buy another set that fit better. Ya, I like that idea!

[v12horse]

I don't think so Carl. hehehehe. Your wheels are going to look really cool. You have -9mm offset!!! How cool is that. Once you paint the centers gunmetal youll be rockin. What size tires do you think you will use?

It is not the offset that is the issue, it is just the back of the spokes. Here is the size of the gap roughly,

l l

I am thinking that I am going to leave it because I don't take it to the track and there is no reason for a flex. If I do anything I am thinking of the shim behind the hub that David mentioned. I will keep you guys posted. Thanks for all of the help and replies.

Ben:)

[Alfadog]

Ha! You said 1 millimetre! That's about 3mm! You'll be fiiiine. Just get them ON!*

Just make sure you drive verrry carefully to start with, give it a bit of a test...

Are you going to strip the calipers of their red paint? Or leave them? Or repaint them?

*I take no responsibility for any damages you may incur. Do this only at your own risk!!

[v12horse]

I will get a better picture of it, but It was no smaller than that gap that I made with the two lowercase L's. Be easy on me Lachlan, us yanks are not familiar with these measurments. Teehee. I know my mLs and L's quite well though. Of course that is not very hard at all.

I am not sure what I am going to do with the calipers. I was thinking that I would strip them for originality, but then I wonder why they were painted red in the first place. The owner that had the car before did not seem like the type that would paint the calipers. The car sat for ten years in his garage and nothing was changed through out the car's life but the fluids, hoses, carbs, and tires. That does not mean that it was in perfect shape.

Thanks for the advice Lachlan. Don't worry, I am going to make sure that the wheels are safe before any driving is done with them. I don't want to hurt the wheels .

Take care,

Ben

[waynekarnes]

Ben, that's about how much space i have between the konigs ( same wheels Carl has ) and the toyota calipers.

if the wheel flexes, i will be s*itting bricks long before they rub the caliper, as most likely, right after flexing, the hub will probably be in the process of punching the center out of the wheel. unless you're running wide open, using extremely sticky racing tires on a perfect track, i doubt that you'd ever get those wheels to flex.

if the bearings are bad, that might allow the wheel to wobble, but at that point, the shimmy would be a horrendous.

if you have clearance, between the caliper and the wheel, it isn't going to change. if a mechanical problem causes the wheel to wobble, and it wobbles that bad, the wheel is gonna hit the caliper anyway.

enjoy the ride, wayne