hey everyone i have a mini on m7 springs and rims with a 40 offset and 45 tire ....215/45/7 buttttt over dips even with no added weight in the back i scrape the back ...ive heard that wheel spacers fix the issue but if i were to place in a 5mm spacer or whatever size wouldn't the scrape still occur just rather than the scrape on the inner wheel well then i would scrape the wheel arches with a spacer ?....im not too sure the benefits of spacers or if this issue with scraping is even a benefit from spacers ....any ideas would help

 

A wheel spacer would make the problem worse. A rounder profile and/or shorter diameter tire would help; you're running a tire that's both taller and more square than stock, which means it'll rub the fender liners quicker.

 

so rather than a 45 tire i should go on a 40 or 35 ?

 

Once you lower your MINI you have much less clearance for your tires.

How wide is your rim? Stock 17x7 or aftermarket wheel? Often they can be 17x7.5 or 17x8. +40 offset is at the margin of scraping depending on how much rear negative camber you have (more negative will help a little but increase oversteer), how tall your tire is (215/45-17 is TALLER than stock so that means less clearance), and how square the tread is on the edges (more square means less clearance).

For best clearance use 17x7 rims and +42 to +45mm offset with tires that are no larger than stock 205/45-17. You can go less than stock tire diameter such as 215/40-17 or sometimes 205/40-17 but you need a load rating of about 84 or higher.

At this point a spacer would move your tire further outside and that would increase rubbing. Given that you want to keep your tires and rims and the drop you have you might trim the inside lower rear edges of the plastic wheel wells with a dremmel tool. You already have some scraping so the areas to trim are easy to locate. If you do nothing and let it scrape then the tire and the plastic will both wear down eventually if your scraping is not too severe (only on bumps or with passengers in the rear).

It is also possible for your to keep your 215/45-17 for the fronts (no scraping? right) and buy two 215/40-17 for the rears for more clearance. There are few 35 series tires that will easily fit a MINI that come in 17" diameter. 215/35-17 and 225/35-17 are possible but rare.

 

why dont you just add a little more camber in the rear

 

thank you for that awesome response ...i dont have much rubbing just when i drive into a dip at speeds above 50 or so . even with no weight in the back seats.....regardless the camber in the rear seems to go in lots so i dont wanna increase the camber it makes me nervous looking at my rear tires bow in so much anymore would seem dangerous....im not sure if i understand completely what everyone means by camber but if it is when your tires from the top lean in appearing that the wheel is more diagonal than straight then ok i get it ....if im wrong please someone school me

 

If you normal driving is fine then that is good.
If you have dips you need to slow down a bit.
If you carry rear passengers you need to go easy and slow a bit.
You will still scrape a little and it will sound awful and loud but it's OK.
I did the same when I had H-sport springs and 215/45-17 tires. The scraping got better over time. I did not do the trimming, it eventually trimmed itself- the plastic liner wore down slowly, and the tire edges wore down along with the tread in general.

I did have -2.4 degrees rear negative camber (top of tire bends inward to wheel well in relation to the bottom of the tire) when I installed the H-sport springs. I did an alignment and changed it to -0.7 degrees and it was smoother riding but did scrape. Later I changed the rear camber to -1.5 and it was OK but did scrape a little. To change rear camber you do need adjustable lower control arms (just the lower pair). The 2005-06 MINIs do have a small adjuster in the lower control arm that allows for a little

Essentially you want enough clearance to minimize the rubbing. If you never or rarely carry back seat passengers then you don't have to worry that much. If you can do the dremmel trimming then that is fine and not bad, the wheel liners will still work OK and your tires will be happier. Or you can use tires that are smaller in diameter for more clearance (215/40-17). However the 40 series tires tend to be more expensive than the 45 series tires of the same model.

 

I'm running with H-sport springs and my camber is at -1.5 deg. The largest tire I run is a BFG G-force sport 215/40 17 and I have never scraped the wheel well. The wheels these tires are on are 17 x 7.5 and I am unsure of the offset. I have no spacers and I autocross so if it was going to rub it would have by now.