It would be just my luck for an arch to rip off and go through my windsheld. 

It won't be so "sexy down low" when it tears the wheel arch off and flings it into on-coming traffic. Had one of mine try to commit suicide.

I guess I misunderstood the effect of shimming. I thought the shims move the (front) subframe forward increasing the wheelbase a bit, causing in my case, rubbing on the forward part of the arches. 

Yeah, I could raise the ride-height. Problem solved. But it looks so sexy down low. I've always had a problem with form vs. function.

as Calver says "Consequently these spacer-shims were used to push the front panel forwards, away from the tyres. So this is another avenue of attack - except there is a point of no return here. The arch reaches a point where it is being pushed so far forwards by over-use of the spacer-shims it starts deforming in towards the centerline of the car, thus causing the arch line to bend backwards slightly. Back to square one with the fouling thing."

My 12" tires rubbed this way. I adjusted shimming of the front panel. What this does is moves the front panel in/out realtive to the sub-frame nut doesn't move thea rch forward much. It is more like when you squeeze the top of a plastic cup the edges away from where you are squeezing move out. So, adding shims distorts the arch in your favour to a point, then works against you. If shiming makes it worse, try reducing the anount of shim.

Assuming your car is a left-hand drive, the other thing not mentioned is to go on a diet! You are measuring the wheel space in the unladen car. When you hop in it probably goes down a finger's width. I'm on the chunky side (it's genetic - I always have been), so my unladen suspension is set a little higher on the driver's side. It rides level when I'm in it.

You folks have no idea how much this pains me, but here goes:

Rick Higgs is right.

With 10" wheels/tires, if you are getting into all the flairs on speed bumps and rubbing on turning at the front, you are too low - no matter whatever else is going on IMHO.

With my 10" wheeled 1380 sedan, I used 2 1/2 fat (that's my fat) finger measure as a quick check when loaded and I use 3 fat fingers on the 12" wheels/tires Van.  No rubbing...and I use an extra deg. of caster on the right front for road crowning.  Lower at the front I have rubbing.

I got to looking at my tire/wheel well spacing and it seems to me that my front tires are forward of center with regard to the wheel wells. Rubbing occurs on the front inside lip of the flairs. The pic doesn't show the offset very well, but I think you can see what I mean.

I recall reading here that shims were sometimes installed by the factory between the subframes and body to make up for sloppy tolerances. I'm wondering if I might have one of those "long wheelbase" models.    I've poked around and don't see anything dramatic under there, but I suppose it's possible that there's a shim or two between the front sub and body.

Anybody want to check their car for front wheel well symmetry? Aim your wheels straight ahead and see if the front tires are centered in the wheel wells. Thanks.

The late model rack only helps the wheels from rubbing the inner wheel well, you can buy rack limiters (cheaper than a rack) that clip on the rack tie rod shafts under the rubber boots.

Any spacers would only cause the tire to rub more, just like when an owner switches to discs from drums and ends up with tires rubbing due to the wider track of the disc brake set up.

Troot1967. Adjustable tie rods, shim the front panel, trim the fenders, raise the car those are the options afaik and depending on how badly the car rubs you may need more than one or all of them to make things right.

Image Gallery

I too have a rubbing problem, but I expected as much. I have a pretty low car. The first week I had it on the road I high-sided on a speed hump directly in front of a local Cars & Coffee event. Sheesh.

I set my high/lows so that I had a 2 finger clearance between the bottom of the flair lip to the top of the tire. My 10-inchers fill the wheel wells nicely at that height and I like the look. Alas, I rub the fronts between 180° to 270° on the steering wheel—low speed turns for the most part. And rub all four tires when hitting surprisingly small dips above 30 mph. Firming up the adjustable shocks on the front helps. To make matters worse, the car seems to have “settled” a bit on it’s new springs(?). Either that, or my fingers have gotten fat. 

I’ve gotten used to inspecting the wheel wells regularly. The rubbing is fairly even and orderly. I smoothed and rounded the leading edges of the arch fasteners. I masked the arches and shot the rub zones inside and under the arches with a black textured spray. Good match as the rubbed-through areas are black plastic as well. In other words, I’m gonna try to live with a little rubbing for the sake of the wheel/arch aesthetic. If I peel off one of my wings on a downhill right-hander someday, I may rethink my decision. - Happy Motoring!

How much time do you spend on full lock? if it's not rubbing real hard just slow down when turning?

Shims or a custom suspension setup get my vote. Then there's always light clearancing.

Can you post some pictures of the problem?

Check it out: Calver's Corner Article

Very interesting about those spacers jeg...thanks.

Is it rubbing on the inner wing or outer wing at the forward edge?

There are several options off the top of my head available. 

• Since you've lowered your car, there's a good chance that your caster angle has changed as a result of slightly more negative camber which resulted from lowering.  Re-confirm your caster angle (I use TOOL10 for this).
• If it's rubbing on the outer wing (forward edge), it may be possible to install a few spacers (2A4292) between the front panel and front subframe in order to push the wheel arch a tad more forward.  Yes, the product description says 1976 onwards, but they work a treat.
• One option, though not likely to be popular, would be to install a late-model steering rack which would prevent you from turning so sharply. 
• Another, which I'm not fond of, would be to install 5mm spacers to the front drive flanges; assuming your wheel studs are suitably long enough to allow safe retension of the wheels.

Maybe someone else can add something more -

I recently put 6 x 10 revolites on my '69 mini. It looks great but the problem is when I make a right turn into a driveway. the tire pushes up into the fender(flare). I have about an inch of space between the tire and the fender so I dont think the car is too low. I have adjustable front end suspension but I dont want to have to raise the height of the car as I really like the look the car now has now. 

 Has anybody else had this problem? And if so how can it be resolved. I don't want to have to Modify (cut away part of the fender) and dont want to raise the suspension either as it wouldn't look right. Would the suspension on the front have to be changed? 

 Appreciate any info......

 Tony