Car too low. Raise KWs or bend fenders?

[flexion]

a few months after the KW-V2 installation, the gap between tire and fender has become dangerously small. there's only one finger left in the rear, and two in the front; uhm.. and I have very small fingers!!

next month it is time to put winter tires (stock wheels) on it and the problem is gone, but next summer I will probably have a serious problem with the wheel gap when the car has settled even more.

I attached a small video to show my dilemma. with passengers in the car it is even worse :-)


what should I do now? raise the KWs a little?
or bend the fenders? Is this an easy job? what about the plastic piece in the inside?

changing the height of the KWs is also not easy.. I dont remember if it can be done without removing the whole rear suspension.

what can you guys recommend?

thanks!

[turk182]

oh yeh after watching the video i see what you mean, if you have kws, all you should need to do is take it to someone who has a hoist at their shop and put it up, take the special spanner and adjust the suspension, you dont have to remove it, well as far as i've been reading about them you shouldnt need to.

mabye someone who has them with a bit more experince will tune in

[Scarbs]

WOW
What is the Offset on the thous rims. Thats what your problem is they stick out way to far.
To adjust the KW at home i jack up the front just so there is no pressure onthe springs then adjust them. I've only done the fronts like that haven't had to do the backs.

And Conter clockwise will raise them. Just a tip.

[HEMMISSEY]

If your that concerned, I would raise it up a tad bit for the winters. If you aint rubbing now, then don't roll the fenders. Yes it's a easy job to do, but be very carefull in doing it. Your paint "might" crack in the process. If your going to do it, heat the fender part that's going to be rolled. As for the plastic inner splash guards, if you roll the fenders all the way flush, they will hang a bit. Scarbs, the reason why is kinda sticks out a bit, is because he has an AWD.

[flexion]

LOL I know they stick out a bit too much, but it looks better that way

well, it does rub a little when I take sharp corners with passengers in the car.
after reading all the comments, I think I will adjust the KWs but not the fenders

thanks a lot!

[Scarbs]

I didnt see that it was AWD.
Yea raise the Bithc up. I did that to mine a coupl weeks ago I hit a good bump By mistake and pulled the inner lip a little but it didn't hurt anything else. I had the lip fixed.(for free, if your in northern IL drop me aline for a good body shop)

The way your tires stick out of the body rolling the fenders wont make a differance if you hit something.

[joey]

I raised my rears using these tools.
It took a lot of time and noise. I only recommend this method as a last resort. I raised the rear purple spring collar about two and half turns, about 1/4 inch. Fronts are easy to adjust.

[flexion]

Originally Posted by Scarbrs

(for free, if your in northern IL drop me aline for a good body shop)

heheh thanks for the offer unfortunately I live a few thousand miles away.. in zurich / switzerland / europe ;-)


@Joey: you're funny :-) well, I will bring my car to a local shop here and hope they dont use your "last resort" solution when I walk out of the shop and drive away in the fugly Toyota Yaris Diesel rental ;-)

[joey]

Originally Posted by flexion

@Joey: you're funny :-) well, I will bring my car to a local shop here and hope they dont use your "last resort" solution when I walk out of the shop and drive away in the fugly Toyota Yaris Diesel rental ;-)

My wife and neighbors didn't think it was funny during the couple of hours I was banging away in the garage
But what the hell, it saved me some bucks having to pay someone to drop the rear-end to re-adjust the height.

[flexion]

Originally Posted by joey

But what the hell, it saved me some bucks having to pay someone to drop the rear-end to re-adjust the height.

LOL well, I dont care about the money, what really bothers me is driving home in a Toyota Yaris while my car is in the shop