2in drop problem, rubbing tires, fix?

[c4regal]

I have a 1987 Buick T-type, new stock springs and 2 in drop spindles.
When I go over a dip in the road it will bottom out and rub the outside edge of the tire. Should I fix it with a stiffer progressive spring, use a bump stop or spring spacers?

[JRouche]

You said it bottoms out. Bottoming out to me means it has hit the stops hard. If so then bump stops wont help much. Stiffer springs might help, be ready for a hard riding car. Maybe to the point of disaster.

A suspension needs to be complient. Otherwise we would just use solid links and no springs.

But if its not truly bottoming out, but just rubbing on the tires when you are driving then thats a whole diff story.

Thats a mis-match of parts. You dropped the body down by what? Two inches with the spindles. The car as designed wasnt meant for that.

A couple of ways to limit the tire hits is either narrower tires, trim the fenders or pull the knuckles in (then you have inside clearance issues).

Kind of hard to take a stock car and lower it two inches and expect the tire to clear all the other stock components. GM already stuffed all the components in there pretty tight.

For the quick and dirty fix I would swap the springs. But be careful. Too much spring will make it a handful to drive. And it can screw up the entire performance, BIG TIME. JR

[BMR Tech]

Are you using stock offset wheels? I have had two different Grand Nationals and ran 2" dropped spindles on one of them with no problems. It had 17x9.5 wheels with 275/40ZR17 tires and had no tire rub or inner wheelwell rub. Is it the tire bottoming out?

[c4regal]

I have a custom set 7 in wheels 17" 245/45 but with near stock off set. Car is not really bottoming out, bad choice of words, it simply is compressing the springs and the outside of the tire is rubbing on the inner fender lip or inner wheel well.
I guess I could try rolling the inner fender lip in, but I think it is actually touching the screws that hold on the black fender trim on the T-type.

Would it be likely I could have a wheel shop take a 1/4" off the back of the wheel mounting plate?

[MADMIKE]

For the quick and dirty fix I would swap the springs. But be careful. Too much spring will make it a handful to drive. And it can screw up the entire performance, BIG TIME. JR
The '78-'88 A/Gs are just plain under sprung. Going over speed humps(not bumps) will cause the car to bottom out. I highly recommend switching to the Moog/TRW/et al 5660 spring and replace the front shock with Bilstein F4B461307H1(2wd S10).
I have the 5660s in both my '79 and '87 with Bils. Comfortable but firm, BMW esque you could say.

The 5606 is the stock replacement for F41 A/G cars.
The 5660 is the stock replacement for F-bods and S-series.

5606- 1530lbs @ 11.00" (421lb/in rate)
5660- 1538lbs @ 10.75" (598lb/in rate)

[BMR Tech]

I have a custom set 7 in wheels 17" 245/45 but with near stock off set. Car is not really bottoming out, bad choice of words, it simply is compressing the springs and the outside of the tire is rubbing on the inner fender lip or inner wheel well.
I guess I could try rolling the inner fender lip in, but I think it is actually touching the screws that hold on the black fender trim on the T-type.

Would it be likely I could have a wheel shop take a 1/4" off the back of the wheel mounting plate?

Come to think of it on both cars I removed the trim and rolled the fender lip (cut one, rolled the other). The stock offset on the OE wheel is pretty conservative so you could have used more offset but you already have the wheels so I would probably go with a little more spring rate. Even the T-Types and GN's are a little under sprung, pretty much a symtom of the name "Buick" I guess. Unless you want to lower it more, I would probably stick with a stock height OE type spring like MADMIKE recommended above.

You could probably have a wheel shop remove some material from the mounting surface of the wheels if the castings are thick enough but I would use that as a last resort. How much do you like your wheelwell trim?