wheel spacers
Hi all, I have had a bit of an odd problem. On my G500 (built 1999) I fitted 285/70 tyres onto my 18" wheels and not surprisingly they rubbed slightly on the front steering arm on the Left hand side (as I'm sitting in it: mind is RHD, i.e. the passenger side). To stop it rubbing, I fitted a set of 30mm wheel spacers all round only to find that one wheel is protruding out of the arches whilst all the others are fine! It is the front right wheel (i.e. drivers side) that is sticking out about 30mm. I have tried to look at the axles for signs of work but everything seems to be original, however, it does seem very very odd that one wheel should stick out whilst all the others are fine. My question is of course, does anybody know what is going on here?
If there has been work done to the car, say they switched a hub at some stage, are there some hubs for the 463s that are already wider to accommodate fatter tyres (i.e. for the G55/AMG?). What I'm obviously trying to get to grips with is to make sure that all four tyres on my G are inside of the arches AND more importantly that the geometry of the car is correct. When driving it, it doesn't seem as if there is a great imbalance. In fact with the spacers it feels a little more secure (as we have loads of camping stuff on the roof and in the car).
Would be very interested to find out what is going on. Any ideas?
Please advise/Ph
Is your G lifted in any way? People have been known to have issues with the axle shifting left/right after a lift. Make sure you G is level before measuring. Might be an old bump that shifted the axle/frame one way or the other, best to do a full 4-wheel alignment and ask them to measure the wheelbases and track on each side.
Other possibility is, seeing as you have the 18-inch Ashtaroths, they come in 2 different versions, one with 43mm and the other with 63mm backspacing (or some similar figures). To the casual observer they'll look identical but they have a different part number (stamped on the back of the wheel):
Numbers 9 & 10 in the list
http://www.rubicon-trail.com/G-Class/wheels/start.html

I hope its the latter! I will have a look and revert. Thanks/ph