Hey everyone, I'm working on my son's 2007 Charger SE. I just replaced everything on the front end (steering and suspension) with the exception of the steering knuckle itself. When he got it, they had spacers behind the wheels, I assumed because they had oversized tires on it. He had the tires replaced with the stock 215/65/17's. Well, when I pulled the wheels off I noticed they ground down the calipers, so I bought new calipers, removed the spacers and put the wheels back on. They are hitting the calipers so badly that you can't move the front wheels. It's almost like the wheels are too small or the calipers are too big. I can't figure it out, I called a dealership and they verified the stock wheel size against the VIN for the car... 17x7. Every single caliper I look for says the ones I bought are the correct ones (TRQ CLA31860 / CLA31861). This car has been a nightmare since he got it. The previous owner beat the crap out of it, rigged up stuff, and just really hacked away at it. I just don't know what else to look for.

 

OK, since I can't figure out how to delete this, I will update it. I have figured out the problem. The wheels that are on the car now came off of a Dodge Nitro and the offset is off by almost 20mm. The Charger offset is 22mm and the Nitro offset is 40.75mm. So, yeah, my son is going to be buying some new wheels.

 

Now you know why it had spacers on the wheels. I'm not a fan of spacers (unless they are in orbit, they they are cool! )By moving wheels out with spacers you put extra strain on the lug studs and wheel bearings. When your son puts new wheels (now is the time to get some really nice ones) check the studs and lug nuts. ANY distortion means they need replacement. Otherwise he'll be one of those cars on YouTube that loses a wheel going down the road and it bounces away. If it hits anybody, you are liable.

 

That's already been taken care of, It's got new hub/bearing assemblies all the way around, along with control arms, tie rods, struts, springs, shocks, ball joints etc. He really bought a beater but he plans to fix it up so I told him I'd help him with it, and make sure he buys quality parts.

 

There are two benefits to what you're doing. He will know the car intimately since he doing a laying on of hands over the whole machine. Second, when his buddies get out and start Ricky Racing, he will think of the time and money he sunk into the car and will respect the machine.