Rear Wheel Clearance Work

This morning, I did a bit more work on the wheel opening of the rear quarter panel in hopes of stopping the rubbing noise when going over large bumps.

I started out by measuring three inches down from the quarter panel onto the tire.  This is to simulate the amount of total movement possible based on the distance from the rear axle to bump stop.  This is shown below by the black line on the tire.  

I then used a lug nut tied to a string to run a straight line down from the inner fender lip.  The two silver marks on the tire and fender are showing where the string begins to touch the tire.  These are the areas I will need to focus on removing material.  

I then remove the wheel and decided to measure the width of the fender lip.  This would give me an idea of the amount to remove.  In the past when I removed material, it was from the essentially where the rub starts now forward.  This can be seen a bit in the measurements shown below:

Somewhat below each measurement with a small arrow are updated numbers.  The first set immediately below is what was accomplished through cutting and grinding.  The second set of numbers is a small change which occurred from rolling the lip ever so slightly with a body hammer.  My overall change is maybe 1/8" in most places which really isn't much at all.  

With the wheel off, it is apparent the tire is also making contact just inside of the wheel well above the lip.  The rub has removed all of the undercoating in the area.  There is not much to do about this aside from a wheel with more backspace, raise the rear with new leaf springs, or a fender flare (not going there).

The trouble is that these wheels are not produced in this size with more backspace.  There are a few others which are made but then I'm switching out wheels that I just purchased.  I think I will go with new springs to raise the back up around 1/2".  This should help and will not look bad.  While I doubt it has an impact, I hope this will center the rear axle a little better as that might remove the issue entirely.

At this point, I don't feel bad cutting on the fender well area as I expect to replace the back quarter panels due to all the rust.  Unfortunately, the hitting the inner lip with the hammer caused a crack in the paint.  At least this all happened before painting the car.

02/16/2020 Update - I drove around today with my son and daughter in the car.  I hit several larger bumps but never had the wheels scrape.  I have, however, heard the tire go up high enough to hear it rub along the upper section of the quarter.  While not great, that does not damage the tire and seems to have no impact on the quarter panel.  I still plan on raising the rear just a little to help reduce this rubbing even further.