Removing Rear Wheel Lining 156

[krysRAW = AROCA-Vic PR =]

Hey guys

Anyone who's seen my 156 will know how low it is and how big the wheels are on it.

I've basically now set up the coilovers the way I want them to cover both handling (pre-load and dampening settings) and good looks (height adjustment). It's also been set up to eliminate the majority of any rubbing in the rear, plus the rolling and pumping out of the wheel arches has helped.

Any occasional rub would be caused by a hard bump or hard corner with the rub caused by tire to lining contact, due to the lining sagging down a little and not having any real support to hold it up now due to the rolling and pumping out of the wheel arches.

I had thought about removing the lining in the rear wheel wells. Any insights to wither this is a bad idea or not? And reasons as to why I shouldn't?

[jazig.k]

I've pulled them out of my 75? Don't think they do much other than protect against stones etc flicking at metal. Might make the road noise louder in a 156 but I can't tell at all in my 75 because of the exhaust noise. Surprisingly they give me a fair bit more room for bigger wheels/rubber one day.

[poohbah]

I guess the obvious risk with removing the lining outright would be the potential to collect mud, muck and moisture high up inside the wheel well. Given the amount of work you've done on yours, you wouldn't want to create a potential new rust point. Can you cobble together some sort of mounting that would enable you to recess the lining a bit more?

[jazig.k]

If rust is a concern coat the whole inner arch with black brush on sound deadener or similar. Will reduce the road noise that you increased after pulling the inner plastic out. You are probably going to have body coloured metal behind all the plastic too, so painting it black will be much better behind those black wheels.

[colcol]

I would stay away from sound deadener, as it can peel off and trap water and mud, and like Alfa Romeo's of yore, have rust problems.
I would fabricate some alluminium brackets to properly locate and hold the splash shields, so you can position them where you want them, away from the tyres, use some of those Christmas tree clips to hold the splash shields to your newly fabricated brackets.
Know of someone who didn't have any splash shields in his car and flicked up a rock in his mudgaurd and dented it, $400 later he is looking for some splash shields, Alfa Romeo put them there for a reason, Colin.