This is definitely top five dumbest things stance car owners have done to their cars
A viral video is getting a lot of criticism and attention on Tik Tok for this hare-brained technique. According to BMW E30 owner and bonafide idiot Andrew Ibarra (who goes by @SenpaiJefe) and his Tik Tok video, in order for his wheel and tire combo to achieve that illusive stanced out perfection he’s employed a sketchy technique gleaned from grainy Japanese videos making the rounds. Ibarra takes a Y peeler (better known as a vegetable peeler,) and shaves his tire sidewall to fit.
Check out his Tik Tok video here.
Here’s the basic construction of a tire for our edification.
Since the E30 is rear-wheel drive, by jacking up the rear, Ibarra can get the tire spinning in first gear. Taking his vegetable peeler, Ibarra slices off the relatively thick upper ply of the sidewall and wheel lip guard.
Tire sidewalls vary in thickness from the shoulder area to the bead area. In the thinnest part, typically in the middle to upper area, most sidewalls are between 6- and 15-mm thick – about 1/4- to 5/8-inch thick.
The sidewall is also responsible for maintaining lateral stability as hard cornering and/or braking forces are transmitted through the sidewall to the bead.
TireReview goes on to explain how the entire tire depends on its overall construction. Forces transmitted during everyday driving maneuvers are transmitted up through the tire, into the wheel, and absorbed by the car’s suspension system. Factors of safety accounted for in well-engineered tires means properly inflated tires can also take high-g maneuvers in stride.
Shaving layers of rubber off your tire, however, weakens a sidewall, introducing a weak link in how your car’s tires handle under pressure (no pun intended.)
I’m not an engineer, but I would not want to be riding in Ibarra’s car above city speed limits.
But hey, at least you’ve eliminated that fender gap and, for stance guys, that’s all that matters.
If you see Ibarra’s car in the Bay Area, steer clear.
But for real Ibarra, you’re…
A rub strip a.k.a. rim protector (as shown in the video) is on the tire for one reason only: To protect the wheel from curb damage (when parking or misjudging a slow turn). It contributes approximately +/- zero percent to the structural integrity of the tire otherwise. The only thing he compromises is the potential for curb rash. If the tire was of a different construction from the one shown, this could indeed be detrimental to sidewall strength.