Hey friends,

Man has it been a week for the Crossfire.

Basically I've been trying to fix the source of a burning rubber smell for two weeks. I had the valve cover gaskets and breather cover RTV gaskets replaced (twice) and the parts cleaned meticulously. I replaced the inner fender liners on the front wheels after noticing the fog light covers were missing. I had both ball joints replaced on the front and tried to get an alignment but that hasn't happened yet. I replaced the oil filter and cap and all of those O-rings on the assembly. I replaced the timing belt and belt tensioner and idler pulley. And of course I checked the emergency brake cable and fluids and serpentine belt, grounds, subwoofer cable, etc.

The smell persists, especially at low speeds. The mechanic at today's shop told me the passenger side tire's inner sidewall was scraping against metal (I asked him about the fender liner but he insisted it was metal-on-rubber friction). I asked him: if the ball joints don't fix this [they didn't], what will? He said the only solution he could come up with would be to replace the 20" aftermarket wheels with smaller ones. I said no, this problem is recent and those wheels worked flawlessly when I bought the vehicle last Fall (~1600 miles ago).

I did get a new tire on that wheel about a month ago. The other three tires were rated "Z" which, as I learned, signifies racing specs. The size of the new tire seemed identical however and the shop assured me this would not lead to any issues. I'm not at all convinced that this is the source of the problem but thought I should mention it in the spirit of thoroughness.

Please forgive my lengthy post. Nobody in the physical world seems to know a thing about fixing this car. I need you guys. Any suggestions would be tremendously appreciated.

 

I should mention the car has 80,000 miles and has been pretty well maintained, although I have restored and replaced many parts. It's the manual btw. Clutch works great but I'm still clunkier than I'd like to be and may be wearing it out, idk...

And I had a crankshaft position sensor replaced two days ago, after getting a tow on a hot day...

 

Take the front wheels off and inspect the tires, could be that although you bought the same size, different brands vary a bit and you may be a bit wider causing metal contact.

 

Thanks @ala_xfire! I was hoping you would see this one. Almost took you up on your extremely generous valve cover repair offer but couldn't make time for the drive. I will replace that tire with a racing one and see what happens. Cheers m8!