I drive an '82 rabbit 1.6D. A previous owner had installed coilover struts and lowered the car significantly, with smaller tires in front and larger in back. They had also installed after-market wheels that have a special patterned lug head, which I have a special socket to remove.
I blew a tire last week and decided it was time to replace all four, and while the tires were off I threaded up the coilover struts to raise the car (sick of scraping my oil pan..). I got the new tires and opted for 4 of the same size instead of having the front/rear be different.
Everything was looking good and I got the tires back on, but when I tried to spin the rear tires (parking break not engaged) they rotate about 3/4ths of the way around and stop abruptly. Puzzled, I pulled them off and try spinning the drum and it spins fine. So I put one of the rear tires back on and again it stops after only 3/4ths of a turn.
When the lug bolts are not fully tightened it spins fine, but once I tighten them, it is as if they are too long and are hitting something inside the brake drum. This is especially puzzling because nothing has changed as far as I know, the rear tires are the same size as before and there was no spacer in between the wheel and drum that I know of. Am I missing something?
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!