Don't forget the muffler bearing grease temp sensor, and the windshield washer bottle fluid level gauge. What about a PCV vacuum gauge? Now that would be interesting...
True story.
But as with many aspects of our cars many folks like myself go for the cool factor. Or what we think is cool.The springs are lighter, and by mounting the shock further outboard there is more leverage on the spring which allows for a softer smaller diameter spring wire.
Your tires are nearly an inch narrower than mine (235/60R15) and I don't have any clearance problems. What is the backspacing on your rims? Have you recently rebuilt your suspension... is it possible your alignment is way off and you have too much negative camber?
david