Are you sure you are operating the QR mechanism correctly? It sounds like you are tightening it wrong. Are you tightening it too much before trying to close the lever. It should take some force to fully close the lever, but not a struggle. When you say "the moment it stops rubbing" what stops rubbing? I know it looks QR's are easy to work, but you would not be any where near the first to be doing it wrong. There are videos available for this very subject.