Ride Height

What ride height are folks running? I've had to raise my car considerably to clear the poor excuses for a road that we have where I live but I recall someone saying that certain speedsters looked like 4 wheelers with how much they were raised.

So, how much distance from rim to fender lip does everyone have their cars set at and what do you guys feel is the best appearance wise and/or performance wise? Also, do you guys prefer a rear down attitude, front down or neutral?

Brian

My IM with IRS rides level (looking at the side trim strip) and measurement from pavement to the rear fender arch through the center of the wheel is about 21 1/8" (tire pressures 23 front and 28 rear, 195/65x15" tires). My original swing-axle '56 Speedster also rode level.

(Message Edited 8/27/2002 4:30:45 PM)

My ride height measured per George's method is 19.5" on my rear fenders, 23" on my fronts. The lowest point of the spring plate cover is 5.5". The lowest point of my car is the muffler at 3.5"!! In looking at that beautiful original Carrera on this sites classifieds, the pics place the fenders slightly above the rims which is most likely closer to 21". My reference to 4 wheeling in an earlier post was re: a recent ride through the rockies that ended up at 11,500 feet on a questionable road, wash board and pot holes that took about an hour to safely drive what a 4x4 could of done in 15 min. With a couple of more inches I still would not have driven that any faster(and probably won't again). I wonder if any one has dropped one of these bodies on a jeep frame with monster tires, camo paint, spot light for night hunting, that sounds illegal, and what a bizzare image;)

Victor
( " )

I run the same PSI as George and just measured by the same method, with a full tank of gas and same PSIs as he runs. Results? 21.5" rear, 22.00" front... pretty close to level. I do not have any ride height problems, except I do run a CB Perf Merged sysytem with heater boxes with a PhatBoy Hanging off it.... I have to take steeper inclines (steep driveways) at an angle to clear the bottom tip of the PhatBoy. However, I am installing a CSP system as soon as I get back home and this will cure that minor problem.

I like the lower stance for two reasons... looks, and because I believe the lowered center of gravity has to aid in handling... maybe that's just my imagination, as I have no data to back up that assumption. To each their own, eh?

Jim, OKC files: "dub u tub"

I'll have to check my height via Georges message. I'm running 205 x 55 on all four so I'd be a bit lower than some of you. I did however install front adjusters and rear air shocks that allow me to raise and lower the car about 3 inches...

The other part of my question had to do with appearance. Often you see or hear about 18 inch wheels looking better on such and such a car as they fill the wheel opening. But, on some cars this looks out of place...

So on our tubs do you guys think it looks best to have the wheel opening filled with the rim or with the rim and tire? How far is the fender lip above the top of your rim? Mine was even with the top of the rim in the rear and about an inch or so above the rim in the front. Now with car raised to clear road obstacles and the headers/Supertrapp exhaust it is about 2 inches above the rim in the rear and about 3 in the front. Still, all in all, the car sits lower than almost any other car I've seen around...

Brian

I'll have to check my height via Georges message. I'm running 205 x 55 on all four so I'd be a bit lower than some of you. I did however install front adjusters and rear air shocks that allow me to raise and lower the car about 3 inches...

The other part of my question had to do with appearance. Often you see or hear about 18 inch wheels looking better on such and such a car as they fill the wheel opening. But, on some cars this looks out of place...

So on our tubs do you guys think it looks best to have the wheel opening filled with the rim or with the rim and tire? How far is the fender lip above the top of your rim? Mine was even with the top of the rim in the rear and about an inch or so above the rim in the front. Now with car raised to clear road obstacles and the headers/Supertrapp exhaust it is about 2 inches above the rim in the rear and about 3 in the front. Still, all in all, the car sits lower than almost any other car I've seen around...

Brian

This is a topic which always facinates me. I took readings this morning after re-reading this thread and came up with 24 5/8" front and 21 7/8" rear. I run the same pressures as George and Jim, but "standard" sized tires and no suspension mods on a swing axle chassis. Not exactly a high boy, I hope, but higher than most here present, I assume. I don't have any strong desire to change anything in this regard, as it looks fine to me. I would dread entering my driveway, the current one not pictured in the files section, if I was too low. My friend with the 356 SC did get up with no problem with his rather low hanging Borla muffler, so it might be an irrational fear. Handling seems good as is.....maybe my imagination.....Jim take note.
John H.
files: John H VS

Brian, My VS ride height measured at mid-fender arch is 23inches in front ,20.5inches rear. Tire press. is 22/26 with afull tank. With my car adjusted like this I have a slight nose down rake, and my deep sump has about 3.5inch clearence.

Brian, my ride height measured from the mid-fender arches at the wheel centerline is: 21 1/8" rear and 23 1/8" front. I have an IRS frame with 4-wheel disc brakes and use 5 1/2" rims for the Yokohama AVID H4 P185/65/R15 86H tires with 23/28 lbs. front & rear tire pressures. The car has a very slight "nose down" rake. The least amount of clearance (5 1/8") on the car is directly below the mufflers on a CSP 1 1/2" exhaust system. The bottom of 1 1/2 qt. extra sump is a little higher than the mufflers.

Ron

I checked mine at noon. With 90 PSI in the rear air shocks, the front adjusters all the way down(front raised as high as it will go) and Yoko 205 x 55's I'm at 23 3/4 in the front and 21 1/4 in the rear. Prior to the air shocks I was at 19 in the rear...a little low for these roads.

To me it just shows too much tire in the rear well...a good 2 - 2 1/4 inches above the rim. Before it had a very aggressive stance now it looks a bit like one of those jacked up 4 x 4's. I'll fiddle with the air shocks to lower it probably an inch or so...just enough to clear most drives.

I checked mine at noon. With 90 PSI in the rear air shocks, the front adjusters all the way down(front raised as high as it will go) and Yoko 205 x 55's I'm at 23 3/4 in the front and 21 1/4 in the rear. Prior to the air shocks I was at 19 in the rear...a little low for these roads.

To me it just shows too much tire in the rear well...a good 2 - 2 1/4 inches above the rim. Before it had a very aggressive stance now it looks a bit like one of those jacked up 4 x 4's. I'll fiddle with the air shocks to lower it probably an inch or so...just enough to clear most drives.

Thanks for all your help..

I must admit I am stunned. I consider mine slammed. It is 22.25 rear, 22.5 front. To just look at it, it always looked a little lower in the front. Now that I measure it, I can kind of see that it is more appearance than reality. But I always thought it looked so low... maybe it's the 16 inch wheels??? That's no driver with nearly a full tank of gas. I run my tires pretty soft by most standards. Looking out the window at the car, it looks like there is about 1.5 inches of tire showing above the rim. There are several things I could do to improve how I feel my car is set up, but handling and ride height are not really one of them. My front stabilzer bar hangs down, but my sump and muffler generally clear well. I could do a series of picture posts if we wanted to start a new file on the subject.

(Message Edited 9/1/2002 5:14:45 PM)

Jack it would appear that your car is lower in the front, relative to the rear, than the others who have posted. Most of them seem to have a 2 - 3 inch difference between front and rear with the front being higher. So with your car reading the same, you must have the front about 2-3 inches lower, relative to the rear, than the rest of the owners.

I had mine set up similar to yours but raised the front up about an inch. It just looked too much like those muscle cars with the rear end jacked up. Actually, I think the tubs look more aggressive with the front up a bit and squatting in the rear.

I think one of the reasons some of the cars sit lower in the rear may be that the origin of our cars. The engine in the rear contributes more weight and be a little closer to what an original Type 1 was. The lighter bodies may let the fronts spring up a little more. With the adjustable front end it's easy to set the cars up level. Also, the dropped-or level in this case-front end is probably consistent with the Cal-Look.