Normal Ride Height Position - ‘85 3.2 Carrera

[bmcfarland]

I’m having my ‘85 3.2 Carrera’s ride height raised to Porsche spec (fender lip heights 25.5” front and 25.0” rear). It is equipped with Bilstein struts. After the first adjustment, the car was bounced per Porsche Repair and Bentley with no material change in height. When the car was subsequently rolled, the height fell 3/4”.

We were not expecting that magnitude of change. Is it normal?

[brianlay]

If you lifted the car then it’s normal roll the car to relax the suspension. I often drive mine a bit to settle the suspension
There is no Porsche spec which references fender lip height, although your target is a reasonable one
You target heights will be slightly lower than factory spec which involves measuring torsion bar centres and wheel center heights

[fizeus]

same problem with earlier model.
just drive the car for 150/200 kilometers before fine tuning height... yiur shock adsorbers need to settle.

[bmcfarland]

Thank you brianlay and fizeus. The shop mentioned they had never seen that magnitude of drop before, but my guess is their customers typically lower cars. It appears raising one might result in more settlement as the suspension system resets.

Also, brianlay, you are absolutely correct, my reference to Porsche spec being related to fender lip height was technically wrong. I appreciate you pointing that out. To make sure I do not confuse others that might read this thread, Porsche spec is based on torsion bar relative wheel center dimensions. However, as Bruce Anderson mentions in his Performance Handbook, setting to Porsche spec using that method should result in 25.5’ front / 25” rear fender lip heights.

Thanks again gentlemen!