Euro Ride Height & how is it achieved?

PDACPA · PDACPA's Garage

New here and to RennList and have found a wealth of info. Thanks

I have read many posts mentioning Euro ride height. What is the difference compared to US ride height?

And secondly, how is it achieved? Springs?

I have seen a few pictures and I like how the car looks with less gap in the wheel well.

Thanks again.

AES · 04-10-2002, 06:58 AM

I've been over on Rennlist for awhile but just came came here because of the activity.

Ride height on a 911 is changed by adjusting the torsion bars. Back in the 70s US 911s were raised to meet bumper height requirements set by US DOT. In the subsequent years many people have lowered, their cars back to or even lower than the euro ride height. There is a procedure for measuring by finding the difference between the torsion bar center and the wheel center, but the easy way to do it is to measure the distance from the ground to the fender lip at the wheel center lines. If the front wheelwell measurement is a bit more than the rear the car will have the recommended slight nose down attitude. My 84 is 25.25"f and 25" r which is at or maybe a bit below the so called euro height..

GeorgeM · GeorgeM's Garage

Every car seems to be a bit different in ride height. Fortunately, your '89 has adjustable spring plates on the rear. The front height is also adjustable via screws/bolts. Depending on how much lowering you have to do, you may be able to do it w/o repositioning the torsion bars by taking things apart. If you're looking to stiffen things up, however, it's a great time to do eveything at once. Or, if you want to replace your suspension bushings, that's the time to lower.

I put Koni adjustables on my '89 and they actually raised the car. I took that opportunity to put Weltmeister bushings in and larger torsion bars, as well as lower the car. It wasn't cheap, but I am extremely happy with the results. Even with just replacing the bushings with stock units and lowering the car, you'll notice an improvement in handling. My car's ride is a bit stiff now, but it's great on the track.