Yet another ride height thread

[Arne2]

I've had my car for 7 months now, and have been a little bothered by how often I drag the front tow hooks over speed bumps or exiting curb cuts. So I decided to look into the ride height properly—ignore the fender measurements, and do it the factory way.

In '84, Porsche was able to go back to the RoW height for the US cars. The front is spec'd at 108 ± 5 mm, higher numbers are lower ride height. Additionally, they note that older cars can be 5-15 mm lower. So I figure that for an older car (mine has 156k on it), the front could in theory be as low as 128 mm (108 + 5 + 15) and still be considered at the low end of factory spec.

For the rear, the spec is 16 ± 5 mm, lower numbers are lower height. Again, the same 5-15 mm lower note for older cars. Using that again, an older car could be as low as -4 mm (16 - 5 - 15) and be at the bottom of the specs.

So when I measure mine, I get 155 mm front, -15 mm rear. This puts me about 3/8" lower than the lowest factory spec in the back, and just over 1" (27 mm) lower than the max factory spec in front. Both sides of my car are within a couple mm of each other.

The car drives great, but I really don't know when it was last corner balanced and aligned. I'm thinking that it wouldn't hurt to bring it up 10 mm or so in front, which the Bentley hints could be done (carefully) w/o the need to re-corner balance. The rear is fine for me now, so I'd probably leave it as is.

Visually, the car does have a noticeable rake, sitting slightly nose-down.

So bearing in mind that my use is all street, both daily drive duty as well as weekend twisty backroad touring, am I thinking straight? Should I bring the front up 10 mm or so?

[stlrj]

There is no such thing as factory specs for rake, but you are an inch low in front per specs which would explain why your front end bottoms so easily.

[Canada Kev]

I would be very tempted to do so if I were you. That's exactly what I'm planning to do to mine in the next couple weeks - up about 15 - 20 mm all the way around. It's just too damn low.

[tevake]

Well boys , I say go for it. I finally did raise my SC about 3/4 to ! inch all around after thinking about doing this for a couple years, And am so glad that it has turned out so well. Much less lip dragging, and a better ride to boot. Granted the look of the car is a bit different, not so bad azz. But the ride quality is much improved. Much less crashing into potholes or seams in the pavement. Did an eyeball adjustment on the toe setting. Have to go get a proper alignment soon. But over all a very good real world move. Might be a different story if the was a track machine but I use it strictly on the street and this change made a lot of sense.

Cheers Richard

[Arne2]

Good to hear others agree. I think I'll try to bring it up 10-15mm in front. I don't think I want to go more than that without re-balancing.

[80-911SC]

Most here talk about the ride height ... and like you said most measure from the fender .. it " gets you close ... but most of our cars are to low ... but that is kind of the look ...

My car drags every time I back out the driveway straight ... if I go a bit of an angle its ok .. and speed bumps in the parking lot are a bit dangerous if hit at speed .. I AX the car a bit and drive on the street ... I know deep down inside I should bring it up a bit .. likely the same amount you are discussing ...

Just cant bring myself to do it ...

by the way post some pics ... its mandatory to post pics in a ride height thread ...

[Arne2]

Best I've got for ride height, still doesn't show the rake all that well.

[Canada Kev]

Originally Posted by 80-911SC

by the way post some pics ... its mandatory to post pics in a ride height thread ...

You want pics? Here it is a few months ago - sorry, no recent pics. It is about a half inch (~13 mm) lower now. I would like to get it back to this level or just a teensy bit higher. I went as far as jacking up the car a bit to get an idea of what it would look like. It now sits with the rear wheels stuffed inside the fenders (only a slight exaggeration), which I don't really like.

[Arne2]

Did two full turns on each front adjuster today. That appears to have brought up the front by 12-15 mm, which would put it about 1/2" lower than the max factory spec, same as the rear. I'm going to try it here for a while and see how I like it.

[Arne2]

Originally Posted by Arne2

I'm going to try it here for a while and see how I like it.

Four weeks later, and I'm leaving it where it is. As far as I can see, it's all good at this height. I don't drag nearly as often, and the car rides better to boot. I haven't pushed it too hard at this height, but so far I've not detected any diminution of handling. I am now convinced that the car was set too low before.