how high to raise my car?

Jamie Lessie · Post by **Jamie Lessie** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 12:42 am

My car was lowered almost an inch in the front and almost 2 inches in the back. I knew my 245/45/17's would fit, it is just would they fit with the suspension set where it is. I had shorter then stock tires on it when it was dropped (actually I never "lowered" it. The coilovers came that way and I was too lazy to put it back to stock lol)

The tires raise my car up 3/4 higher then they were before. The back fit fine but in the front the edge of the tire will rub my fender when I hit a bump or brake heavily. The tires are too wide to have them tucked all the way in the wheel well. They got home just find but there is no way I am going to drive them like that. I don't think any of you can make a good decision by this thread so I will take a picture for you all tomorrow morning when it is light so you can get what I am talking about.

I don't want to raise it higher then I need to. I don't really know how much higher it will be "safe" It is a pain in the butt to have it lifted up, take all the wheels off, adjust, put the wheels on, lower it, measure, teat drive, and repeat. I don't want to have to do this for hours.

Meh, Ill go out there not and see if I can get something.

Jamie Lessie · Post by **Jamie Lessie** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 12:59 am

I gotz mad photoz skillz yo!

Mako needs to teach me how to take a picture although I don't think a black car with black tires in pitch dark is a good photo subject.

In many ways the thumbnails are easier to see. You can see where my fender rubbed off the oil/shiny stuff they put on new tires. If you cant see it I highlighted it in red in the second thumbnail shot. Ill go measure the end of the fender to the contact point. brb

Jamie Lessie · Post by **Jamie Lessie** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 1:24 am

Exactly 1.5cm from the tip of the fender to the first point of contact. It will travel about another cm down and this is VERY VERY easy, babying it (45mph on the freeway with the flashers on) driving, and it still would rub over a bump or when I would brake. They only contact at the top part of the fender.

Darn that offset. just another 10mm and they would be fine and dandy in that wheelwell.

The thought of me with a hammer under my car banging out my fenders just popped into my head

I really don't want to roll my fenders but it is sooooooooooo close! I don't think I will ever put 245/45's on there again anyways. If I did I may roll them but I will use 240/40's after these and they won't have this problem.

Ideas?

Just did the math and my car sits at stock 4mm lower then stock ride height now. That is less then the width of a pencil difference.

I wonder how an rx-7 will handle that is above stock ride height? haha

Really though, how high do you all think I need to go?

Jamie Lessie · Post by **Jamie Lessie** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 1:38 am

THE NUMBERS:

before these new tires I ran 235/40/17's they were 619mm tall total
The stock tires are 225//50/16's. they were 631mm tall
The tires on there now are 245/45/17's they are 652mm tall

Crap, I don't think all that matters since all my old tires fit under my fenders. How come other FD owners run this size no problem. Girrrrr. Can I push out my fenders a little bit and still have a clean stock look. I don't want a lip on my fenders. ick.

I cant sleep guys. This is really bugging me.

Reijo Silvennoinen · Post by **Reijo Silvennoinen** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 4:30 am

How's your front negative camber? Maybe you need to run a little bit more negative camber in the front? This would tuck the top of the front tires in a little bit and might be enough. Being an autocrosser I used to run the maximum negative camber I could get with the stock height suspension with some added wear to the inside of the tires but acceptable for me.....it's an autocross thing I guess and some alignment shops may be reluctant to do settings like that ... long stories there.

The other obvious consideration is the offset of your wheels. Don't know if they are stock or otherwise and what their relative offset may be....however something to look at.

And, of course, what have others done? Why re-invent the wheel?

Reijo

Jamie Lessie · Post by **Jamie Lessie** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:06 am

others have ran my same offset (+35mm) and gotten away with it. I think that the tire brand makes a difference. It is so slight that I can see where that would work.

I am running -.09 camber right now

Reijo Silvennoinen · Post by **Reijo Silvennoinen** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:15 am

-0.09 camber? Or is that a typo (virtually zero) and you meant -0.9? Go more - it may do the trick. I use -1.5 on my S2000 and previously also on the Miata and that might just get you what you need plus add some more cornering ability. Also re-do your rear camber to match. The exact number may vary with each car - but basically I run max. camber that I can get with my car.....ends up being about -2 in the rear.

Reijo

Jamie Lessie · Post by **Jamie Lessie** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:39 am

Reijo Silvennoinen wrote:-0.09 camber? Or is that a typo (virtually zero) and you meant -0.9? Go more - it may do the trick. I use -1.5 on my S2000 and previously also on the Miata and that might just get you what you need plus add some more cornering ability. Also re-do your rear camber to match. The exact number may vary with each car - but basically I run max. camber that I can get with my car.....ends up being about -2 in the rear.

Reijo

woops,

yes a typo. I run -0.9 camber. My toe is set to 0. I used to run a bit out in the front but that made everyday driving too uncomfortable.

I talked with my (out-of-state) mechanic and he says it will be fine if I raise it.

Then I called my local mechanic. He asked what size tire I am running. Apparently his wife (who also has an FD) is running the exact same size tire in the front with no issues.

I think her car is at least -2 camber.

Yeah, I think a camber tuck will do the trick if I don't raise it. I would rather not get another alignment though. I just did one!

I will just have it raised back up to "stock" settings (although with the taller tire it will be 3/4 taller then it was stock but whatever)

New tires feel SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO nice though!

Mike Simanyi · Post by **Mike Simanyi** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:34 pm

Something like this could do...

: lowpro.jpg (58.59 KiB) Viewed 6568 times

Jamie Lessie · Post by **Jamie Lessie** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 7:16 pm

haha! Is that for real?

Mako Koiwai · Post by **Mako Koiwai** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:40 pm

That even higher then our Miata last year! ... not by much however.

Mako Koiwai · Post by **Mako Koiwai** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:43 pm

But height's never stopped anyone from AX'ing ...

Our own Team Blew member Mark ... missed the turn to the RALLY CROSS!

Mike Simanyi · Post by **Mike Simanyi** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:47 pm

Mako Koiwai wrote:That even higher then our Miata last year! ... not by much however.

The name of your photo tells the whole story...

Mako Koiwai · Post by **Mako Koiwai** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:52 pm

NOT OUR FAULT ... the oem set of Bilsteins that at some point were on the car, before the Penske's ... and that we were using as a template ... had the springs reversed! It also matched my Suby, long springs in back ... so I didn't notice anything wrong until it was embarrassingly too late.

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