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Stock ride height

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2018 12:31 pm
by alviesinger42
Can anyone tell me what the stock ride height is for a euro (UK) car ?

My car sits much higher than I would like and possibly higher than intended. It has been rebuilt by the previous owner so I am unable to tell what shocks and springs are fitted. It also still sits on the 18" rims it came with. The springs are black and have no coloured markings on them.

The tyres are all 225/40/R18. I have a 75mm gap between tyre and front wing and a 90mm gap at the rear.
I have also measured from wheel centre to wing, 394mm front, 397mm rear.

Does anyone have a stock UK car and want to tell me how high theirs sits?

Cheers
Richard

Re: Stock ride height

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2018 1:21 pm
by Brucey
lower than that, but not that much. [BTW 18" rims make the gap look bigger than normal, even if it isn't, because the tyre itself starts to look smaller than the gap...]

IIRC the ride heights are detailed in the factory manual. The springs (if OEM) ought to have small numbers stamped on them, near one of the ends, and would originally have had coloured flashes on them to indicate which type they are.

There are many different springs and you choose the correct one depending on the specification of the car; autobox, highline bumpers, AC, sunroof, headlight wipers, M635 engine, cruise control, electric seats, leather interior trim etc all mean that you should think about having longer springs. Lack of such items (and bilsteins rather than boge shocks) would point you towards shorter ones. Strut top bearing rubber inserts collapse over time and this lowers the car by a few mm too.

You may find this post helpful

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=16947

FWIW I think you could do a lot worse than to use the middling fitment of M635 springs at the front on many UK cars, and adjust the rear ride height (eg using Bilstein B8 shocks) to suit.

cheers

Re: Stock ride height

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2018 1:59 pm
by alviesinger42
Thanks for the info Brucey,

This is a bit of a mine field isn't it.
I guess a good starting point would be to try and identify what is on my car currently. I have checked again and there are no coloured flashes on any of the springs. I will try and get in a bit closer to see if there are any numbers stamped, otherwise they will need to come off to be measured.

This is going to be a winter project I think.

Cheers
Richard