| Author | Message | ||
     Mark David Smith New User Username: detroitbrit Post Number: 2 Registered: 7-2013 |
Sort of a two for one question, combined with a "must be an easier way than the shop manual". so here goes .. If you measure from the floor to the middle of the wheel arch , how far off the floor should they be ? Also on a 98 mulliner RT is it lower, because the stance on those looks perfect , as opposed to mine (even with custom billet 20's) looks too high and not sporty at all . Attached a picture of my 20's before installation (thought you might ask )  | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 2931 Registered: 4-2003 |
Correct. The book shows the difficult and silly way to measure the ride height and it doesn’t work with some tyres anyhow. Ride height measurement is easy on early SZs with the chrome strip above the sill. Some later cars like the Continental R still have the strip, whilst others like my Turbo R do not. Regardless, the standard height setting is to align the strip, or where the strip would have been were it fitted, with the wheel centre. That applies to the front and rear alike. Oh, so simple. Below is a picture of the front of my Continental R. Earlier it, like almost all Continental Rs and Azures, had sagged and the suspension bottomed out too easily. I called it Noddy. It could be that Contis are prone to sag, but it may be that low-mileage cars sag. That is the nature of a steel spring: it sags through lack of use. I reset the ride height and it is vastly better when pushed on bumpy roads. If you want to lower the ride height, fine. It does no real harm, and the rear Lobro driveshafts can handle it unlike the Detroits on early SZs and SYs. That is your choice. If you choose to lower it by more than 1cm you will need to saw ½ cm off the top of the front bump stops for each 1 cm lowered. Otherwise there will be little or no suspension travel before it hits the bump stops. BTW, do loosen the suspension bushes on the control arms, then retighten them once the ride height is set. That relieves pre-tensioning in the bushes. RT.  | ||
| Mark David Smith New User Username: detroitbrit Post Number: 3 Registered: 7-2013 |
Thank you that is so much simpler than the manual. and the additional info re bump stops had not occurred to me , so double the thanks on that one . | ||
| Jan Forrest Grand Master Username: got_one Post Number: 512 Registered: 1-2008 |
What many owners fail to remember in a bid to 'fill the arches' is that the overall rim & tyre radius (height) has to be kept the same. Change this and the wheel will make more or fewer rotations per mile/kilometre. On the rear this can put the speedo out by a significant margin unless it's recalibrated. Get this too far out and you could receive a few speeding tickets even when the speedo indicates that you're wafting along at precisely the legal limit! In practice this means going for (much?) lower profile tyres with the reduced ride comfort that the stiffer tyrewalls engender. If I want a jiggly ride at speed I just jump into my little Rover cabriolet. Roof down of course  Wind in your hair, bugs in your teeth ... Can't beat it. | ||
| Mark David Smith New User Username: detroitbrit Post Number: 4 Registered: 7-2013 |
So very true , my 20's have the correct ratio tyres to maintain the 28" rolling radius required to match factory specs , so no calibration errors. |
