Raising a Prius
Discussion
Apologies to anyone who was expecting this to be more entertaining than it actually is...
Family member has a 17 reg Prius, everything standard. Has a new property, and the driveway slopes DOWNWARDS towards the front door. Currently the underside of the car barely (and I mean barely) clears the descent, to the point you will get a scrape sound if the car is fully loaded.
Initial reaction has been "OMFG I NEED A NEW CAR", but having purchased this only c. 6 months ago, I'm keen to avoid doing that (simply for depreciation factor).
Have consulted a couple of builders, and following much sharp intakes of breath / clucking / scratching of chin, appears the extent of the landscaping required to remove the slope would equal about the same as the depreciation too.
So my question for the learned folk of PH is...
Auntie Google suggests you can increase the ride height of a car in a number of different ways. Which routes would be worth calling around for prices against, assuming they could add an extra few inches (read: minimum 2 I suspect) to the ride height? Any experiences or sage advice?
Many thanks
Family member has a 17 reg Prius, everything standard. Has a new property, and the driveway slopes DOWNWARDS towards the front door. Currently the underside of the car barely (and I mean barely) clears the descent, to the point you will get a scrape sound if the car is fully loaded.
Initial reaction has been "OMFG I NEED A NEW CAR", but having purchased this only c. 6 months ago, I'm keen to avoid doing that (simply for depreciation factor).
Have consulted a couple of builders, and following much sharp intakes of breath / clucking / scratching of chin, appears the extent of the landscaping required to remove the slope would equal about the same as the depreciation too.
So my question for the learned folk of PH is...
Auntie Google suggests you can increase the ride height of a car in a number of different ways. Which routes would be worth calling around for prices against, assuming they could add an extra few inches (read: minimum 2 I suspect) to the ride height? Any experiences or sage advice?
Many thanks
Surely you don’t need to remove tte slope so much as reduce the break over angle, essentially rounding off the bump.
Can you raise the approach any? Or dig a lower bit in the middle for clearance?
Assuming the Prius has shocks and springs in each corner you could use spacers like you get for lifting pickups. They’re not expensive and would be fairly straight forward to fit if they come in the right size.
I suppose a change of tyres for ones with a higher profile might give you enough too?
Can you raise the approach any? Or dig a lower bit in the middle for clearance?
Assuming the Prius has shocks and springs in each corner you could use spacers like you get for lifting pickups. They’re not expensive and would be fairly straight forward to fit if they come in the right size.
I suppose a change of tyres for ones with a higher profile might give you enough too?
Presumably the point of contact is the underside (breakover angle) and not the front spoiler catching at the bottom of the slope (approach angle), sometimes a slightly different angle going over the 'hump' can help.
There shouldn't be that much to smoothing off the worst of the peak of the 'hump', maybe a more handy sort rather than the tooth sucking builder might be better.
If it is approach angle causing the front spoiler to hit the bottom of the slope, reversing in should stop that as usually better clearance there.
I'd not be wanting to raise ride height as it will likely adversely affect overall vehicle handling, at the front it will alter the angles of the drive shafts causing them premature wear.
It might be worth seeing what alternative tyre/wheel sizes, if any, are specified for the vehicle, check on one of the online tyre size calculators see if an alternative has a larger rolling radius, then source used alloys to suit.
Lastly might be worth getting the vehicle in the air and see what is being scraped, maybe securely bolt a thin sheet of metal to the underside, bit like a mid section sump guard, if the vehicle only scrapes when fully loaded the odd time isn't going to matter.
There shouldn't be that much to smoothing off the worst of the peak of the 'hump', maybe a more handy sort rather than the tooth sucking builder might be better.
If it is approach angle causing the front spoiler to hit the bottom of the slope, reversing in should stop that as usually better clearance there.
I'd not be wanting to raise ride height as it will likely adversely affect overall vehicle handling, at the front it will alter the angles of the drive shafts causing them premature wear.
It might be worth seeing what alternative tyre/wheel sizes, if any, are specified for the vehicle, check on one of the online tyre size calculators see if an alternative has a larger rolling radius, then source used alloys to suit.
Lastly might be worth getting the vehicle in the air and see what is being scraped, maybe securely bolt a thin sheet of metal to the underside, bit like a mid section sump guard, if the vehicle only scrapes when fully loaded the odd time isn't going to matter.
You could make easier for the catalytic converter thieves... or maybe its not 100% standard and it has a cat lock cage installed and that's the culprit?
I'd echo the above though, find out what's scraping and either reinforce it or try to relocate / modify it to minimise the problem.
It could just be a non-structural chunk of plastic trim that will naturally sort itself out over time.
I'd echo the above though, find out what's scraping and either reinforce it or try to relocate / modify it to minimise the problem.
It could just be a non-structural chunk of plastic trim that will naturally sort itself out over time.
Edited by thetapeworm on Saturday 24th May 07:55
Powerfully Built Company Director said:
Apologies to anyone who was expecting this to be more entertaining than it actually is...
Family member has a 17 reg Prius, everything standard. Has a new property, and the driveway slopes DOWNWARDS towards the front door. Currently the underside of the car barely (and I mean barely) clears the descent, to the point you will get a scrape sound if the car is fully loaded.
Initial reaction has been "OMFG I NEED A NEW CAR", but having purchased this only c. 6 months ago, I'm keen to avoid doing that (simply for depreciation factor).
Have consulted a couple of builders, and following much sharp intakes of breath / clucking / scratching of chin, appears the extent of the landscaping required to remove the slope would equal about the same as the depreciation too.
So my question for the learned folk of PH is...
Auntie Google suggests you can increase the ride height of a car in a number of different ways. Which routes would be worth calling around for prices against, assuming they could add an extra few inches (read: minimum 2 I suspect) to the ride height? Any experiences or sage advice?
Many thanks
The family member has presumably appreciated that one approach offers the prospect that the problem may be solved for not only the current care, but also any car they are likely to own in the future? The other will simply result in them driving a (probably odd looking) modified Prius then having the take the driveway restrictions into account for future car purchases. Family member has a 17 reg Prius, everything standard. Has a new property, and the driveway slopes DOWNWARDS towards the front door. Currently the underside of the car barely (and I mean barely) clears the descent, to the point you will get a scrape sound if the car is fully loaded.
Initial reaction has been "OMFG I NEED A NEW CAR", but having purchased this only c. 6 months ago, I'm keen to avoid doing that (simply for depreciation factor).
Have consulted a couple of builders, and following much sharp intakes of breath / clucking / scratching of chin, appears the extent of the landscaping required to remove the slope would equal about the same as the depreciation too.
So my question for the learned folk of PH is...
Auntie Google suggests you can increase the ride height of a car in a number of different ways. Which routes would be worth calling around for prices against, assuming they could add an extra few inches (read: minimum 2 I suspect) to the ride height? Any experiences or sage advice?
Many thanks
I think airlift do a kit for this.... Not sure though...
https://www.airliftcompany.com/products/air-spring...
https://www.airliftcompany.com/products/air-spring...
It makes no sense at all to modify the car. The problem is the driveway. That problem doesn't go away because one car is modified.
Where cars usually hit is the upper most section of drive and with something that is protruding from a position more central to the car. The classic being exhaust bolts, sumps, diffs etc. You need to establish first what is hitting and where, most importantly whether this happens on your drive or their pavement. If it's your drive then you just need to remove the centre of the drive. Steep drives would normally have been lain leaving the centre unpaved/covered.
Where cars usually hit is the upper most section of drive and with something that is protruding from a position more central to the car. The classic being exhaust bolts, sumps, diffs etc. You need to establish first what is hitting and where, most importantly whether this happens on your drive or their pavement. If it's your drive then you just need to remove the centre of the drive. Steep drives would normally have been lain leaving the centre unpaved/covered.
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