Ride height
Ride height
Author
Discussion

holmbush

Original Poster:

105 posts

211 months

Monday 11th May 2009
quotequote all
Have recently acquired my S3 and am really enjoying it except for one annoying problem - not with the car but with my driveway. Due to differences in height between the road and drive my car 'grounds' as I leave the drive. This mullers the silencer and will eventually due some serious damage. It is not easy to 'cure' the drive so my question is:- can I raise the ride height of the (rear) of the car by about an inch without destroying the handling? If so how do I go about doing it?

tvrgit

8,489 posts

282 months

Monday 11th May 2009
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Why don't you get a bit of scaffold board or something similar, and put it down so that it lifts the back wheel as you drive over it, just enough for the exhaust to clear the ridge?

I have to do that to get my car over the sill of my garage.

Gerald-TVR

4,896 posts

227 months

Monday 11th May 2009
quotequote all
Can you drive over the lip at an angle, that works for me


johnnywgk

2,579 posts

212 months

Monday 11th May 2009
quotequote all
HA HA HA, Mullers, Knew you'd be from the south, very common word down here.

i have a similar prob, so scaffold board is the way to go.

my car is parked on grass, it has a 4" wall all around, so i need
loads of boards to clear, when taxed it will go on the road,

If you raise the car, it will loose handling (full stop) you might be able
to do something, permanant with boards to sort your prob, if you live in an area like me, the people who use the word muller, will pinch it and try
to scrap it hehehe

Ragtop

592 posts

231 months

Monday 11th May 2009
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holmbush said:
my question is:- can I raise the ride height of the (rear) of the car by about an inch without destroying the handling? If so how do I go about doing it?
Depends on its current height really. There's loads of stuff in the archives on this. Its usually stated that the rear should be a little higher than the front. Most people seem to suffer more with clearance at the front (downpipes) than at the rear, so maybe your rear end is saggy...

If you've got original springs and dampers the springs may be knackered and the dampers are probably not height-adjustable (and probably knackered as well), so it's time for a new set. If your dampers have adjustable spring seats (lower damper body has a big screw thread all the way up to the spring seat), you can wind up the seat to give as much extra ride height as you want, to the limit of the damper, or common sense.

Regarding handling, I had my S3 a little higher than average (judging by the others at SCH08), and was perfectly happy with its handling. If you want an informed opinion however, speak to someone who uses the phrase 'roll centre' a lot.

Good luck and have fun,
Graham

johnnywgk

2,579 posts

212 months

Tuesday 12th May 2009
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Ah! i was'nt thinking about knacrrrd springs etc.

carry on as you were