CHECKING and ADJUSTING RIDE HEIGHT
Park the car on level ground and and even surface. A good garage floor will generally do.
There are 4 factory points used to determine ride height on the car. IMHO your wasting your time measuring from the fender. You dont even have to jack the car to get at the factory reference points so make the effort to do it correctly. The ones in the back are easy to reference and can be reached by just laying down at the back of the car.
Rear Left..............................................................................RearRight
The ones at the front are a bit tougher to reach but the use of a mirror will help (see pics below) and you have to reach around the back of the front tire.
Front Right................................................................Front Left
The ride hgt ref. points are shown above along with the tool I made to mark the height. The tool is simply 2 narrow tubes of aluminum....the inner tube slides inside the outer tube. The inner tube was flattened ever so slightly so when moved it stayed in postion and could be measured once removed. Pics below.
I extened the tube appx 1/4 higher than the ride hgt ref points in each case. I placed the top end of the tube on the reference point on the car and once in position I slid the bottom end along the floor/ground until it was directly below the reference point above. When you do this the telescoping tube will collapse to the current set ride height. I then removed the tube and measured it. Repeat on all 4 points and write the values down.
Back left 166mm................................................................Front left 140mm
Back right 168mm----------------------------------------------------------------------------front right 142
Stock ride hgt is as follows (green area above). Yeah, im running a bit low on the front : ) But side to side they are set with in 2mm of each other.
FRONT 180mm +/- 10mm
BACK 173 +\- 10mm
Max difference from left to right 10mm
Once you have measured the hgt you can now begin to adjust it.
You will need a special tool available from most motorcycle shops, its made by Motion Pro and called a "Single Shank Nut Spanner 08-029" Picture below. Just google the part and you will find a source for it.
You should also have some Wd40 handy to lube the adjusters as they can be stiff to turn
Also take the time to mark the adjusting ring and the threads on the shocks so you can keep track of how many turns you have made. This makes it easier to rasie/lower the hgt appx the same amount around the car..side to side...etc etc. I have rasied the hgt in the pictures below.
Before................................3turns "right"........................................After
I chose to raise one side of my car at a time to do the adjustentment. This gives you easy access to everything, and most importantly takes the weight off the suspension so turning the hgt adjuster is easier. I also chose to remove the front tire for easier access to the front adjuster. NOTE- once you have rasied the car at all, the current ride hgt measurements will no longer be valid. The suspension will have to be settled before you re-measure. There are all kinds of ideas on how long it takes to settle, but either way the car has to be driven...id say at least a minimum of 10 miles over your favorite stretch of bumpy/twisty road.
The actual adjusting is easy. In a nutshell, turning the wrench to the right as you view it RAISES the ride Height.....in other words....Turning the adjuster so it MOVES up on the threads RASIES the height. The number of turns and the corresponding height adjustment made will vary from car to car based on the "health/age" of the suspension components. YMMV
adjusting the front (right=up)....................................................................adjusting the back (right=up)
turn the nut right to raise, left to lower
After you have made the adjustments all around the car, drive the car to settle the suspension, then remeasure and readjust as required.
After you are satisfied......
1) YOU MUST GET AN ALIGHMENT.
2) DO NOT ALLOW YOUR CAR TO BE LIFTED OFF ITS SUSPENSION TO BE ALIGNED.
3) DO NOT LET YOUR ALIGNMENT MAN "TALK" YOU INTO IT SO HE CAN "CALIBRATE" HIS EQUIPMENT. ANY GOOD SHOP SHOULD HAVE THE EQUIPMENT TO ALIGN THE CAR WITHOUT LIFTING IT.
4)......and failure to follow 1-3 will shorten the life of your tires.
Just a quick and dirty write up on ride height and adjustment. Hope that helps!
RENNLIST(www.rennlist.com)
(click the link to the ultimate PORSCHE web community)
