Desired front ride height for handling?

[ryanleiker]

I'm piecing lots of things together to get my wheels to fit with all the rest of the parts under the front of my '72 Nova. I'm wondering what should be the goal for ride height for handling and suspension geometry?
Should I be aiming to get the control arms parallel to the ground?
Should just try to lower it as low as I can? How low is too low and how do I know?
How high is too high?
Any rules of thumb I don't know about that everyone else already does?
I think I've got it at stock ride height and I'm going to pull my wheels in a little more with different spacers to be able to drop it another inch.
What's the reference point for ride height? Frame rails, fender lip, subframe crossmember,etc?
I'm working with a stock subframe, SPC upper control arms with tall ball joints, stock replacement Viking double-adjustables, Addco front sway bar, stock spindles.

[adibs]

Do you know much about center of roll height and center of gravity height? If not you really got to check out Ron Sutton's suspension thread in the the suspension section. I think it is stickied. It is truly a goldmine of knowledge especially for starting out.

[hotrodalex]

Getting the lower control arm parallel to the ground is usually the goal. There's a lot of car-specific details that can go into it, but that's a good starting point.

[TheJDMan]

Getting the lower control arms parallel with the ground is a good start. Here is a good thread that discusses this topic.

https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/111962-Overall-Handling-amp-Tuning-for-Track-Performance

[ryanleiker]

Maybe let me rephrase my inquiry.
I'm not really trying to change a bunch of suspension geometry and build a race car.
My car is first and foremost a street car/toy with a bunch of power.
My suspension pieces are already together and have been driving well and have been a lot of fun.

I am looking to lower my double adjustable coilovers down to make the stance more aggressive. What I want to accomplish is to lower the ride height to a point that would help and not hurt my current suspension system geometry.
Is there a height measurement/reference point that is ideal/desired when people lower this chassis with the stock subframe?

[xxxturbo6]

Maybe let me rephrase my inquiry.
I'm not really trying to change a bunch of suspension geometry and build a race car.
My car is first and foremost a street car/toy with a bunch of power.
My suspension pieces are already together and have been driving well and have been a lot of fun.

I am looking to lower my double adjustable coilovers down to make the stance more aggressive. What I want to accomplish is to lower the ride height to a point that would help and not hurt my current suspension system geometry.
Is there a height measurement/reference point that is ideal/desired when people lower this chassis with the stock subframe? If your car is mainly like you mentioned (Street car/toy) then just lower the ride height to where you like it and be done with it. Chances are the small amount you end up lowering it will not make a noticeable effect on the geometry for what your using the car for..

[David Pozzi]

As you lower your car, the upper A arm angle increases. This generates more negative camber, which is good. The down side is if the Roll Center (RC) dives below ground level. In General, you want the lower A arm frame pivot to be 1/2" to 3/4" above the center of the lower ball joint sphere. This will hopefully keep your RC from diving below ground assuming 3" of front end dive. There are a lot of other variables, but those are the main points.

[TheJDMan]

In terms of a reference point for ride height, I guess a very general rule of thumb is that you need a minimum of 3.5" or 4" of ground clearance at the lowest point to not have to worry about ground obstacles. I have 2.75" ground clearance and I have to drive around speed bumps in parking lots and have to be pretty careful about what driveways I enter or exit.

[APinSoFla]

I have 2.75" ground clearance and I have to drive around speed bumps in parking lots and have to be pretty careful about what driveways I enter or exit.

This is on the Camaro pictured in your sig?

[TheJDMan]

This is on the Camaro pictured in your sig?

Yes, clearance under the headers is the issue. It is not a major problem but the headers are scratched and slightly dented. Here is a picture of the car taken on the "Tail of the Dragon" Rt129, which clearly shows the ground clearance under the header with the suspension under partial compression.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2015/08/dragon1292-1.jpg

[APinSoFla]

Thanks for the info; that's a great pic. I've got my Chevelle front crossmember blocked at 3.5". Don't know what the exhaust will be yet but the goal is to have the crossmember be the lowest point.

[Nicks67GTO]

In terms of a reference point for ride height, I guess a very general rule of thumb is that you need a minimum of 3.5" or 4" of ground clearance at the lowest point to not have to worry about ground obstacles. I have 2.75" ground clearance and I have to drive around speed bumps in parking lots and have to be pretty careful about what driveways I enter or exit.

FWIW I had problems at 3.75" of ground clearance to the engine cradle with mine

[ryanleiker]

Thanks. This is great first hand experience.
When you guys set up your ride height, did you have a particular suspension angle or reference you were shooting for? Or maybe a tire/wheel well coverage line? Or did you just eyeball what looked aggressive and ran with it?
Or maybe some driving experience to see if your car handled better by lowering it more?

[MonzaRacer]

What I like to do is make up a fairly heavy skid plate for the headers so it is sacrificed rather than collectors and tubes.
AS for me I really think you need a shock with more compression stiffness possibly.
I have found a lot of car have this issue. My 77 Monza I built back in 01 I ran a set of S10 Monroe Reflex shocks and they worked very well as they are designed to help in hard stop dive or vigorous handling.
Especially for SUV/trucks.
Now I know Ridetech has some great adjustable shocks, well worth investigating.

[Nicks67GTO]

Thanks. This is great first hand experience.
When you guys set up your ride height, did you have a particular suspension angle or reference you were shooting for? Or maybe a tire/wheel well coverage line? Or did you just eyeball what looked aggressive and ran with it?
Or maybe some driving experience to see if your car handled better by lowering it more?

I just played with my ride height a bit and then had it aligned to SC&C's recommendation. It all depends on where you live for ground height clearance. I'm in Iowa. Our roads suck. If you ran 2.75", Like JDMan does, here you would rip stuff off the bottom of the car within the first mile. I mean that literally. You might get away with it in Cali or somewhere where the roads are nice but its not happening in Iowa.

Since you are using the SPC stuff why not give Marc @ Savitske Classic and Custom a call. Hes an SPC guy, a wealth of knowledge and will get you moving in the right direction