Opinions on streetable ground clearance...

[Chewy72ss]

I'm curious as to what the general (hot rod) public, would consider tolerable, and streetable (daily driven) ground clearance when it comes to a lowered vehicle.

Post any opinions, comments, pics, etc....

Thanks.

[jerome]

4" is a number you see frequently as lowest streetable ride height

[CraigMorrison]

That's what we usually say as well, between 4"-4.5" and you will be just fine 95% of the time

[novaderrik]

my Nova had the bottom of the crossmember about 5" off the ground, with the lowest header tube (the cheapest Hedman) being about 1/2" below that. i never hit anything with it, and that car got driven everywhere.

[Chewy72ss]

Would you guys say the same 4"-5" would apply to and air dam, or chin spoiler??

How much suspension travel would be limiting for street driving?? (i.e. 4" ground clearance, but only 2" of suspension travel... Too little?)

[slimneverdies]

Thats a good question. I need to know the answer to that also. Anybody:dunno:

[jerome]

That's a question you yourself have to answer...

Do you plan on going over speedbumps?
Do you usually park with the nose of the car over the curb? If so could you change your driving habits?
What is your driveway like?

Once your chin spoiler or air dam is below 4" you have to start driving differently, because the front of the car hits whatever you drive through before the wheels push the car up.

[Paul_J]

And don't forget that if you have a flat tire, no portion of the chassis or suspension should be below the rim. Also check out this thread, #6 down on page one. Darren at Ride tech talks about compression being at about 3". This applies to their AirRide setup but it would be similar to coil overs and such.

https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46213

[JEFFTATE]

My drivers side header is 3 1/2 " off the ground.

[bochnak]

My crossmember is about 4-4.5" inches off the ground. The smashed header tubes are about 3" from the ground.

I'll have it on the road next week. I'll let you know how it works out.

[The Stickman]

Something else to consider is the length of your front and rear over hangs. When going in and out of driveways and such where there is an incline as the car enters a longer nose will be closer to the pavement before the wheels get to the incline. And a long over hang at the rear will drag for the same reason.

[bochnak]

My crossmember is about 4-4.5" inches off the ground. The smashed header tubes are about 3" from the ground.

I'll have it on the road next week. I'll let you know how it works out.

I just want to comment on my original post. I have 600/175 springs and have about 75mi on the setup with no bottoming issues. My next step is to put a foam block on the smashed header and see if it gets taken out?

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

my bonneville is around 2.5 inches DAILY..

i carry a picnic basket... for all the Slam-miches..

[Twentyover]

I live on a dirt road mile and a half from te closest pavement. There should be no surprise my car looks like it's on stilts

[Jim Nilsen]

I can remember seeing that muffler in the road as it came into sight from underneath the car in front of me. Traffic on each side and nowhere to go. HOLY ***** went through my mind and I center up with a little off to one side so the tranny didn't hit and went over it.:seizure::twothumbs . 4.5" of clearance just made it. I have noticed that most mufflers are no rounder or thicker than 4" unless it is off of a truck.

It's those types of things that keep me from going lower. most speed bumps by law in most municipalities are not allowed to be higher than 4". Parking lots and driveways usually were good to me too. But there were times I had to go at an angle to keep from hitting center and it is no fun.

You guys with Air Ride have it made these days.:cheers:

[greencactus3]

overhang and wheelbase affect a lot too.
i was around 4 inches for quite a while, drove it daily over michigan potholes and speedbumps and snow, destroyed the airdam a couple times, but its doable. its just the times you dont know the roads (and they end up terrible) you have to be careful.
if you know what roads to avoid, its not bad

[bret]

When I was in the early stages of Air Ride Technologies [early 90's] I actually went and measured as many speed bumps as I could find in several different cities. I figured a speed bump was the most prolific and predictable obstacle that I could find. The standard seemed to be 3.5" in height. I allowed another inch above that and set my ride height target at 4.5". Since most of our systems have about 3" of compression travel from ride height, this left a 1.5" clearance when the air ride system was fully deflated. Since that time I have logged hundreds of thousands of miles at that general 4.5" ride height and have suffered no serious problems. Even our 3500 GM dually that pulls our display trailer operates at this ride height. We will scrape once in awhile over driveways since the truck is 22 feet long, but nothing serious.
Just my $.02.

[greencactus3]

steep driveways are always worse than speedbumps

[jackfrost]

in my old neighborhood we had a pretty big curb at our driveway, and if you went straight in the chin spoiler would scrape, but if you hit it at a 45* angle, no problem whatsoever. you can also do this over speed bumps, but people look at you weird. :razz:

just go slow.

[syborg tt]

One the mini-truck project we set up the truck as follows

4.75" Front

5.00" Rear

I even bought another truck and set it at these exact heights and drove it around the chicagoland area.

Most of the times it was good. But if there was a significant dip in the road it would bottom out.

We have something new out here call "speed humps" starts out just like a speed bump but it's six feet across - yep no matter what I did it when the front went over and the suspension did it's job - the truck would bottom out.

I working on a 69 Camaro with a friend and he's doing a 6" ride height which may help.

[camrat68]

steep driveways are always worse than speedbumps
You've got that right! For me, it was the collector flanges on my Super Comps that caused me to get stuck going into my driveway.

[SDMAN]

Im at 5" (just behind the front wheel, frame to ground) and 6" (just in front of the rear wheel, frame to ground) for ride height. The coil overs have about 2.5" of possible compression in them, so at full compression, 2.5" in front and 3.5" in the rear. Nothing, not even the headers (or flanges), hangs below the frame rails. We even managed to keep the oil pan out of harms way on this build, but Im still using a bolt on steel plate under it. The pan is aluminum, and it wouldnt take much to put a hole in it.

[Roadbuster]

Im at 5" (just behind the front wheel, frame to ground) and 6" (just in front of the rear wheel, frame to ground) for ride height. The coil overs have about 2.5" of possible compression in them, so at full compression, 2.5" in front and 3.5" in the rear. Nothing, not even the headers (or flanges), hangs below the frame rails. We even managed to keep the oil pan out of harms way on this build, but Im still using a bolt on steel plate under it. The pan is aluminum, and it wouldnt take much to put a hole in it.

Good points on the suspension compression SDMAN.

Some other things to consider:
What happens when you have a flat? Your car will drop and especially in the front when you hit the brakes what is going to hit?


My car has about 5.5 inches to the frame behind the front wheel and a little less than 3 inches from the collectors to the ground. If I get a flat, they will probably hit the lane reflectors on the road. I would like to lower it about half an inch more but I think it would create a spark show! :eek:

Can you get a jack under the car to lift it enough to work on it or change the tire?


To get a floor jack under my front crossmember I need to use a scissor jack behind one front tire to get just enough clearance to get my floor jack under the front cross member.

If you tuck the tires under the fenders, you need to get creative to get the tires off.

Jon

[Taylor1969]

Headers that really tuck up are a huge advantage...

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/01/IMG_2702-1.jpg

I love my Thorley Tri-y's

[skatinjay27]

wow! those tuck really really good!