Too Low for 16" Wheels??

[Pennyman]

Hey all. I'm debating whether my car is too low for 16" rims with 225/50 tires. I have coilovers with sectioned struts, and right now they're maxed out at the tallest setting.

 

The wheels I have on there right now are 14x7 with 195/70 tires with +0 offset. I want to upgrade to 8" rims with +0 but that's another story.

 

I'm afraid that the added diameter will begin to "tuck" the tires, and become more of a problem than a advantage due to clearance issues and when driving on bumpy roads.

 

Or if someone can suggest some sort of mod to help me raise the back end (perhaps increase the spring rate so there's less compression to begin with?)

 

Thanks a lot guys

 

[jasonZ]

195/70/14 and 225/50/16 are aprox. the same diameter so your ride height would be the same. There are quite a few pics of s30 cars with 16x8 0 offset on this forum. Mostly Sportmaxx 002. They do fit, may need a bit of fender lip rolling depending on your car.

 

Jason

[buZy]

Not sure here but...With coilovers how about just swap to longer springs of your desired rate ??? 8,9,10,11,12 should get you there?

For what its worth I run 10's non-sectioned all around. Car currently 1.25 lower than stock. Though could be sectioned below the spring perch with the shorter illumina setup and adjusted up to a lower ride height without switching springs. The spring length was picked to cover both conditions through the 4 inch adjustment range. If you end up needing to cheat it by only a little bit, make a short spacer between the body stop and upper coilover hat. Making a zcar as low as possible is not always a win/win deal when it comes to performance handling. Compromise do exist for sure. Ok I dont' know where. I'm not knowleged in that area so don't tread on me. But seen serious racers on here mention it breifly. Every ride is different of course.

 

EDIT: Your car is really nice, ..don't roll the fender lips.

[JMortensen]

Not sure here but...With coilovers how about just swap to longer springs of your desired rate ??? 8,9,10,11,12 should get you there?

For what its worth I run 10's non-sectioned all around.

Longer springs is the answer to raising the rear. You can increase the spring rate too, but if you're just trying to hit a particular ride height you just need springs long enough to get you there. I wonder how much travel you have with the car set like this. Have you ever measured? The thing to do is jack the car up, put a zip tie on the bottom of the strut shaft and then set it back down. Roll it around a bit to settle the suspension, then jack it back up and see where you're at. If your struts aren't sectioned, I'd bet you're running about two inches off the bump stop.

 

Remember how low my car was at Marina? Well that's because I would lower the ride height when I got there, and then raise it back up about 3" when I went home so that I wasn't driving on the bumpstops all the time. It was about an inch and a half off the stops at this height: