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Ride height, wheel/tyre diameter and clearance
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Author:  dbanes [ Sat Jun 18, 2011 11:42 am ]
Post subject:  Ride height, wheel/tyre diameter and clearance

Given my car has 15" wheels I have to assume that road clearance was probably originally more than 110mm (12m more given the extra inch diameter) but during my 'speed bump avoidance' work I noticed it was in fact at 100mm.

This must have put the suspension arms at an inclined angle and maybe altered suspension geometry so I have taken the car up from 100mm clearance to 115mm while I work out the best height and alignment.

This has improved the ride and the car seems to drive much the same but I'd like to ask any K3 owners here with 14" wheels and the recommended tyre profiles what the overall diameter of their wheel/tyre combination is for comparison.

If I get to Newark maybe I can get a tape measure out:)

Thanks

Author:  dbanes [ Sat Jun 18, 2011 1:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ride height, wheel/tyre diameter and clearance

Also those with 13" wheels.

What as the standard wheel tyre size?

Author:  Matty H [ Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ride height, wheel/tyre diameter and clearance

You could work out how much more hieght the tyres give you over the standard 13 inch wheels than just add this measurements to the hieght recommended in the build manual.Plenty of tyre size calculators on the internet to do the hard work for you.
Matty

Author:  dbanes [ Sat Jun 18, 2011 10:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ride height, wheel/tyre diameter and clearance

That's what I'm trying to do but don't know what the standard fitment wheel and tyre sizes are :)

Author:  Howardy [ Sat Jun 18, 2011 11:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ride height, wheel/tyre diameter and clearance

Hello,

The std tyre size on a k3 185 x 55 on 5.5j 13 inch rims as per Metro GTI.

I currenty run this wheel but with 175 x 60 tyres (slightly smaller) but more makes of tyre available in this size. I use Yoko 539's at the moment.

Ta
Howard Yeoman

Author:  dbanes [ Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Ride height, wheel/tyre diameter and clearance

Thanks Howard. For some reason I thought the K3 used 14's as standard but this explains why the tyre to arch gap often looks large, or is that because some cars have the suspension set too high.

I hope I'm not going to have alignment or stability issues with these 15's.

Would be good to find some previous owners as I guess if there were issues one of them would have sorted it by now.

I did notice that this car is in some pics of the other GTM club, so I'm guessing the builder was associated with them.

Author:  lyndiloo [ Sun Jun 19, 2011 12:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ride height, wheel/tyre diameter and clearance

13" standard with 100 - 110mm ground clearance between the lower curve of the floor and the road surface.
All K3's in my opinion look like they are over pumped on the suspension but this is not the case it is just the way it was originally designed.
I too have now fitted 15" rims and will be running 195/50/15 on the rears and 195/45/15 on the fronts, I have had to do a fair amount of body modifications to both the front and rear wings to get the tyres covered and also to get the front wheels to miss the front of the arches when going from lock to lock.
I am just in the process of sorting the ride height out and will start by setting the driveshafts at the rear parallel to the road hopefully this will set the steering arms parallel as well but not sure, I will then see what ground clearance I have and what the handling is going to be like, I can then decide if going higher or slightly lower makes any difference. Ultimately if all else fails I will convert the suspension spheres to individual units and adjust the fronts to get the steering angles right while using the rears to get the backend sorted.

Author:  John SS [ Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ride height, wheel/tyre diameter and clearance

Does anybody know if you can fit 14" wheels without body / inner arch mods and if so with what size tyres, please?

Author:  dbanes [ Thu Jun 30, 2011 8:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Ride height, wheel/tyre diameter and clearance

Quote:
Does anybody know if you can fit 14" wheels without body / inner arch mods and if so with what size tyres, please?


I'm on 15's and it doesn't look like my inner arches have been modified, obviously the out have due to the width.

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