I look at a lot of pictures to see how I want my project to end up. Even though I'm not ready to adjust the stance, I'd like to have a plan. Here's my somewhat stupid question: when the car sits like this, is there anything you need to do to keep the front tires from s****ing the fenders in a turn? That's not mine, I found it on the interwebs. Mine is a Pontiac and I want it to shine. I just like the stance but I want to be able to drive it and this car looks like its only good for strait line driving.
Sometimes we give up some functionality to get the stance we want -one of the importatnt things about driving a lowered vehicle is to be mindful of your vehiclkes limitations. This car will lightly scrub the tires to the fenders if turned to the extremes of the rack travel-normal ride height
Most cars that you lower that low will need air suspension if you expect to do U turns. Others depending on suspension and tires and rims can still be drivable lowered that low but could still hit if making full turns. Having a super lowrider with no bags is a commitment. If I didn't have the bags in my truck I couldn't go to my local grocery store, into my office parking lot, into my garage because of the way the driveways are
My 41 Chevy is that low and turns just fine. When your in the planning stages, make sure the track width up front is narrow enough for the car to function. You can have a killer stance and driveability if you do your homework first.
take out the springs, put a jackstand under the front crossmember, and adjust the height and see how it looks, and how things clear when you steer it all the way to each side. Each car is different, and without seeing your car, we can only guess. If the front suspension is narrow enough, and the wheels have the correct offset, and the tires are small enough, it should work.
Some folks are telling you it will rub when they don't know that for sure and have no idea. My dad's 48 Pontiac is about as low as the Chevy you pictured and nothing rubs. It's NOT bagged either. It has thousands and thousands of miles on it.
My '40 Coupe has a Mustang II front suspension with 2" dropped spindles. I run 15 x 7 chrome smoothies with a 195/60-15 tire. That gets it down in the weeds but does not rubs.(unless you want to autocross-NOT) Rap
That particular car is probably going to drag the tires against the fender lip regardless. Some of the things that have been done over the years is to run wheels that are narrow and offest toward the ch***is as much as possible, skinny tires, removing some or all of the inner fender lip. Also sometimes the front fender opening is recontoured, Valley Customs was known for doing that, it is said to make the car to appear not to be lowered but I am sure that tire clearance came into play as well.
Probably the best thing you can do is take a picture of your car, so we can see what you are really dealing with. A picture of some other car that is not even the same model as yours, doesn't help anyone.
The car pictured in the OP was here on the HAMB, but I think he stopped posting when he got har***ed for not being "traditional" enough. If I remember correctly it was bagged all around.
As a few people who have already replied here can attest, you do not have to have tire rubbing problems with a low, low car. It is all a matter of working out the wheel/tire combo for your fenders and suspension. I recently changed wheels and tires on the front of my '53 Chevy (taller, skinner tires with less offset on the wheels) and they will rub if I back out of a parking space while cranking the wheel full lock to the right. It did not do that with the former wheels and slightly lower but wider tires. But it ONLY does it under those conditions, and if I just remember that and back out slightly less angled all is well. One word or warning: the wider/lower tires were 215-75-15 and the taller/skinnier tires are 205-75-15. You can NOT rely upon generic tire size/measurement charts because they vary quite a bit from brand to brand and even model to model in the same brand. My 215s were Goodyears and they had the profile of most 215-70 radials. The 205s are Toyos and they are taller and skinner than any 205-75 tires I've ever had before. What I'm saying is you need to figure out what wheel and tire you want to use and either measure them very accurately or go ahead and get them, and then work the fenders and/or suspension to make them work. OR get your suspension where you want it and then carefully shop for wheels and tires that will fit best. But you can't just drop the heck out of a car and ***ume any wheels and tires you throw on there will work great.
That's the kind of advice I was looking for. I was thinking about adding weight or compressing the springs but I like your idea, squirrel. This is how it sits now without any weight under the hood. It looks like if I get rid of those 15x8's (gonna do that anyway) and go to a 14x7 with smaller tires, I can't test it to see how low I can go (after I get some weight on it). It should be able to get out of the driveway and over speed bumps if I can get it close to the bricks. Thanks guys! Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
...don't go with a real small wheel/tire combo, you gotta fill up the fender opening to make it look correct, if anything, tuck the top of the tire up in the fender a bit.
Skirv - nice stance on your dad's car - looks great Engineer - When I was setting my 50 Pontiac up I made some "adjusters" up from 1" square tubing and some good allthread that took the place of the shocks on the Monte Carlo front end and then cranked them down to where I wanted the car to sit and took all my measurements and clearance readings at that height. Ended up cutting 1 coil from the Monte springs to get it where I needed it.
The Jalopy Journal
