DeTomaso Mailing List: January 2001, Message #215

On Sun, 7 Jan 2001, Mike Dailey sez:
> After driving around some yesterday and today I found to my amazement that
> the car is at the same height.   I'm beginning to think that the incorrect
> wheel back space (the wheels stuck out way too far) that I had on my old
> wheels changed the leverage that the A arm had on the springs and caused the
> springs to compress more to hold the weight of the car.    This lowered the
> car about .5".   What does the forum think about this concept?   I also
> expect the lack of side wall flex on the new tires also has some small
> impact.  As the ride height has changed it looks like I'll to need to get
> the alignment redone again.  Darn!

Before you spend money on an alignment, measure your wheels and tires
height-wise to make certain that the change in ride height isn't due to
their height being different from what you expected (what was published).
This will be more effective if you still have your old wheels and tires to
compare measurements to.

Tire makers, in particular, are notorious for publishing incorrect tire
dimensions... either through neglect, mistake, or an attempt to sneak around
race sanctioning body rules.

I would suspect that before an actual change in suspension geometry...

-Andy
#3822