ANHC Suspension Height

nayyar.rao · 28th January 2010, 23:30

A recent observation. I was looking at my car from a distance when i observed it leaning towards the driver side from the front. I took a tape and measured the vertical distance between the ground and the wheel arch. To my surprise, i observed a mismatch in the heights of all the four suspensions. Here are my readings
RH - Front: 665mm (drivers side); LH - Front: 675mm
RH - Rear : 675mm; LH - Rear - 685 mm

I took another set of readings after driving the car a few kilometers and the readings had changed (but close to the ones mentioned above) and looked a little coherent. I have been taking readings a couple of times and one thing evident is that the car is riding 10mm lesser on the drivers side (RH as well LH).

I contacted the Honda dealer in Bangalore and i did these measurements on unsold and other cars in the facility. I found the same kind of differences in all cars. To my surprise, they had not found anybody reporting this to them earlier.

On their discussions with Honda, they said that the tolerence in heights could be as much as 20 mm meaning thereby that the difference between the heights of the suspension on the ANHC could be as much as 20 mm and it is normal. Since i faced it for the first time, just wanted to put it up in the forum and get views on it being normal. One thing is for sure that all readings that i took on different cars at the dealership made it evident that there are differences. How much is tolerable is the question.

harsha.cs1 · 29th January 2010, 12:13

very interesting observation.
i know there are minor differences, but 2 cms seems to be quite a bit considering that the gc is around 170 mm.

Psycho · 29th January 2010, 15:30

Ground clearance of cars is based on the measurement lowest part of the vehicle in relation to the ground.

The suspensions are typically lower on the front of the car as they tend to be preloaded with the weight of the engine and the rear ones do not have equivalent weight distribution on them hence the difference in height, this does not however mean that there is a problem with the vehicle.

As for the tolerance part, you have clearly mentioned that the new cars are as close as yours hence they are well within a standard tolerance. I think the dealership guys might have misunderstood your statement for Ground Clearance and no 20mm for ground clearance is way too much.

Shan2nu · 29th January 2010, 15:46

Slight variation in ride height is understandable. The springs compress with load and the load on each suspension is never identical.

So even a slight increase or decrease in load can change the height of the car.

This maynot be a prob with cars that have smart/active suspension where each suspension has its own sensor that auto corrects ride height.

Heres a good example. Watch the part where they weigh the 2 cars

Veyron :
LF - 410kgs
RF - 489kgs
LR - 596kgs
RR - 528kgs
Total - 2023kgs

R35 :
LF - 469kgs
RF - 492kgs
LR - 393kgs
RR - 387kgs
Total - 1741kgs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwhUF4we5Bg

Shan2nu

nayyar.rao · 29th January 2010, 20:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psycho

Ground clearance of cars is based on the measurement lowest part of the vehicle in relation to the ground.

The suspensions are typically lower on the front of the car as they tend to be preloaded with the weight of the engine and the rear ones do not have equivalent weight distribution on them hence the difference in height, this does not however mean that there is a problem with the vehicle.

As for the tolerance part, you have clearly mentioned that the new cars are as close as yours hence they are well within a standard tolerance. I think the dealership guys might have misunderstood your statement for Ground Clearance and no 20mm for ground clearance is way too much.

Thanks for your valuable comments guys. Reading over various forums, i came to gather that a 10-15 mm difference is acceptable and my car and various other IVTECs which i measured are within that tolerable range. Looking from the front, the engine is displaced a little towards the left from the center line (towards the driver's side) so probably the strut compresses a little more there. I did quite a few sudden brakings and stalls while going back and forth and measured the wheel arch farthest point and it varies everytime. But the difference between the front ones (L and R) doesnt exceed 10mm or so. So there is definitely a height mismatch and the car is never levelled precisely. 80% of IVTECs are leaning towards the driver's side. By the way this is all unladen measurements. Will do some more measurements over the weekend and

to death. Other observations and comments are welcome.

Jaggu · 29th January 2010, 22:45

Minor variations will happen thanks to the weight distribution. 20 mm is kind of borderline, but then error in measurement will also add up to the readings.

How did you measure, tape? A slightly uneven ground and flexi tape will add to the error.

Try using metal scale, though difficult to measure will give a better result.

SirAlec · 29th January 2010, 23:57

was your empty? you didn't had any kind of baggage inside.

rjstyles69 · 30th January 2010, 00:27

My question " did you check the tyre pressure " . Was the pressure same across all wheels ? Might sound silly but then definitely worth giving a thought since the difference is close to 10mm on the drivers side. Inflate all wheels to the same psi and please post the measurements.

nayyar.rao · 30th January 2010, 09:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

My question " did you check the tyre pressure " . Was the pressure same across all wheels ? Might sound silly but then definitely worth giving a thought since the difference is close to 10mm on the drivers side. Inflate all wheels to the same psi and please post the measurements.

@rjstyle...yes i took it to Sai Iyengar and got the tyres inflated to 30 each...Also before Honda guys took the reading they took it to their nitrogen booth and verified that the tyre pressure is same in all tyres..

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirAlec

was your empty? you didn't had any kind of baggage inside.

@SirAlec the readings are of an unladen car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Minor variations will happen thanks to the weight distribution. 20 mm is kind of borderline, but then error in measurement will also add up to the readings.

How did you measure, tape? A slightly uneven ground and flexi tape will add to the error.

Try using metal scale, though difficult to measure will give a better result.

@Jaggu i measured using a metal tape on a level ground and to weed out the errors, i measured it at different locations-home, office, asphalt, Honda dealership, took multiple independent readings and averaged out the readings...so much so that my wife is thoroughly irrititated

28th January 2010, 23:30	#1
nayyar.rao BHPian Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 61 Thanked: 3 Times	ANHC Suspension Height A recent observation. I was looking at my car from a distance when i observed it leaning towards the driver side from the front. I took a tape and measured the vertical distance between the ground and the wheel arch. To my surprise, i observed a mismatch in the heights of all the four suspensions. Here are my readings RH - Front: 665mm (drivers side); LH - Front: 675mm RH - Rear : 675mm; LH - Rear - 685 mm I took another set of readings after driving the car a few kilometers and the readings had changed (but close to the ones mentioned above) and looked a little coherent. I have been taking readings a couple of times and one thing evident is that the car is riding 10mm lesser on the drivers side (RH as well LH). I contacted the Honda dealer in Bangalore and i did these measurements on unsold and other cars in the facility. I found the same kind of differences in all cars. To my surprise, they had not found anybody reporting this to them earlier. On their discussions with Honda, they said that the tolerence in heights could be as much as 20 mm meaning thereby that the difference between the heights of the suspension on the ANHC could be as much as 20 mm and it is normal. Since i faced it for the first time, just wanted to put it up in the forum and get views on it being normal. One thing is for sure that all readings that i took on different cars at the dealership made it evident that there are differences. How much is tolerable is the question.
	() Thanks

29th January 2010, 12:13	#2
harsha.cs1 BHPian Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 224 Thanked: 2 Times	very interesting observation. i know there are minor differences, but 2 cms seems to be quite a bit considering that the gc is around 170 mm. Last edited by Technocrat : 29th January 2010 at 22:21. Reason: Please avid quoting an entire long post especially when its on same page, thanks
	() Thanks

29th January 2010, 15:30	#3
Psycho Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,043 Thanked: 110 Times View My Garage	Ground clearance of cars is based on the measurement lowest part of the vehicle in relation to the ground. The suspensions are typically lower on the front of the car as they tend to be preloaded with the weight of the engine and the rear ones do not have equivalent weight distribution on them hence the difference in height, this does not however mean that there is a problem with the vehicle. As for the tolerance part, you have clearly mentioned that the new cars are as close as yours hence they are well within a standard tolerance. I think the dealership guys might have misunderstood your statement for Ground Clearance and no 20mm for ground clearance is way too much.
	() Thanks

29th January 2010, 22:45	#6
Jaggu Team-BHP Support Join Date: May 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 20,215 Thanked: 15,906 Times	Minor variations will happen thanks to the weight distribution. 20 mm is kind of borderline, but then error in measurement will also add up to the readings. How did you measure, tape? A slightly uneven ground and flexi tape will add to the error. Try using metal scale, though difficult to measure will give a better result.
	() Thanks

29th January 2010, 23:57	#7
SirAlec Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: zxc Posts: 3,393 Thanked: 726 Times	was your empty? you didn't had any kind of baggage inside.
	() Thanks

30th January 2010, 00:27	#8
rjstyles69 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bengalooru.. Posts: 4,343 Thanked: 842 Times View My Garage	My question " did you check the tyre pressure " . Was the pressure same across all wheels ? Might sound silly but then definitely worth giving a thought since the difference is close to 10mm on the drivers side. Inflate all wheels to the same psi and please post the measurements.
	() Thanks