raising car up

[speeddevil]

as off now my car is sitting low (cut springs) i want to raise it enough to fit 22's or higher. As of today i got to see pimp my ride where they customized a 78 monte, they raised it up to be able to fit 24's but to my surprise they installed new parts( don't know the name of it but its the part where the bearing and rotors sit at) of a s10. is this something that has to be done to achieve this or is this a different way to accomplish this?

[silicon212]

Why? Why do you want to ruin the handling and looks of your car with 22s?

I apologize ahead of time if this offends you, it is not my intent to do that - after all this is America and you're free to customize your car anyway you see fit - but there are not very many people here who are sympathetic to seeing someone tear a good car up this way.

Having said that - if you aren't going to go with a larger diameter tire with your 22s, then you don't have to do anything. Keep in mind that these 'tires' are little more than glorified rubber bands at this point. The part you are looking for is called a spindle, or alternatively a steering knuckle.

[speeddevil]

Originally Posted by silicon212

Why? Why do you want to ruin the handling and looks of your car with 22s?

I apologize ahead of time if this offends you, it is not my intent to do that - after all this is America and you're free to customize your car anyway you see fit - but there are not very many people here who are sympathetic to seeing someone tear a good car up this way.

Having said that - if you aren't going to go with a larger diameter tire with your 22s, then you don't have to do anything. Keep in mind that these 'tires' are little more than glorified rubber bands at this point. The part you are looking for is called a spindle, or alternatively a steering knuckle.

i personally like the way a car looks being raised up and all but i do not wnt to do it all exagarating about it maybe twenty's would do. no need to apologize you have thr eight to say what you think, i aint like others that get all hizzy for one's comments. what do you mean by larger diameter? i dont want the rim or tire sticking out farder out than the wheel panel dont like that look, as for tire plan on using something higher than low profiles. but doesn's the car have to be raised up a lil like using the oversized caddy springs?

[Blue Bowtie]

Offset spindles (either raising or dropping) is the only proper way to change the ride height and maintain correct suspension and steering geometry. That's why you saw it done that way on "Pimp My Ride" - Because it's the only right way to do it.

You can use larger diameter wheels with lower profile tires and get very close to the original overall tire diameter. What silicon is describing is 30 series tires on large wheels. If you intend to use a taller tire (higher nemericla aspect ratio) the overall tire diameter will get larger. If you need more clearance for these larger diameter tires, offset spindles/steering knuckles are the only real answer. You'll may get by with a little increase in height from springs alone, but usually less than two inches before the steering is no longer correct.

And you'll have to check the alignment after all the work is done.

[GreyGoose006]

on a stock caprice, the overall diamater (measurement from top to bottom of tire) is 28"

that means that you have 28" worth of "play" before you have to raise the suspension.

you say you want 22" wheels, well:
28 - 22 = 6

therefore, you have 6 inches of total tire.
divide by 2, because half of the tire goes on top, half on bottom, and you have 3 inches of sidewall.

i'll give you the formula later, but the tire size you want with a 22" wheel is
222/30/22


now for some math (fun right)

the way tire measurements work, the first number is the width of the tire in millimeters. 225 in this case

the second number is a percent of that measurement, and refers to the sidewall of the tire. 225 x .30 = sidewall, or 67.5 millimeters

the third number is the size of the wheel you will be using in inches.


and now for the fun part.
the equation is:
(width)(.01profile)
------------------ + rim diameter = overall diameter
25.4

the 25.4 is how many millimeters are in one inch.


SO,
to find the profile you need, just fill in the overall diameter you want (28" in this case)
fill in the rim size (22")
and fill in the width of the tire (standard on caprices is 205mm 225 will give you a little more rubber on the road and will help keep you in control. going wider is possible)

then just do a little basic algebra and bam.
you have your profile.

in this case, you can use anything from 225 - 255 wide tires without running into any problems.



hope that helps.

[GreyGoose006]

oh, one other thing

my equation was wrong.
here is the right one

(width)(.02profile)
------------------ + rim diameter = overall diameter
25.4




as for correcting the ride height, just put in the stock springs and everything should be cool as long as whoever cut the springs didnt modify anything else about the suspension.

[speeddevil]

Originally Posted by GreyGoose006

as for correcting the ride height, just put in the stock springs and everything should be cool as long as whoever cut the springs didnt modify anything else about the suspension.

i know i have cut springs for a fact, now as the modification of the suspension i have no idea. i also know before i bought my car, car used to be a show car and thats all i know. so if i decide to put the oversized caddy springs i will get height but will have to get and alignment or will other stuff need to be done. now as for for spindle and or nuckles for the front would i have to go with the same spring for the front and back pertaining to the vehicle i decided to purchase spindle or nuckles?

[GreyGoose006]

you dont get it.
on a stock caprice, 22" wheels will fit with 225/30/22 tires and not have to do any suspension modification.
just put a set of original springs on and everything will work.
you dont need spindles if you stick with the tire size i said and dont go bigger than 22" wheels.

stock springs are very cheap.
you dont need oversized caddy springs or any other suspension modification.

just put the stock springs on and get an alignment.

[GreyGoose006]

heres a good link to help visualize it
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

the original size is 205/75/15
put in whatever size you want and try to keep it within 1%
if you have a choice, go with an overall bigger tire. 62 instead of 60

[speeddevil]

i undertstand what you mean, but i would like my car to look a lil higher than normal i dont want nothing exsagerating

[Blue Bowtie]

Since your springs are both old, and have been cut, new stock springs are going to bring it up quite a bit. You could also get heavy duty or 9C1 springs. While they have the same design ride height, they have a higher spring rate (compress less) so they will tends to stay higher rather than sag over time. That, along with the 22s should make the car a bit higher. you can stretch it an inch or a little more before different spindles are required.

[heavyjuan]

Originally Posted by speeddevil

as off now my car is sitting low (cut springs) i want to raise it enough to fit 22's or higher. As of today i got to see pimp my ride where they customized a 78 monte, they raised it up to be able to fit 24's but to my surprise they installed new parts( don't know the name of it but its the part where the bearing and rotors sit at) of a s10. is this something that has to be done to achieve this or is this a different way to accomplish this?

All u need is coil spring lifters for the front and air shocks for the back.

[midgetracing28]

For the love of god if you put 22s on a that car upgrade the brakes. Im not saying big rims look bad (although thats my personal oppinion) but the hole reason people started using big rims was to upgrade to bigger brakes. Just add a good set of oem replacment spings there like 30 bucks a pop.

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by heavyjuan

All u need is coil spring lifters for the front and air shocks for the back.

That will get the job of raising the car done, but it will kill handling. The spring lifters on the front will work - for a little while - but the spring rate will not be the same with them in there (not necessarily a bad thing if the springs are worn). Air shocks will pretty much make the back end ride like a pickup and it will bounce on larger bumps as inflated air shocks don't work as shocks very efficiently.

If you're wondering how I know this, it's through personal experience. On both ends.

And midgetracing is correct - real car guys go with bigger rims only to squeeze larger brakes into it. Another possible advantage of larger rims is to run 40 series tires for handling and cornering reasons, without sacrificing ride height. The other use of larger rims is purely cosmetic (bling bling).

[speeddevil]

Originally Posted by silicon212

If you're wondering how I know this, it's through personal experience. On both ends.

i agree with you i as well had this coil lifters and in which it did get a bit higher but once i went over a bump or hit a pothole, the car would shake and the rear would sway, thus i had to remove them.