Difference Between Ground Clearance & Ride Height Explained

The term "ride height" can be described by how high or low your car's sprung mass is with respect to the ground. Sprung mass is everything that rests on and is supported by the vehicle’s suspensions, including the engine, chassis, transmission, body, interior, and so forth. The ride height of modern cars is often measured from where the tires contact the ground to the topmost point of the fender arch. This method differs from the traditional measurement of the ride height from the rocker panel to the ground. 

Yet another way of measuring ride height is to measure the distance between the center cap of the wheel and the topmost point of the fender arch. This eliminates the changing errors in measurement that are caused by tire wear, tire size, and sidewall profiles. If you wish to install suspension lift kits or coilovers, the second method is the better option. 

You can alter your ride height with easy modifications mentioned below:

• Changing the size of your rims

• installing coil overs or lowering springs 

• installing higher or lower-profile tires

For instance, installing wider rims will enhance your ground clearance and ride height. However, if you want to get back to the default factory settings, you will have to lower your car suspension to decrease the ride height.

The ride height of a car determines the usual range of motion of the control arms. This is an important factor when considering vehicles that use MacPherson struts, double wishbone, and short-long arms suspension (SLA). When a car is designed by the manufacturer, the control arms are positioned to work at a specific ride height. As the suspension moves up and down on the road, the amount of camber of the vehicle changes. If the springs are old, weak, or sagged, the control arms are forced to function above their normal plane and beyond their normal range of travel. This can lead to unfavorable changes in the camber, toe, and overall wheel alignment of the vehicle.

The steering geometry of the front suspension can also change with variations in ride height from front to back. In addition, the steering axis angle, also known as the caster, will also be altered if the vehicle's rear is raised or lowered. These changes can also affect the vehicle's steering stability, effort, and returnability.

Altering your vehicle’s ride height can also hamper safety by affecting the aim of your headlights. An increase in a vehicle's height can lift the nose of the vehicle, causing your headlights to aim up and blind the drivers. Allow nose and a down-aiming headlight of a low-riding vehicle can reduce visibility and affect safety while driving at night.

There are several factors that can affect your car's ride height. Some of them are mentioned below:

1. Caster: A certain amount of caster is added to the front wheels, which varies depending on whether the front or rear of the vehicle is low. However, unless both front and rear ends are equally high or low, there is no net change in the caster. The front wheels gain a negative caster if the nose is low and a positive caster if the rear end is low.

2. Camber: When there is a difference in ride height from side to side, adjustments to the front or rear ride height can change the front camber alignment (and the rear camber on vehicles with independent rear suspensions). Furthermore, the sag level and suspension geometry determine how much the camber readings change.

3. Increased tire wear: On suspensions where the toe setting is sensitive to ride height changes, a small adjustment in ride height can alter the wheel geometry and increase tire wear.

4. Suspension Bottoming: The suspension will bottom out on bumps or while the vehicle is hauling weights if it has less total travel distance. This can happen due to weak or sagging springs, which can lead to increased wear on the suspension and can even harm the shocks, struts, stops, or other parts. If the suspension stops show evidence of bottoming or if the springs have been in contact with one another, they have to be replaced.

5. Inadequate or sagging springs can cause complaints like bottoming, excessive body sway while turning, nose-diving when braking, vehicle instability, etc. These symptoms can come up due to improper ride height and can be caused due to sagging springs or weak suspension.

The distance between the lowest point on your car and the road surface is known as ground clearance. There is no perfect way to determine ground clearance, so be conscious if you're curious. That's because it varies depending on the vehicle. On some vehicles, the lowest point is the rocker panel, while on others, it is the axle, the bottom of the differential, or the exhaust.

Higher ground clearance is always beneficial while driving on rocky, uneven routes. This protects the vehicle's underneath from getting scratched. As a general rule, it may be noted that a particular vehicle body type has various requirements for ground clearance. Hatchbacks are on the next rung of the ladder up from sedans, which have very little ground clearance, and high-performance sports cars. SUVs hold the top spot on the ladder because they have the maximum ground clearance.

Ground clearance of a vehicle is the most important factor as it directly affects how a vehicle handles rough terrain on your trips. The position of the vehicle's center of gravity (CG) increases with increasing ground clearance. Additionally, the vehicle is more likely to turn over, in turns if the vehicle height and CG are raised. This means that, compared to cars with lower clearance, those with higher clearance have a greater chance of tipping over. Thus, it has an impact on handling. Vehicles with a lower CG and lower ride height have excellent handling performance.

In order to maintain a car's stability and handling, ground clearance is crucial. The underside of your automobile is at risk from obstacles like debris, speed bumps, uneven roads, etc. You may work through these without causing any damage to the car if you have enough ground clearance.

Here are some typical road obstructions along with their typical heights:

• Potholes: 50 mm to 200 mm

• Speed breakers: 100 mm to 150 mm

• Boulders: 40 mm to 450 mm

Since these heights are not constant, a minimum ground clearance of 170 to 180 mm is required for safe driving.

1. Purchase Larger Tires

You can use larger rims or high-profile tires to slightly increase the vehicle's ground clearance. To prevent the tires from rubbing against the fenders, we advise evaluating the maximum tire size and wheel offset. Finding out if your wheel well can take larger tires is the key to this approach.

2. Place Spacers Beneath The Coil Springs

Another way to increase the ground clearance of your vehicle is to place rubber pads under the coil springs, but doing so will also change the angle at which the lower arms and links are attached to the frame. As a result, this approach will result in stiffer driving. Professional tuners experiment with suspension packages, changing the dampers and struts to increase ground clearance.

3. Cambering The Springs Once More

By re-cambering, the springs, vehicles with leaf springs can get better ground clearance. The sharp angle is changed by simply moulding the leaf. This changes the arch of the leaf springs and increases the ground clearance of the vehicle when installed. The only drawback of this modification is a jump ride.

On the other hand, a slammed stance, which refers to reducing the vehicle's ground clearance by trimming the coils in small increments, is a commonly practiced method. It should be noted that factory ground clearance was created with a variety of considerations in order to provide the finest road stability. Therefore, altering its dimension could put safety at risk.

Practically speaking, the car is better off with more ground clearance. Any road can be traveled without causing damage to the car's undercarriage. Multiple car segments have different ideal ground clearances to meet their demands individually. Therefore, for each segment listed in the table, the average range of ground clearance is available. These numbers are not established for any specific body type but are simply approximations.

Think about the difference between a body lift and a suspension lift. You may increase your ground clearance and ride height with suspension lift kits. That's because they extend the suspension, which increases the entire sprung mass. On the other hand, body lift kits change the ride height but not the ground clearance because they only move the vehicle's body away from the frame. This demonstrates that altering ride height does not always alter ground clearance.

Your car's roll center and center of gravity also change if you raise or lower the vehicle’s ride height. As a result, your suspension geometry will undergo a variety of undesirable changes that must be corrected. Furthermore, if you install an excessively long set of headers that run underneath the vehicle, your ground clearance will decrease. 

If your car sits too close to the ground, you’ll have to change the way you drive to ensure that you don’t scrape it. It is also important to monitor the deflection in ride height every time you make a fitment-related change in your car. We suggest looking up your car's OEM ride height specifications to compare and measure the adjustment for perfect settings.