Stibbsy wrote:
Don't want to start an argument here but, when I served my apprenticeship in a BMC dealership we never went over 295 psi with trim height measured from front hub nut to the wheel arch. 13 1/4" for Mini Deluxe and 12 1/4" for Cooper S. If pressure was too high, fit spacers at strut foots.
Quote:
Every time you pump the suspension up, each side will move slightly over a day or week. Same as Stibbsy, my advice from a BMC mechanic mentor was to keep it under 300psi. I run at about 275-280psi (with .100" spacer washers).
Get your car pumped slightly too high; drive it over a few days and let some fluid out from one side to equalise the front heights.
I measure using 3 fingers pushed in between the guard and top of the tyre on the front wheels. The slightest variation in trim height side to side, can be felt by which part of your knuckle rubs first. In winter it drops to around 2-finger clearance.
The front trim height should be the same, side-to-side - the rear end will be higher and won't come out even side-to-side, but to get them perfect requires removing the struts and shortening one of them - or make adjustable rear struts.
You can set the front ride height to whatever you like, although the main idea is to have the drive shafts lying horizontally.
In the '60s/70s NSW police dropped the suspension pressure until the car ran on its bump stops.
But in the day, you didn't have 50 year old bags and the suspension was rarely completely stripped and refurbished...the purpose of going 10% over is to make sure everything seats in after reassembly and to give the bags, lines and connections a decent pressure test for a few days...then drop to three fingers at the front (say). I doubt many people would be watching their pressure gauges whilst adjusting ride height
