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MaheshS
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Joined: 05 Jun 2009
Posts: 17
Location: Chennai
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 Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:13 pm Post subject: Low GC |
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As you know, approximate ground clearance of Fabia is 145 cms. Its creating a lot of problems to me. My car got a lot of hits under body. But thanks to the rough road package, the thick layer of plastic/tar material takes the impact and is ripping off. I feel a bigger wheel is a must for Fabia in India. Will 15/16" wheels spoil the ride comfort by any way?
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Mahesh S |
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uneet
Been Around Fabiosi
Joined: 06 Jun 2009
Posts: 258
Location: Delhi
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| Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:18 pm Post subject: Re: Low GC |
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| MaheshS wrote: | | As you know, approximate ground clearance of Fabia is 145 cms. Its creating a lot of problems to me. My car got a lot of hits under body. But thanks to the rough road package, the thick layer of plastic/tar material takes the impact and is ripping off. I feel a bigger wheel is a must for Fabia in India. Will 15/16" wheels spoil the ride comfort by any way? |
How many people are normally sitting when it get hits under body.
I faced this problem only once when there were 4 adults and one child in the car. |
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MaheshS
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Location: Chennai
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| Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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uneet:
It depends on the load and the road. But when the car is fully loaded, we have to be extra careful.
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k_ajay
Site Admin
Joined: 05 Jun 2009
Posts: 323
Location: Bangalore
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| Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 7:52 pm Post subject: Re: Low GC |
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| MaheshS wrote: | | As you know, approximate ground clearance of Fabia is 145 cms. Its creating a lot of problems to me. My car got a lot of hits under body. But thanks to the rough road package, the thick layer of plastic/tar material takes the impact and is ripping off. I feel a bigger wheel is a must for Fabia in India. Will 15/16" wheels spoil the ride comfort by any way? |
Mahesh, if you ever ask me, I'd be more worried about warranty clauses and it's possibility of being void on changing the wheel size. Check with them before thinking of upsizing..
Also, I think I've heard blokes tuning and modding suspensions to increase GC.. I may be wrong, but I think I've heard so.. Check with someone who is aware of the process, but foremost, think about the warranty clauses and modding resultant impacts...
On a separate note, I love a 16" alloy design that Skoda manufactures and has it sported on the Fabias in Europe and other countries, but it's another thing that each alloy alone costs rs.8500/-  And I doubt we can upsize to 16" here in India.
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uneet
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Posts: 258
Location: Delhi
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| Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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| MaheshS wrote: | uneet:
It depends on the load and the road. But when the car is fully loaded, we have to be extra careful. |
This is pretty obvious that one will feel the bump on a rough road only. What my question was about the pay load in the car at that time. Just wanna know the strengh of the shockers! lol
Only best you can do in that situation is slow down your car. |
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MaheshS
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Joined: 05 Jun 2009
Posts: 17
Location: Chennai
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| Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:38 am Post subject: |
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ajay:
Skoda itself offered 16" alloys in India (thru the website). So there should not be any issue with upsizing I believe. But now they removed the alloys from the accessories section.
uneet:
With full load even at very low speeds, the car is hitting the moderate sized speed brakes.
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Invinsible
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Joined: 05 Jun 2009
Posts: 31
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| Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:37 pm Post subject: Re: Low GC |
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| MaheshS wrote: | | As you know, approximate ground clearance of Fabia is 145 cms. Its creating a lot of problems to me. My car got a lot of hits under body. But thanks to the rough road package, the thick layer of plastic/tar material takes the impact and is ripping off. I feel a bigger wheel is a must for Fabia in India. Will 15/16" wheels spoil the ride comfort by any way? |
Hey Mahesh sorry to hear the problem you have been facing.
Firstly the GC is 165mm and not 145mm. In Europe the GC is 130mm.
Putting bigger wheels or having bigger wheel arc's will make it look those monster trucks where the body feels small compared to the wheels.
Wheel size and tyre size are governed as per the gearing ratio through the overall wheel diameter.
What is overall wheel diameter? Incase of fabia here's what it would be.
1. Wheel size x 1inch in mm i.e. 14 x 25.4 = 355.6mm
2. tyre width x profile x 2 i.e. = 185 x .65 x 2 = 222mm
Overall diameter = 355.6 + 222 = 577.6mm
Now even if one decides to go for bigger wheel size that is 15 or 16 inches, one would have to try and keep close to the current overall diameter. If not, than there would be issues where the speedo meter will start showing difference in actual speed, gearing would go taller, which is means some amount lower pickup, and to have that better pick up you would floor the pedal more which means lower mileage figure.
In most cases when people go with upsize of wheels the overall diameter of the upsize and the current overall diameter can have max difference of 1% +/-. If more than that the problems that I mentioned could occur.
That is the reason when you upsize you go lower profile tyre and than the ride gets affected. In case of 16" size the tyre size gets to 205/45R16 or 205/40/R16 as against the present 185/60/R14.
Again it also depends on what wheel you choose for the upsize. It is very strongly advisable to stick light weight alloy wheels than those chineese or malaysian wheels available. Reason being as they have more weight per wheel compared to high branded alloy wheels.
Bigger wheel along with bigger size tyre will have more mass which means more weight. Adding more weight will add more unsprung mass weight on the suspension and you would feel the suspension life getting shorter than usual.
I usually if decide to go upsize first weigh each wheel with and without tyre. And than look out for wheel and tyre that would be close to that weight. 1-2 kgs more is fine. Anything beyond that would be affecting your suspension.
Also, like to tell you the profile of the tyre acts like a cushion to the suspension. with currently 60 profile tyres we have it cushions the ride on rough patches and going with lower profile let say 45 or so would mean that suspension would have to work hard to control those bumps.
SOLUTION: I would suggest you to check your tyre pressure. Fill 32psi in front and 30 at the back that is what I have. And I feel it's the right balance between ride and handling. Also notice slight difference in pick as with 30 pressure in front the tyre side is more flexed.
If not you can get a 185/65/R14 tyre. This should work for you with the above mentioned tyre pressure.
Cheers. |
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MaheshS
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Joined: 05 Jun 2009
Posts: 17
Location: Chennai
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| Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:59 am Post subject: Re: Low GC |
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| Invinsible wrote: |
SOLUTION: I would suggest you to check your tyre pressure. Fill 32psi in front and 30 at the back that is what I have. And I feel it's the right balance between ride and handling. Also notice slight difference in pick as with 30 pressure in front the tyre side is more flexed.
If not you can get a 185/65/R14 tyre. This should work for you with the above mentioned tyre pressure.
Cheers. |
Wow . Thanks a lot for the explanation Invinsible. I will try the tyre pressure method. Till now I used to keep the tyre pressure at 30 PSI for all the tyres. Now on I will keep it as 32 for front and 30 for the rear tyres.
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Mahesh S |
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Invinsible
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Joined: 05 Jun 2009
Posts: 31
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| Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 2:03 pm Post subject: Re: Low GC |
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| MaheshS wrote: | | Invinsible wrote: |
SOLUTION: I would suggest you to check your tyre pressure. Fill 32psi in front and 30 at the back that is what I have. And I feel it's the right balance between ride and handling. Also notice slight difference in pick as with 30 pressure in front the tyre side is more flexed.
If not you can get a 185/65/R14 tyre. This should work for you with the above mentioned tyre pressure.
Cheers. |
Wow . Thanks a lot for the explanation Invinsible. I will try the tyre pressure method. Till now I used to keep the tyre pressure at 30 PSI for all the tyres. Now on I will keep it as 32 for front and 30 for the rear tyres. |
Also try filling it with Nitrogen instead of air. I have been using since my car had done 4000kms uptill now when it has done 32000kms+. I can tell surely it does make a difference in ride and keeps the tyre cooler on longer drives. Advantage is just check my pressure once in 5000kms and refill it once every 10000kms as the cold air atoms in nitrogen starts loosing.  |
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MaheshS
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Joined: 05 Jun 2009
Posts: 17
Location: Chennai
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| Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 11:08 am Post subject: |
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I was using nitrogen for a long time. But my car got punctured for 3 times in 3 months. I was so lazy to go to MRF to fill nitrogen. Will do it this weekend. One of my tyre's side wall was puctured and Im not able to fix it. Planning to put a tube and use it as a stepny (spare).
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Mahesh S |
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rm
Been Around Fabiosi
Joined: 17 Feb 2010
Posts: 142
Location: Hyderabad
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| Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 2:00 pm Post subject: Re: Low GC |
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| Invinsible wrote: |
Firstly the GC is 165mm and not 145mm. In Europe the GC is 130mm.. |
I am a brand new entrant to this forum and also am a proud owner of a 1.2 HTP Classic that i took delivery off, on the 2nd of Feb 2010. Have not faced an issue with the GC as yet but was very curious to know as to where the GC's been mentioned as 165mm. Everywhere that i have read shows the GC as 146mm. Please let me know if i am missing something here.
rm
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uneet
Been Around Fabiosi
Joined: 06 Jun 2009
Posts: 258
Location: Delhi
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| Posted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 3:45 pm Post subject: Re: Low GC |
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| rm wrote: | | Invinsible wrote: |
Firstly the GC is 165mm and not 145mm. In Europe the GC is 130mm.. |
I am a brand new entrant to this forum and also am a proud owner of a 1.2 HTP Classic that i took delivery off, on the 2nd of Feb 2010. Have not faced an issue with the GC as yet but was very curious to know as to where the GC's been mentioned as 165mm. Everywhere that i have read shows the GC as 146mm. Please let me know if i am missing something here.
rm |
If i can recall correctly Ground clearance is actually 146 mm |
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