I understand that fully. I really do.

I was referring to the lowering of the 500 as per what the OP was asking.
I maintain that ours is low enough, and I would maintain that they are all low enough unless you only ever drive in city environments.

Body control is besides the point.
Better dampers will not raise the vehicle.

TTFN
Mick.

And if you listened you'd know the car doesn't bottom out because of ride height...... It's because the damping control is non-existent. You don't understand, you really don't.

I suspect most people lower their 500 for appearances sake rather then handling

Why not help people at the same time as they're trying to improve the looks?

306maxi said:

And if you listened you'd know the car doesn't bottom out because of ride height...... It's because the damping control is non-existent. You don't understand, you really don't.

Click to expand...

For goodness sake Maxi.

Get off my back.

Our Fiat 500 can bottom out her plastic farings even when stopped.
Nowt to do with control or damping.

Our Fiat 500 is so low, I cannot get our low trolly-jack under her without a great deal of fiddling.
Nowt to do with dampers.

I maintain that all Fiat 500s are low.

Merry Christmas,
Mick

Mick F said:

For goodness sake Maxi.

Get off my back.

Our Fiat 500 can bottom out her plastic farings even when stopped.
Nowt to do with control or damping.

Our Fiat 500 is so low, I cannot get our low trolly-jack under her without a great deal of fiddling.
Nowt to do with dampers.

I maintain that all Fiat 500s are low.

Merry Christmas,
Mick

Click to expand...

Are you sure you've not got broken springs? Or knackered dampers. This sounds bad for any car.

My neighbours daughter has a 500 and he's a rugby player, I've never noticed it to be 'low' when loaded up with the whole family, and non of the 500s I've driven behave like this

Lets wind this back ............

The OP wanted info about dampers and lowering.

Dampers, yes, interesting ........ and I've said so.

Lowering?
No thank you.

Our 500TA is low enough, and any lower would cause us problems.
Even now, we could be stopped at the bottom of our drive, get out, close the gate, and drive away. You can hear the plastic skirts scratch the tarmac.

We live on a little lane. The profile/camber of the tarmac surface is high in the middle and low on the edges. The road is one car width. In places, the plastic skirts scrape on the tarmac.

I had difficulty fitting a low trolley jack under the front subframe. There was no way it would go under the sill. The jack has been used on many cars in its lifetime, and our 500 is the lowest ever.

The car has done a shade under 14,000 miles since new. There is nothing wrong with the springs or the dampers - other than quality perhaps? She handles like a dream.

Is there a dimension stated somewhere as per the sill height?
Maybe I can measure it and compare to the stated figure?

Thanks,
Mick.

Maxi,
It would be better if you were helpful rather than being antagonistic.

What is the sill height of a standard Fiat 500?

It could possibly be that ours is knackered. Please enlighten me.

Regards to you,
Mick

Or that you live down a particularly poor road.

Stop with the pleasantries, cheers.

Mick F said:

Is there a dimension stated somewhere as per the sill height?
Maybe I can measure it and compare to the stated figure?

Click to expand...

Should be 104mm at the lowest point.

But the point maxi is saying is when you 'lower' a car using quality springs and dampers, the components are uprated so that more weight is needed to compress the spring the same distance. This rate of compression is calculated carfully so that the new spring won't allow the car to bottom out any more often than the OEM springs.

In addition the stiffer springs and dampeners improve the performance of the suspension and handling and keeps the wheels on the ground better than the standard set up.

This doesn't apply if you were to buy a cheap "lowering kit" which usually just has some shortened springs, and uses standard shocks. The kits maxi is recomending are costly but quality and will improve the car and lower it at the same time

C'mon guys, this is getting way too personal.

Opinions are welcomed here; personal attacks and provocative posts aren't.

Mick, it might just be worth checking your ride height as I can get a normal trolley jack under my sills. I'll go out tomorrow with a tape measure & see if I can get a couple of pictures.

Thanks JR

The nose of the jack will go under the sill, but I wanted to get it under the front subframe like I've always done with all the cars. I didn't try the rear, just the front, and had to turn the steering to full lock so I could get it under. Even so, the body of the trolley jack was touching the front end of the sill just at the corner of the wheel arch.

I found a couple of websites stating the the minimum ground clearance is 4.1" - 104mm. Dunno whereabouts underneath the minimum clearance is though.

I'll measure our sill height tomorrow in daylight but I don't expect it to be wrong.

Have a good Christmas,
Mick.

It is John, but I don't know why certain people have to get involved in everything.....

The Twins said:

You are right... But Mick is also right, the 500 is low although you wouldn't know it looking at the wheel arch gap on the standard car.

My son has a Fiesta Zetec S. It looks low due to close wheel arch gap but the 'underneath' clearance is much more than the 500.

Click to expand...

For clarity... Please note my comments above. Remember I have 2 x 500's and also have Koni FSD with Eibach springs suspension on the TA .

YOU ARE BOTH RIGHT! Mick and Maxi

There's a junction I sometimes use where UFI just about scrapes the front undertray. This is to do with the approach angle and not damping. Lowering would certainly make the problem worse, in much the same way you'll have to watch carpark kerbs.

I believe the 104mm minimum clearance figure must be for the Abarths, as the law requires (here at least) 100mm, and if the stock 500 was 104, the Abarths could only be 4mm lower.

My 1.4 Sport looks ever so slightly lower than the non-'sport' 500s. Did Fiat spec different springs for their Sport and S models? Might just be my imagination.

Hi guys, maybe i should contribute as I have the B14's that are 30mm lower than stock so 40 mm lower than most people as the 1.4 is already 10 mm lower than the TA and 1.2!

With the new billies, my car only bottoms out if there are uneven surfaces in the road, as in severe holes in the road. Given flat roads, my car will never bottom out no matter what the weight. So yes, up driveway and sidewalks, i have to be more careful, but if i go full right/left lock it usually solves the problem. The under-tray at the bottom of the car seems pretty solid so i am not too concerned so far, as there are several parts i drive that have uneven surfaces and i can hear the car skidding over them and believe me GREEK ROADS ARE MUCH WORSE THAN UK ROADS.

On potholes the car does not bottom out because the car is very well damped with the billies, it just hits the bump stop and carries on going, the bonus being since the suspension is sorted, you dont get sea sick, just hear a loud BANG which sounds worse than it is.

MarginWalker said:

My 1.4 Sport looks ever so slightly lower than the non-'sport' 500s. Did Fiat spec different springs for their Sport and S models? Might just be my imagination.

Click to expand...

Yes, the Twinair in its standard form (before suspension upgrade) was approx 5mm lower than our 1.2
I know the TA has different spec to 1.2 model as I checked the part codes.

UFI said:

There's a junction I sometimes use where UFI just about scrapes the front undertray. This is to do with the approach angle and not damping. Lowering would certainly make the problem worse, in much the same way you'll have to watch carpark kerbs.

I believe the 104mm minimum clearance figure must be for the Abarths, as the law requires (here at least) 100mm, and if the stock 500 was 104, the Abarths could only be 4mm lower.

Click to expand...

Abarth's are listed as being 15mm lower and SS /595 /695 10mm lower still IIRC

Hi guys,
Just a quick post with some measurements.

Sill height is 6" at the rear of the front arches.
Sill height is 8" at the front of the rear arches.
The front of the silencer box is 4" above the ground, as is the front subframe.

The lowest point is the front black plastic "spoiler" underneath the front of the engine behind the front vallance. It is only 3" from the ground.

It is this "spoiler" that catches on the road, sometimes even when stopped.

To lower our 500, it would make matters terribly worse.

Off out for a cycle ride now, see ya later!
Mick.