ideal ride height?
 

i did some searching, but didn't really find a good answer. i did some adjusting on my tein flex's that i just installed yesterday. i haven't gottem to drive the car yet since my diff is out, but i was adjusting my ride height and was wondering what most people suggest. i have 245/50/16's all the way around right now, but i'll soon have 255/35/18 up front and 285/30/18 in back.

from the ground to the wheel well, i have 25.5 inches in front with 25.75 inches out back. from the center of the wheel to the wheel arch, i have 13.5 up front and around 13.75 in back. does that sound like a good starting point?

Optimal ride height will vary depending on what you want the car to do, and where you drive it. A track car won't need as much ground clearance as a car that has to negotiate speed bumps in the parking lot.

Those are probably good starting points. You should be able to get a pretty good idea of your fender clearance by turning the wheels to different spots, and bouncing the car up and down.

i just scoped out the setup portion of the tein manual and it says 13.46 inches from center of wheel to wheel arch. so i'm pretty close to what they recommend. i drive on the street a lot, but am very careful when clearance could be a problem. i also plan on auto-xing as much as possible, as soon as my diff is fixed

25.5" is a very good height for street driving. 25" would be better for track use (what my fronts are at), but it is a bitch to drive on public streets.

Set both front and rear to 25.5" and get the car corner-weighted from there.

sounds good to me. i'm going to wait until i get my 18's since i'll be using those for street duty before i get everything totally adjusted and weighted.

also, rynberg, what do you think about my camber/toe setup i'm thinking about? i'm thinking -1.2* up front and -.6* in back with 1/16th toe up front and 0 toe in back.

I run -1 front, -0.5 rear, 1/32" toe front, 0" toe rear on 18" wheels. My car is a daily driver so I don't go as radical with the camber. Your settings sound like a good starting place. I might adjust mine after the next couple of track events (I haven't tracked the car with the new wheels/alignment yet).

FWIW this is my height

LF 25
LR 25 1/3
RF 25 1/8
RR 25 2/3

below is petite's recommendation. most people seem to think it's a little conservative, but a good starting point.

http://www.jimagu.com/tinou/pettit_alignment.jpg

Has anyone ever modeled OE FD suspension geometry to determine the "optimal" ride height (measured fender peak to center of hub) that would minimize camber change during roll?

yes, have a look at howard colemans suspension setup thread