Brochure says ground clearance 8'' or 9'' (with Freedom II and skid plates).
Brochure says ground clearance 8'' or 9'' (with Freedom II and skid plates).
I tend to agree. A half inch or even an inch doesn't seen to be as important in real life as have good tires, skid plates and sliders. There is also such a thing as too much tire. If you go too tall you'll lose lower end gearing and gas mileage.I think the whole ground clearance thing is kind of silly, an extra inch of ground clearance doesn't get you that much further. See my Snow, Glorious Snow post. I think its more important to have skid plates for WHEN you bottom out and to choose your line carefully. Even a lifted Wrangler can only go so far before its too deep in snow or water...
Well..., my Sport came with 17"... :icon_rolleyes:
So, if I understand well, FWD and FDI have ½ inch GC difference (with same tires 205 70 16). So with the 17'' wheel option there's another ½ inch GC increase.
Sorry, from brochure and Jeep Patriot specs stock tires for Sport and North model are 205 70 16 with an overall diameter of 27.29 inches not 205 60 16. There is an option for 215 60 17 (touring tires with the limited model) which gives a slightly smaller overall diameter 27.15 inches lowering the GC a little I guess.
Basically correct, within .15" (less than 4mm). The optional 28" tires will give you appromately the same gc as the FD II. The FD II does use a different spring that doesn't show until the '08 Parts Book. It may add the .15 difference, I haven't been able to find the specs on any of the springs. The Front Struts however are the same on all but the rear struts are different for the FD II.
Sorry to be so brief on this I'm at work, I have more info at home for alignment ride height with the different tire sizes etc. if you have a need for more precise information I could post it later. I personally don't believe that if you already have an FD I that it would be worth the effort or cost to change over to FD II springs and struts, the possibility of an extra .15" is not that significant. Just go with some really good tires and if that's not enough, then go with the lift kit. I went with the lift kit and 29" tires (wish I had stayed with 28") just so that running threw the snow banks I wouldn't be playing "snow plow" with the bumper and fascia. No need for skid plates for doing that but they are on my "to do" list when things warm up.
Interesting. I hadn't heard this before. The first time I drive my rough, rutted dirt road with the mud holes and cattle guard I'll be doing a bunch of stopping and looking underneath to see how much clearance I have in my real world driving.
. It was already sold and the proud new owners actually waited on me to take a test drive and put it up on the rack for a nice photo shoot. Any way, long story short, I went back to look at the pics and there isn't really any significant, if at all, "low spots" from the skid plates that I can see. Everything tucks up under there VERY well. The low points, and not by much, are the side rails which is where I've been measuring my Compass (sorry, it was the first one in the area too). The gc on the stock Compass Limited 4X4 with 215/55R18 (27.3") was reported to be 8.4" and this is exactly what it measured at the side rails. After adding the 2 1/8" RR lift kit and some 235/60R18 (29.1) it hits 11" on the nose. This was all measured just in my driveway, a nice static, level spot.
Got it right Homac, no such thing as a 205/60/16R standard or OEM tire for Sport or North models 2007 or 2008. Such a size would give an overall diameter of 25.68'' lowering the ground clearance and a diameter difference of 5.9% way above the 3% modification secure limit. RPM and speedmeter would also be affected.
