540/570 Ground Clearance

[cypriot]

I have been reading and hearing from a few people that the 540/570 rides too low for driving on our crappy roads, especially around Scotland and Wales. Can anyone confirm if this true or not, as its not something you can find out during a test drive... The idea of them bottoming out whilst driving spiritedly scares me, as I used to have a boxster spyder that would just scrape everywhere on bumpy roads. Any input would be welcome on this. Cheers.

[mcl570]

cypriot said:

I have been reading and hearing from a few people that the 540/570 rides too low for driving on our crappy roads, especially around Scotland and Wales. Can anyone confirm if this true or not, as its not something you can find out during a test drive... The idea of them bottoming out whilst driving spiritedly scares me, as I used to have a boxster spyder that would just scrape everywhere on bumpy roads. Any input would be welcome on this. Cheers.

I have to disagree with this - although I can not comment on the Scottish roads, I have driven through wales plenty of times, and I have never ever had any worry that the car would bottom out. The only time I have ever had the slightest issue was the first time that i drove onto my driveway lol.. this was the day i'd collected my first McLaren... in all the excitement I had forgotten how to use the lift

[justin220]

I live in Scotland, and *touch wood* haven't had mine bottom out once. I think the car looks lower than is it. Good mix of roads over 6k miles.

I'm taking it round Skye and the West coast tomorrow so will post in my thread if there are any issues.

Front lift is handy for bigger speed bumps though.

[cypriot]

thanks for your replies! Ok, it seems that the fears are unfounded then! I am planning on doing the NC500 and Wales over the summer, so defo don't want to find out the hard way that the cars scrap everywhere! Cheers

[br d]

I think the 570 is lower than the 650 or 720 but not to the degree that it causes a problem on normal (or even bumpy) roads. I do find I have to use the lift slightly more than those other 2 cars for speedbumps and certain car parks.

[Palmball]

I've literally just done a few days round the Scottish borders, mostly spectacular roads but far from the smoothest surfaces. No clearance issues with 570S at all, and I was not being shy!

They do look lower than they are. but when you actually look at the distance from road to the bottom of the car, it's not much different to, say, a regular 911. Don't get me wrong, they're certainly not immune to grounding (not many sports cars are) but you've just got to keep your eyes peeled and exercise a competent degree of judgement. Anyone who regularly bottoms these out is either being reckless, a lunatic or they're blind to what the road is doing!

Where it can catch you out, and where nose lift helps at lower speeds, is the larger speed bumps and very steep inclines (e.g. an especially steep multi-story car park ramp) - the latter is more to do with the lengthy front overhang than the ride height itself.

[thelovecrumb]

I was told that the 540c dull front splitter gives slightly more clearance than the gloriously glossy 570s ... Cannot find any details online to support this claim nor have I actually measured them to check. Anyone know???

[justin220]

I'll quite happily measure my 540 over the weekend but can't see it being different. It's the same splitter just one is painted.

[gaxor]

Yup. I live in Surrey, and I have ground out in a couple of places where the edge of the road has sunk. I have a 570GT

[theRossatron]

justin220 said:

I'll quite happily measure my 540 over the weekend but can't see it being different. It's the same splitter just one is painted.

I'm fairly sure the 540c splitter also doesn't extend as far forwards as the 570s one.

[The Surveyor]

theRossatron said:

justin220 said:

I'll quite happily measure my 540 over the weekend but can't see it being different. It's the same splitter just one is painted.

I'm fairly sure the 540c splitter also doesn't extend as far forwards as the 570s one.

I thought the nose of the car was same, just a matt finish on the 540c, and gloss on the 570s. The side skirts are smaller on the 540c, and the rear diffuser has a more simple design but overall they are the same length meaning the nose is the same.

[theRossatron]

The Surveyor said:

I thought the nose of the car was same, just a matt finish on the 540c, and gloss on the 570s. The side skirts are smaller on the 540c, and the rear diffuser has a more simple design but overall they are the same length meaning the nose is the same.

Think they are different, if you look in particular at the top of one of the "fins" and the difference is apparent.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&...

[justin220]

Sad to say I have scraped a couple of times going over heavy crests and troughs over the last couple of days driving round Skye. Nothing major but the car is probably slightly too low for really winding uneven back roads to drive at speed.

[Palmball]

I found the suspension in track mode helps massively for reducing speed induced grounding - that few mm less movement really does make a difference.