A method of setting a clearance between a rotor and a stator of a rotor assembly for a turbine engine. The rotor assembly has a plurality of rotor-to-stator stages and the stator has a nominal centerline. Typically the stator is a casing or an array of vane tips. The method includes (i) correlating in-service rotor-to-stator rub patterns for a rotor-to-stator stage of a number of turbine engines, (ii) setting a position of a machining centerline relative to the nominal centerline of the stator, the position being towards a heavy rub, (iii) machining the stator about the machining centerline, (iv) repeating steps (i) to (ii) for each rotor-to-stator stage of the plurality of the rotor-to-stator stages, wherein the machined stator having been formed by at least two machining steps having different center-lines.