X2

 

Update:
Towards the end of the season we switched from the blox drag coilovers (which can adjust spring preload and hide height separately) to the strange dual adjustable struts with eibach springs. Scaling the car with the new setup is way harder when with the blox coilovers. Without the ability to preload the spring I have to do all the balancing by changing ride height. Before I was able to hit all the numbers I wanted and still have the car sit just how I want; no compromises. Now I have to choose between great balance and ride height, but I can't have both. Now that I've scaled the car with the new suspension I have a pretty good idea of what she wants (even though I can't hit it).
The next move will be the buy a stiffer spring for the corner I can't get heavy enough, then scale again. This will work the same as preloading that corner.

Long story short, Reid said the way the car feels with the strange struts is night & day. The ability to control rebound and compression allows you to keep the car from jumping up off the line and bouncing during shifts. In videos the car is way smoother off the line and down the track then with our old stuff.

Just wanted to share the results now that I have had a chance to play with both dual adjust coilovers without dampening control and height only adjust with dampening control.

 

strange is a great setup to go with.

 

Question... Everyone bring up the concept of setting tire pressures the way you run it. I understand that and agree but my question is. Does anyone set their car up with the post burnout tire pressure or is everyone using pre burnout tire pressure (i.e. 6 psi)? Seems to me post burnout tire pressure would be more appropriate but who actually checks tire pressure post burnout?

 

I don't scale the car with 6psi in the tires. I'm just trying to get the left and right equal. So as long as the tires are the same pressure you're good IMO.

 

Tire pressure will change the rake of the car ever so slightly. It will shift weight. I have not tried it, but I can't imagine it being that much change....

 

At the begining of this last season, I scaled my car with the fronts at where they sit with like 6-8psi, but after seeing a bunch of pics of cars at the NRG shop with the fronts compltely aired while on the scales to simulate what the car will look like just after letting the clutch out, I will try that next. Makes more sence to me now anyways.

 

So what do you usually scale them with? 10-15 psi?

 

Id say they got at least 15psi, or at least aired all the way up.

 

I don't have a set psi. You just want to make sure that the FR & FL match and the RR & LR match. I ran across this when we had our old slicks because they would leak very fast at low pressure. I would air them to like 15psi then scale the car. Drop them both down to 6psi and the scales would be around 5lbs of the original. Now I scale with the drag radials on the front at like 30the psi just to be faster.
Tire pressure doesn't seem to make a big difference as long as they are the same psi left to right. If you put the fronts at like 20psi and let about 5psi out of one you'll see the weight swing close to 80lbs! Keep that in mind when you're on the scales. Keep checking tire pressure as you go, otherwise you might be making changes to the suspension based on false scale numbers.

 

It changes corner weight quite a bit actually...I've watched it while doing it on the scales live and its trippy.

As Andy says, the tire pressure on the scale doesnt matter really as long as it is even, with Drag Racing, you only need to be concerned that the two fronts are even in WEIGHT right to left. Then at the track, make sure your tire pressures are even pre burn out, and they will be even post burn out as well...

 

I knew it would, but I just didn't know how much. It's basically the same as changing ride height I guess. Interesting....

 

Thank you everybody for their info and help. We were gonna try and get it done before Vegas IFO but everybody who as scales here in town (2 shops we know of) are really pricey. So we're just gonna buy some scales over the winter that way we have our own and can scale whenever we want to try some different things out

 

Please don't take this the wrong way, but how much difference does corner balancing a drag car make? I know it can be very helpful for road race and autox and that sort of thing but does it really help a lot for drag racing too? I've heard about suspension setups for drag racing but just figured it was spring/damper combinations, never thought of corner balance for a drag car (I'm a noob still, I guess).

I'd imagine every bit counts once you've got the drivetrain where you want it and you have a competent driver behind the wheel, just wondering what kind of difference you can see from something like this? Few hundredths? Half a tenth? More?

 

Rethink your question based on the fact that these are fwd cars on smallish tires and obviously have traction problems scaled or not... what kind of advantage are you going to have with a 30/70 weight spreas.

 

Solid info here

 

I'd say not a lot when it comes to ETs...but like everything else when you are searching for every last bit you want to make sure every part of your setup is solid and where it should be...you are only as strong as your weakest link.

It also depends how far "off" your car was prior to a corner balance when looking at a before/after comparison.

 

I would think that at the very least it will make launching the car more consistent. I will be balancing my car soon in order to try to get my lsd to apply more even amounts of power to each front wheel. I noticed that in this picture even though both tires are spinning they are not spinning evenly.



Im hoping by distributing weight evenly across the front tires it will help this issue.

 

^ First thing that is a good looking rex!! I am not much of a CRX fan but yours is crazy clean!

Second thing, can you explain how that picture helped you determine you were getting an uneven traction bias from tire to tire? I don't understand what you are seeing here to tell you that? Is it because the wheels are cocked to the left in that picture meaning it pulled the wheel to the left during your burnout?

 

Thank-you very much for the compliment I love my car.

If you look at the smoke coming off the tires the left tire has built a bigger cloud faster. I also can feel the left tire spinning harder while in the car. Some of my friends tell me that the left tire is always the first to spin too.

The car also always launches to the right so I'm hoping corner balancing will shed some light on the problem. With a proper weight balance I'm hoping the car will leave straighter translating into a better 60ft. Right now the car 1.6 60's and I'm hoping for 1.5's with the suspension changes and balancing.

No matter what the balancing is free for me to try so it shouldn't hurt.

 

What are you guys using for scales? Any good economically priced units small guys can use at home?

 

I have a good friend that builds and sets up "real" dragsters. He has the scales and is going to help me set my car up.

 

Thanks for the quick responses and useful information. I'm coming from an awd background where you can pull 1.6-1.7 60' all day on street tires with relatively gentle (3-3.5k) launches, so I'm trying to learn the differences as I go. Much appreciated.

 

Yup, I use the ol dirt track style 4to1 ration scales . A kit can be found on ebay for like 200 bucks. I have used them after using expensive scales and they were almost dead even.