If I got an alignment for my car at a lowered ride height and then jacked the car up an inch or two for winter driving, would I need a new alignment?

 

Yes

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gabebauman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yes</TD></TR></TABLE>

Damn, I was afraid of that.

Will I need any kind of camber kit to lower my car with GC Coilovers? It won't be slammed, but it will be pretty low for summer driving.

EDIT: BTW, nice clean car Gabe.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DougNuts &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Will I need any kind of camber kit to lower my car with GC Coilovers? It won't be slammed, but it will be pretty low for summer driving.

EDIT: BTW, nice clean car Gabe.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You'll be fine without a camber kit, as long as you get your alignment checked occasionally. They'll make sure you're toe settings are set at zero where they should be for daily driving. I have a three year unlimited alignment at Tires Plus that only cost me $99.00 and I take it in once a month to have it properlly aligned.

 

&lt;&lt;&lt;I'm still a noob , but I don't understand how lifting or lowering your car can change the wheel alignment. I can imagine how it might change the camber, but even that's hard to imagine, aren't all cars made to be able to withstand bumps and hills while maintaining proper alignment and camber?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ohiohonda &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">aren't all cars made to be able to withstand bumps and hills while maintaining proper alignment and camber?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nope. Most cars will have a change of camber when going over bumps. And if you're turning it becomes even more complex. i.e. Positive camber on the outside front tire = bad.

It's almost impossible to have a suspension where the wheel moves up and down and the tire doesn't gain or loose camber.

Just picture this ----[] moving up and down with the skinny edge attached to a car at the end.

 

Picture this moving up and down...

o--------| |
o--------| |

each dotted line is bolted in place on the chassis, and bolted to the bearing carrier or something on the inner wheel.

Wheel goes up, both lines move up synchronized, so the wheel stays vertical, the only difference is it moves inward towards the car a bit. Every modern suspension has this type of setup, I'm sure of it.

 

---o-----| |
o--------| |

now imagine what happens. and then take another look behind your tires....

and not all cars are like that. thats a double wishbone suspension. macpherson strut suspension does NOT operate like that, and many cars are macpherson strut.

also, take a look at where the radius rod connects to. it constrains the lower control arm. in addition, the tierod distance constrains toe settings. thats where the dynamic suspension changes comes from. so its far from your simple illustration.

 

Our front Suspensions look more like this (***edit: Tyson beat me to it ***)

|/o---o[ ]
|o----o[ ]

If you can imagine how un-equal control arm geometry works, the camber gain becomes very simple (and advantageous when cornering). The main problem though isn't really camber, it's toe. If your toe is off, it will eat your tires at an alarming rate. The front wheels don't have too much of problem with toe when they're lowered, the main problems occour in the rear.

With Honda's rear trailing link suspension, it doesn't work anything like the front double wishbown. The UCA & LCA do follow a similar deticated arc, but the trailing arms pivot point isn't solid (it's a giant rubber bushing). It's movement is controled by a toe link, which actually forces the tire to steer left/right as the suspension goes through it's motions (keeps car stable under braking and acceleration). This means that as you lower the car, the programed bump-steer causes your tires to be out of spec.

That's also the reason why these cars handle so differently when their lowered vs. stock ride height. Since the suspension is always in bump, the rear tires steer slightly different when going into the new bump/droop positions than they normally would...

The rear end is also desgined to steer the rear tires based on directional loading, and not just bump/droop position. This means that as you increase your cornering forces, the deflection in the bushings steer the rear tires differently than when you just hit a bump (or lower the car). This was all very deliberatly designed by Honda, and is what makes these cars perform so amazingly...

 

Thanks for explaining that for me 94eg!.

 

macpherson strut



double wishbone


taken form this page. (mustang stuff, but you could learn a lot)
http://www.miracerros.com/mustang/t_suspension.htm

 

nice info!!

 

Very informative replies.

 

Toe is what you need to worry about.