Ok guys after all the great help you guys gave me in my spinning the slicks to find the best PSI thread i figured i would run this question by you all. when i was doing the spin test in my driveway i noticed that the left side was much darker then the right, i have a LSD and both spin pretty equal so i figured its from the the fact left side is heavier from the motor and driver sitting on that side, so my question is if i adjust the right side coil over up a little and the left down a little so that the ride height stays the same over all but the right side will be doing more of the work rather then a 50 50 mix of both springs would this help put more force or weight on the right side and perhaps help with traction? just a idea i had, it was this or put some ballast over the right front lol.

 

What 60's are you currently cutting?

tires? suspension? traction bar?

 

Why tweak the car.... you need weight up on the right front. Don't use the car to offset that or you will be worst off in the end.

 

1.6 are my best ever , currently stuck in the high 1.7 low 1.8. suspension is skunk 2 coil overs on the front with tokico blue struts the rear is tokico blues with neuspeed springs with rubber blocks between the wider apart coils to prevent some squat with out affecting ride height. no traction bar i dont get any wheel hop at all and on my last honda my 60s never got better with a traction bar at all so i wasnt going to waste the money again on this civic. regardless i am trying to tweak what i got rather then replace it all since the car is not a drag only car i race the twistys with it to when i get a chance and its also my sol daily driver.

 

Corner scaling a car is common race car practice.

In a perfect world we'd build our cars for a perfect weight balance and level ride height. We don't live there though and adjusting coilovers to achieve a desired weight balance is how you fix it. It doesn't take much difference in ride height to give you a pretty good difference in corner weight.

 

Agreed. Most of us, though, don't have the equipment to do this correctly, so it'll require quite a bit of guestimation, and in the end it'll still be off.

 

Yeah totally.

OP, you would really be surprised how quickly your weight distribution from L to R changes when adjusting coil over sleeves.

Just get on a set of scales, most race car preparation shops have them. (I actually work with a guy who owns a set of his own) See if you can rent time on them. Its actually kind of fun.

And you start realizing why left hand drive, k-swapped cars are cool for L / R distribution! (edit: well if you weigh 170 ish lbs...)

 

Oh trust me Tony... I know how balance plays a role in a car. I guess I should have taken more time to explain myself thoroughly. In a stock car the balance is off by quite a bit up front. That's why I was trying to suggest weight up front.

Here is what I should have said. lol

Get the car as close to balance as possible via weight distribution with the suspension pretty neutral. Then you want to dial it in via suspension tweaks. You'll want to look at things like front to rear proportion, left and right proportion, and cross balance.

 

great info guys, so my idea of turning up the right side coil over a little more then the left will work to put more weight on the right tire then? even if its just like 1 or 2 more full turns on the adjusting collar then the left side?

 

Raise the right front side to get more weight to the right front and left rear....

If you raise the right front you will also get more weight to the left side of the car too.... actually weight will transfer to all 3 remaining corners, but more so to the left rear side.

Think of it like a chair with one long leg....

 

edited due to tepid fixing his statement

 

You sure about that Chris ?

 

No and that's why I am editing it now.... lol

Long day at work....

 

the water makes sense to me , i guess its just hard for me to grasp the concept with a car since i figured the spring was pushing the tire down. so if i under stand you correctly i want to set my left side coil over higher then my right side coil over to help put more weight on the passenger side front tire to help balance the fact the motor and driver are on the left side? if so in your opinion and with out the aid of scales how much of a difference in the coil overs threaded collar would it take to start seeing a transfer of weight? i normally count threads since i lower the car for street tires and raise it for slicks, so i could simply count threads do do this balancing as well.

 

ok i better wait and see what you edit before i get real confused.

 

ok so just by simply raising the right coil over a thread or two more then the left front when i swap my slicks on at the track i will be putting more weight on that side and the opposite rear side? the rear dont matter i take it since the goal here is to get the right front digging a little harder or at least matching the left front.

 

or i take it i could also raise the left rear ( if i had coil overs on it ) to also put more weight on the right front. is one method more ideal then the other? or do both accomplish the same goal equally ?

 

I have nothing to add, but wanted to thank you, boosted91crx, for asking really good couple of questions that help me out alot. Things I've always been curious about.

 

Use scales to do this! Do not guess. You may wind up getting all backwards using some of the techniques mentioned here.

 

thier is no educated guessing when it comes to balancing a car out.
it is what it is. scales are the only way to achieve a " best u can balanced car" by adjusting springs without adding weight.
though spring adusting should only be for getting the car to sit right ectt. or for small weight ajustments. if u start going to high on one end now your drive line isnt straight witch can causes problems. not to mention u will look funny racing on hydros.
so adding weight is the right way if thier is a big difference unfortunately .

 

I totally agree with everyone here interms of corner weighting your car, balancing a car properly is always a best start. Playing with suspension pre-load to add weight may effect on how your car will launch. Pre-loading your suspension more on one side then other may cause your car to steer more towards that way. Un-even load usually may cause this. You'll find people use more pre-load on one side or the other is to correct how straight the car may launch.

 

Or maybe someone in the PA area close to you has the scales to do this and would be willing to help you guys out. Hint Hint.

Here is some reading for you.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/art...orner-weights/

 

thanks for all the comments guys. not having access to scales means i will probably just try turning the right side up a turn at a time each pass and watch the 60 and how lt leaves until i see if it makes a difference either way.

 

From what I have seen on all the cars I have done is a turn will move a lot of weight. You may want to try and go like a 1/4 of a turn or 1/2 turn. Or if you are in the area just shoot me a pm and we can throw your car on my scales and get it set up right.

 

thanks for the tip and offer, allentown is a decent hike for me, sounds like you know your stuff so let me ask this, is it better in general for maximum FWD traction to A adjust my right front coil over a tad higher to get more weight on that side. or B raise the rear evenly a half inch via coil spacers or installing coil overs to put more weight on the front in general. i currently have neuspeed yellow lowering springs on the rear with 2 rubber blocks per side between the wider spaced coils, this raises the rear a 1/4 verses with out the blocks, but its still lower then stock of course, i think they are 1.6 inch lowering springs.