I wasn't quite sure if I should post this topic in this forum or the "Tech" forum, but I figured I would get more proper answers from this forum.

I was wondering how you guys go about equalling out the drop with coilovers, where do you guys take measurements from to make sure the cars left and right sides are even? I tried counting threads on my coilover sleeves, but I'm not sure if that is the correct method, I also did the finger gap method (I read somewhere this wasn't a good way).

Thanks,

 

Being that this is the RR/AX forum, people cornerweight their car when time/funds allow. Since the weight of the car isn't equally distributed (esp. with a driver), the ride heights shouldn't be either. Changing the ride heights from and rear affects how much static load is on each tire, and also effects the distribution of additional load caused by dynamic WT.

You don't need to worry about that though (aka don't try to tune it if you don't have the proper equipment: scales). I would measure from the frame to the ground keeping left and right even. Make sure you don't drop too low or you will reduce too much suspension travel and having contact and/or bottoming issues (the shocks).

 

GSpeedR really hit the nail on the head there.

Obviously you want to maintain the OEM weight distributions, front to back, and corner to corner.

I had scales to play with, but for starters I just measured with a tape measure the distance the spring would be seated on the sleeve from one end or the other.

Good Luck

Jon

 

I went from the top of the fender arc to the ground. Many people will also use the jacking tabs or a piece of the frame for reference.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MattG &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I went from the top of the fender arc to the ground. Many people will also use the jacking tabs or a piece of the frame for reference.

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Jacking tabs are a poor choise for measuring ride height.. as they change...
the metal tabs can bend or get easily damaged from jacking the car up and down.
The frame is a much better point.

What we do is a select a point.. and mark it with tape or paint an arrow.
this way you use the same point every time.

 

I'll give it a try this weekend....i'm not sure what part of the frame to use, but I will see if this works out for me. I also hope I can fit my arms and tape measure underneath the car to measure the height.

 

I used hub center to fender to get the right/left heights equal.

 

one of the keys is using the same point to measure all the time....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TeamSlowdotOrg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I used hub center to fender to get the right/left heights equal. </TD></TR></TABLE>

After doing the floor to the center of the fender, through the hub center, I decided it was easier to do the method I quoted above.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AcCO12D95 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was wondering how you guys go about equalling out the drop with coilovers, where do you guys take measurements from to make sure the cars left and right sides are even? I tried counting threads on my coilover sleeves, but I'm not sure if that is the correct method, I also did the finger gap method (I read somewhere this wasn't a good way).

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We don't worry about it. We use corner weights, which uaully means the ride height is different at every corner.

 

You use the Hub center to the top of the fender or where the fender starts (lip of the fender near the wheel)?

 

First, I cornerweight, so I am not talking from experience, but....
umm.... I disagree with almost everything that has been said (ducking)

If I were to set them without scales I would not use a compressed spring measurement to set them. Any one of these methods assumes that the car chassis flexes. A lot. Think about it. You could have nearly all of the weight of the car pivoting on the Left front and Right rear of the car, and still have the car sit perfectly square left/right front/back according to any one of the suggested measurements. The car would measure perfectly, but drive like crap.

I would start by equalizing the spring perches left and right. One way to do this is by measuring the exposed GC sleeve thread on either side of the rotating perch. Other spring perch to suspension point measurements would work as well. As long as they are the same L/R your corner weights will be no worse than stock springs. You can almost set the ride height by eye to your taste (as long as remaining travel is still at least and 1" or so). Most cars are higher in the rear from the factory anyway, so don't get real hung up on equalizing F/R.

If this is a race car, set up the car as it would be raced. Put a weight equal to yours in the driver's seat first. You may find that the car is lower on the driver's side - and then you say that A-hole Jake said you have to keep L+R equal for cornerwieght BS. But dispair not: You can asymetrically adjust your ride height and not screw up the cornerweights IF you adjust BOTH left or BOTH right perches identically. For instance, after you get real close, you can turn the left front and left rear 2 rotations and not really effect your cornerweights.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

I agree with Jake. If you're not going to cornerweight measuring the spring perches will get you pretty close. It's much easier to do accurately than to measure chassis height. And it won't be thrown off by variations in the ground or chassis, suspension stettling etc...

 

How do you cornerweight?

 

I actually did fender to ground using a leveller with milimeters on it. Of course with my weight in the car when I couldn't go get my car cornerweighed.

2 weeks later went to get my car cornerweighed and my cross weights were almost 50/50. Like the rear passenger had 10lbs on it. How's them beans?

All 4 corners were within 1-2mm of each other.

 

1. You need a level platform. Use a concrete floor, a good level and a long straight edge ( as long as you cars wheelbase or about 100-105"). Measure track and wheelbase of your car and mark a rectangle with masking tape on floor for tire centers. Place floor tiles as shims where tires will sit and level all four corners of your platform. Move car over tiles by jacking as required.

2. Place weights in car to make it as it will be run.

3. Set tires pressures to pressures when tires are hot.

4. Bounce car up and down all around.

5. Get a value for heights for your car. Tein lists heights for many cars in their instructions on their web site, as for example here:http://www.tein.com/ti/tacura.html Use these as a reference, and you can then just add hub to floor to the hub to fender to get typical measurements for fender to floor which is much easier to measure.

6. Measure from fender well to center of wheel or floor (floor tiles) along hub center-line, with a level tape. Set both fronts equal to each other and both rears equal to each other. Use small levels and squares as required to get good measurements.

7. Take digital pictures for future reference of the various tape readings once you are done. This will make it a lot easier to make changes later on.

8. If you can afford it,have your car corner balanced, but beware that many shops do this very poorly. I have scales and have checked friends' cars that were corner balanced and they were far off. You really need to drive the car around once it has been adjusted and check it again on th scales. Road cars unlike race cars have many high friction components in their suspensions such as rubber bushings that do not settle easily. Driving the car around and onto the scales ensures you get a more correct reading. You should also disconnect sway bars when corner balancing, but this is only useful if you have adjustable length sway bar end inks to reconnect them with no load. Otherwise it is pointless to disconnect sway bars for corner balancing, as the corner weights "as driven" will be different than what you got on the scales.