Cornerweighting / ride height adjustment

[klan8456]

Hi all,

I’ve picked up a car which was previously set up quite track focused, but my usage of it is more road biased. It is riding quite low, too low for street use around London.

The car was previously cornerweighted. If I raise it say, 10mm, exactly equally all around, will the % weight distribution stay even, or will the cornerweights need to be done again?

Thanks

[kambites]

Wind the spring platforms the same distance on all four corners (rather than doing it by ride height) and it'll be fine. Or at least as fine as it is now - it was presumably set up for the weight of the previous owner rather than you?

[julian64]

No it won't. In a perfect world it would, but my experience of this is that not all shocks are at the same angle and any change in the height changes the geometry of the arms.

You can assume the geometry will change evenly over the four wheels, but corner weighting wouldn't be needed if we assume geometry was the same all over the car.

[Dan_M5]

If you're not tracking it, i wouldn't worry about it

[klan8456]

kambites said:

it was presumably set up for the weight of the previous owner rather than you?

Yes correct - or at least by their race prep shop.

[kambites]

julian64 said:

No it won't. In a perfect world it would, but my experience of this is that not all shocks are at the same angle and any change in the height changes the geometry of the arms..

It's not going to be perfect, but for a car which has been corner weighed for someone else entirely anyway it's going to be close enough.

[TooMany2cvs]

Will a mild cornerweight mismatch make a big difference in London traffic?

[klan8456]

TooMany2cvs said:

Will a mild cornerweight mismatch make a big difference in London traffic?

Highly unlikely!

I took it to a shop asking for it to be raised 10mm all around. They were very proud of themselves when they called me to say they had adjusted the left rear 15mm to make it even to the right rear, because it was 5mm lower to begin with. However, it was lower due to the cornerweighting...

Anyway, not a big deal and not likely to notice any difference on the road as long as the cornerweights are not completely messed up.

[Mr2Mike]

TooMany2cvs said:

Will a mild cornerweight mismatch make a big difference in London traffic?

Production cars rarely have anything like perfect corner weights, so no. If it's miles out it won't be nice to drive though.

[HustleRussell]

Lift it equally at all four corners IMO

If you don’t you’ll find you get a load of locking on the inside front on motorway off-slips, roundabout entry etc. Of course if you ever carry any luggage, have a particularly large lunch, more than half fill the fuel tank or heaven forbid accept a passenger your setup will be majorly off.

[klan8456]

HustleRussell said:

Lift it equally at all four corners IMO

If you don’t you’ll find you get a load of locking on the inside front on motorway off-slips, roundabout entry etc. Of course if you ever carry any luggage, have a particularly large lunch, more than half fill the fuel tank or heaven forbid accept a passenger your setup will be majorly off.

With all the scaffolding in the back, carrying luggage is unlikely!

[g7jhp]

What is the car?

[julian64]

I think corner weighting is over egged, even by race standards.

There is nothing you can do about a front to rear bias, or even a side to side bias. I'm of the school of thought that the car does need weighting down but not with a driver. The weight needs to be on the centre of gravity

The big thing about road cars and corner weighting, and really the only thing to concentrate on it that which has a big effect on a cars handling and is fairly easily remedied, and that is the diagonals. Too many cars are actually driving along as opposite wheeled motorcycles.

IF you find this on a car, and you fix it the corner handling is transformed.