help: did my corner balance today, things seem bad

[dongoesby]

A friend brough the scale from his racing team, so I weighted my car twice after adjustment. My S14 currently got lowered with Stance coil and some aero.

It approx weights 2800

(Driver) Left Front approx 900 Right Front approx 650
(Psg) Left Rear approx 520 Right Rear approx 750
Left to Right: 50%
Rear to Front: 44%
Cross weight: 41%

after rasing Left Front by 6" and lowering Left rear 4"

(Driver) Left Front approx 940 Right Front approx 630
(Psg) Left Rear approx 500 Right Rear approx 710
Left to Right: 49%
Rear to Front: 44%
Cross weight: 39%

The height for all corners are no more than half an inch differences, what could cause so a huge difference? It confuses me that rasing the left front actually gained weight on me. Could it be my Tie-rods are bent? Would bent tie-rods give such a big influence on the cross weight? Or something big is wrong? My car do had a driver side rear quarter slight bent before (not serious), but it was professionally fixed.

[cronux]

i may be wrong, but if you have most weight at one corner, wouldnt lowering that corner put the weight at the other corners?

[luftrofl]

i may be wrong, but if you have most weight at one corner, wouldnt lowering that corner put the weight at the other corners?

Bingo

msglength

[dongoesby]

exactly, read the numbers, i raise that end, but it actually gained weight!

[Jung918]

so you only adjusted the length of the coilovers and not the preload right?

[dongoesby]

length, yes, not preload

[cdlong]

you did it backwards. lower the heavy corner. you raised the heavy corner. you didn't figure that out by the fact that your cross weight got worse?

or are you refering to the wheel when you say raise? just make the left front coilover shorter.

[dongoesby]

raise the heavy corner should decrease the weight on that corner correct?

I raise the heavy corner to loose weight and lower the light corner to gain weight. By doing so, my cross weight got worse, so I'm confuse, did I really did it backwards?

Even so there is 250 lbs difference between the front two wheels, I'm worrying even I raise the heavy end to the max would still couldn't solve the problem.

[luftrofl]

raise the heavy corner should decrease the weight on that corner correct?

I raise the heavy corner to loose weight and lower the light corner to gain weight. By doing so, my cross weight got worse, so I'm confuse, did I really did it backwards?

Even so there is 250 lbs difference between the front two wheels, I'm worrying even I raise the heavy end to the max would still couldn't solve the problem.

Wrong. Have you even read what we've been saying? :smash:

[SleepySR]

if you take weight of the right front , you add weight on the left rear and take off weight on the right rear . Think of the car balancing itself on a point in the center . If the right fronts heavy , you add weight in the left rear. By adding weight I mean adding preload to the spring. This is what we did when i worked for Petty Enterprise on the #43 & #45 car. Hope this helps if founds this on google

http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/Performance/cornerbalance.htm

[drftem]

also disconnect the sway bars when doing this the sway bars can throw off the adjustments then get heim links for the sway bars and adjust those correctly also.

[dongoesby]

also disconnect the sway bars when doing this the sway bars can throw off the adjustments then get heim links for the sway bars and adjust those correctly also.

Sway bars!!! yes!! Thanks!! i will try to weight it again before my friend return the scale.

SleepySR, thanks! good stuff!

;2109700 Wrong. Have you even read what we've been saying?

what have you been saying?

[luftrofl]

what have you been saying?
I can see how the concept might be difficult to grasp, but I simply don't see how you can't even read the responses to your own question. The problem lies not with your car, but with your methods which are amazingly wrong for someone whose friend is on a race team.

Read these:
i may be wrong, but if you have most weight at one corner, wouldnt lowering that corner put the weight at the other corners?
you did it backwards. lower the heavy corner. you raised the heavy corner. you didn't figure that out by the fact that your cross weight got worse?
if you take weight of the right front , you add weight on the left rear and take off weight on the right rear . Think of the car balancing itself on a point in the center . If the right fronts heavy , you add weight in the left rear. By adding weight I mean adding preload to the spring. This is what we did when i worked for Petty Enterprise on the #43 & #45 car. Hope this helps if founds this on google

http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/Performance/cornerbalance.htm

edit: http://www.dietersmotorsports.com/tech/2001/cornerbalance.htm
I think that's a good explanation with pictures.

[drftem]

yeah thats true i believe you should set the cars ride height all even then use the preload method to set the balancing not adjust vehicle ride height.

[dongoesby]

Crucial question: with the sway bar still conected to the car, would it throw such a big difference, 250lbs?? I'm very worry that something is being really wrong with the car. Most people I have seen are 30 to 100 max differences, but 250lbs is strange!!

edit: http://www.dietersmotorsports.com/tech/2001/cornerbalance.htm
I think that's a good explanation with pictures.

thanks for contributing.

[lazierhobo]

what kind of car/setup do you have. if your running a turbo setup, you will see a whole lot more weight on the front left, just cause your hanging all the turbo stuff off that side of the motor.

i had a good amount of different left to right in the front, but my car isnt finished yet so we arent ready to start balancing it out.

[SleepySR]

And make sure you add some weight to the drivers seat close to what you weigh , with all your gear ( helmet ,etc.) , and set your ride height and alignment specs before you start . It took me 4.5 hrs to get mine aligned and 51/49 front to rear, with a cross weight of 51/49 on both sides. It just takes a little time , I ended up adding about 18lbs on the left rear and 29lbs on the right rear . I used melted down wheel weights and attached them to the rear bumper reinforcement.

[Def]

You should never add weight to get your corner weights equal.

[dongoesby]

but is 250lb weight differences between left and right normal?

[g6civcx]

You should never add weight to get your corner weights equal.

Can you say why?

[SleepySR]

You should never add weight to get your corner weights equal.

Then whats the point of moving the battery to the trunk? , Race teams have been doing it for ages , so I see nothing wrong with it .

[dongoesby]

You should never add weight to get your corner weights equal.

i think how he gets it of "adding weight" is actually adding physical weight to the car. However, what we are saying here of adding/loose weight in a corner balance is by adjusting the height of suspension of each corner.


News: despite I weighted my car with sway bar attached, I also have my stance coilover setting with different height at each corner. For example, the whole assemply of the coilover of:

LF: approx 10 inches________ RF: approx 9 inches
LR: approx 16 inches ________RR: approx 16'-6" inches

I did it this way because I was trying to get them the same height all around when I was installing them at the time.

Should I try to set them to the same height of front left and right, and same for rear left and right? Assuming the weight of the car is originally equal from factory.

[JeremyR]

you should set the coilovers to the same height and preload, and then install.

and then when you corner balance, it is the preload that is to be adjusted, not the actual coilover height, is this correct?

[Def]

Then whats the point of moving the battery to the trunk? , Race teams have been doing it for ages , so I see nothing wrong with it .

It's one thing to relocate heavy items with maybe an extra few lbs here or there to do it, it's entirely different to just add dead mass to "balance" stuff out. It really doesn't matter that much, but adding weight is something you really shouldn't do to balance things out. It will NEGATIVELY affect overall performance.

[Def]

i think how he gets it of "adding weight" is actually adding physical weight to the car. However, what we are saying here of adding/loose weight in a corner balance is by adjusting the height of suspension of each corner.


News: despite I weighted my car with sway bar attached, I also have my stance coilover setting with different height at each corner. For example, the whole assemply of the coilover of:

LF: approx 10 inches________ RF: approx 9 inches
LR: approx 16 inches ________RR: approx 16'-6" inches

I did it this way because I was trying to get them the same height all around when I was installing them at the time.

Should I try to set them to the same height of front left and right, and same for rear left and right? Assuming the weight of the car is originally equal from factory.


I understand how you corner balance a car. I'm just saying get the cross weights relatively happy, try to even things out, but at some point you've just got to call it good enough. I think that point is reached before you start adding weight to the extreme ends of the car.