Corner balance - suspension

[jaykay]

......will I survive without it?. I don't need a vicious track set up at the moment and plan to skate by good camber ride height and alignment settings....save some cash ahhhh a lot of cash

[ekam]

Corner balance means the wheel gaps on all 4 corners are likely to be different. Pointless and overkill for street car.

[The Radium King]

just tracked my car w/ new corner balance this past weekend. uncertain if any benefits as it was done same time as 1" lower, -2F/-1.5R camber, sways and coilovers. can't comment on specific impact of the corner balance, but overall car is now telepathic. have to change turn in points, brake points, apexes, everything. took me all day just to get back to my old speeds. difference is, previously all four tires were yelling at me; now at same speeds it's cool runnings which means I am leaving a lot on the table. can't engineer my way out of this one - just gotta sack-up an drive faster.

[jaykay]

Originally Posted by ekam

Corner balance means the wheel gaps on all 4 corners are likely to be different. Pointless and overkill for street car.

yep the car looks terrible and lop sided....what do you loose on track? probably nothing if you are not operating near traction limits most of the lap

[jaykay]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

just tracked my car w/ new corner balance this past weekend. uncertain if any benefits as it was done same time as 1" lower, -2F/-1.5R camber, sways and coilovers. can't comment on specific impact of the corner balance, but overall car is now telepathic. have to change turn in points, brake points, apexes, everything. took me all day just to get back to my old speeds. difference is, previously all four tires were yelling at me; now at same speeds it's cool runnings which means I am leaving a lot on the table. can't engineer my way out of this one - just gotta sack-up an drive faster.

hey what tires are you on this time?

[thstone]

Here is a good tutorial on corner balancing: Elephant Racing | Tech Topic | Corner Balance

"Corner balancing is the process of shifting the weight carried by each wheel to approach optimal values. Although some weight can be shifted between wheels by physically relocating parts of the car, the corner balance process is focused on shifting weight by adjusting the suspension spring height.

Street cars are rarely corner balanced and typically have no provision for adjusting spring height. That's because their spring rate is relatively low, perhaps 100 lbs/in. With such low spring rates it would take a huge imbalance in spring height to have a significant affect on corner balance.

Performance and race cars may have spring rates of 300, 400, 500 lbs/in and higher. Corner balance becomes much more important due to the high spring rates - small changes in height greatly impact weight carried. Additionally, we are much more concerned with handling and performance with race cars so corner balance becomes very important."

Will it matter? No, not unless you're trying to get that last 5% performance out of the car.

[The Radium King]

yoko ad08. oz rims 8.5 front 10 back. 235 on front and 265 rear. going to burn these off then go to two sets - one for street on my oem rims and some stickies for the track on my oz rims. when i do i'll be back here soliciting opinions on a 245/275 setup (or 255/285???).

[thstone]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

yoko ad08. oz rims 8.5 front 10 back. 235 on front and 265 rear. going to burn these off then go to two sets - one for street on my oem rims and some stickies for the track on my oz rims. when i do i'll be back here soliciting opinions on a 245/275 setup (or 255/285???).

I have run 245/275 (Hankook R-S3) on my 996 and I can say that setup would be incredibly fun on a Boxster! Grip! Grip! Grip!

It felt very balanced but I recently changed to 285 in the rear to keep that crazy 911 rear end better planted!

[mikeman]

friend just had his Z06 corner balanced, he's at the track a lot (JK - you been up to Calabogie??) said he felt a difference from before having it balanced. But it was lowered an additional half-inch or so at the same time. .

[jaykay]

Originally Posted by thstone

Here is a good tutorial on corner balancing: Elephant Racing | Tech Topic | Corner Balance

"Corner balancing is the process of shifting the weight carried by each wheel to approach optimal values. Although some weight can be shifted between wheels by physically relocating parts of the car, the corner balance process is focused on shifting weight by adjusting the suspension spring height.

Street cars are rarely corner balanced and typically have no provision for adjusting spring height. That's because their spring rate is relatively low, perhaps 100 lbs/in. With such low spring rates it would take a huge imbalance in spring height to have a significant affect on corner balance.

Performance and race cars may have spring rates of 300, 400, 500 lbs/in and higher. Corner balance becomes much more important due to the high spring rates - small changes in height greatly impact weight carried. Additionally, we are much more concerned with handling and performance with race cars so corner balance becomes very important."

Will it matter? No, not unless you're trying to get that last 5% performance out of the car.

Great info thank you! Yes the light bulb popped on.....I am not running high rate springs and don't need the balance to the degree that another highly sprung car would....a ahh brain fade

[jaykay]

Originally Posted by mikeman

friend just had his Z06 corner balanced, he's at the track a lot (JK - you been up to Calabogie??) said he felt a difference from before having it balanced. But it was lowered an additional half-inch or so at the same time. .

Have not been but really want to...UCR really looses money at that track so I am out of luck in the future. When I was active I actually cancelled out of going there as I might have some problems with the sound restrictions. Now i have a by-pass plug system which can be quickly employed (although I blew one out on a downshift on the weekend...so maybe something more robust is needed)....Heard its really technical and hard to put everything together for .......well everything is going to be hard for me after this hiatus. Is it very hard on tires like Shannonvile? Not sure my current tires will take a weekend at a tight technical track

Any good non PCA events/sessions there? Where do you recommend staying?

[jaykay]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

yoko ad08. oz rims 8.5 front 10 back. 235 on front and 265 rear. going to burn these off then go to two sets - one for street on my oem rims and some stickies for the track on my oz rims. when i do i'll be back here soliciting opinions on a 245/275 setup (or 255/285???).

wow any rubbing or spacers

[mikeman]

Originally Posted by jaykay

Have not been but really want to...UCR really looses money at that track so I am out of luck in the future. When I was active I actually cancelled out of going there as I might have some problems with the sound restrictions. Now i have a by-pass plug system which can be quickly employed (although I blew one out on a downshift on the weekend...so maybe something more robust is needed)....Heard its really technical and hard to put everything together for .......well everything is going to be hard for me after this hiatus. Is it very hard on tires like Shannonvile? Not sure my current tires will take a weekend at a tight technical track

Any good non PCA events/sessions there? Where do you recommend staying?

Yeah sound restrictions are the only real stumbling block. Restrictors or even strapping a cherry bomb on the back (lol) has been known to work. They sound check during events on the main straight. Usually... they're pretty lax though.

It's a long track, that's the main challenge. And there are blind entrances all over the place, but it's not so bad.. Took me two days to figure out where I was going the first weekend out!
Probably the best event for learning is with the BMW club, or the Motorsports Club of Ottawa - a lot of the guys I go up there with instruct with both those groups. A LOT cheaper than the PCA events, and ... more relaxed

It flows well, not high speed like Mosport, it's more technical but nothing like Shannonville... S'ville has old school pavement. Like cheese grater, dunno if you ever walked it. I crashed a few bikes there racing, and have a couple sets of leathers that look like I was attacked by a pack of wolverines..
'Bogie pavement is some new age composition of magic beans or something, it's grippy but smooth, and I haven't had excessive tire wear problems there. Brakes overheating on a 30+C day, yeah, but not really tire issues.

There's a really nice resort a few minutes away, and usually a lot of cottages to rent for the night. I hear the golf course has space for camping? Never checked it out..