Corner Balancing - Why No One Talks about it????

cab83_750 · 05-29-2009, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azn370z

the reason I won't corner balance is because I want there to be less wheel gap in front and more in the rear. I also want the wheel gap to be the same on the passenger side as the drivers side. I believe in order to have it balanced the gap will be different on every corner, maybe not but much. I'm more for looks and this setting shouldn't affect tire wear or handling by much.

Would you believe that as little as 50+ lbs difference between front corners (or 50+ lbs difference between rear corners) could make a difference?

Sorry. I am just anal about handling.

ChrisSlicks · 05-30-2009, 08:46 AM

Yes, even 50 pounds can make a small difference. Not to the point that you can feel driving but you will see it in the telemetry. Right now with the stock suspension setup I have 20% more grip turning right (1.2G) than I have turning left (0.95G) and that is with passenger. Hopefully that will be corrected with coilovers, camber arms and a good alignment.

cab83_750 · 05-30-2009, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danops

Most people do overlook corner balancing/corner weighting.

Here's a few reasons why:
1) Cost of Corner Balancing + Alignment
2) Cosmetics - they want to see how good it looks really low, wheel gap, camber, etc.
3) They can't decide what ride height to keep it at
4) Ground clearance - the most common complaint is "It's too low, I can't drive into my driveway"
5) More suspension adjustments in dampening & ride height for aftermarket wheel/tire combinations & tire rubbing
6) They don't know what corner balancing would do and how it could benefit them in safety, braking, acceleration, weight transfer in turns, and overall handling.

It's almost like ECU tuning.. people will buy aftermarket parts but will not spend the money for custom dyno tuning. The Dyno Tuning will be the best for performance, reliability, efficiency but costs $400-1000 plus the engine management $500-3000.

Suspension tuning can cost anywhere between $200-2000. There are so many concerns to get it tuned just right for the driver. Driving style is the biggest concern, followed by road conditions, power, brakes, and tire compound.

You summarized this pretty well. Great job!

The undecisiveness of the height is the main cause of the cumulative cost: you lower it ($$), then corner balance it $$, then align it $$. Then you change your mind to get it lowered again, or perhaps getting it raised again....resulting to a cyclical and repeating cost. Believe me, I went through this process.

I believe that there could be a point where 'cosmetics' and correctly-balanced car can meet.

As far as "people not knowing about the safety benefit", that is probably something that sports car driver should begin to get education on.

BTW, automotive scales can cost over $1,000.00. He, who can invent an affordable bathroom scale that could measure up to 1,000 lbs, could make some money marketing the gizmo.

BlueR32 · 05-31-2009, 10:13 PM

corner balancing is an effort to get cross-weights equal. having the front lower than the back (or vice versa) would not affect one's corner balance, only the front/back weight distribution.

if you have coils and care about handling, you should get corner balanced. it is primarily a track thing, since you have to make certain assumptions: weight of the driver, whether a passenger is present or not, how much gas is in the car, whether the spare is out or not, etc.

so, a corner balance for the track will not necessarily be perfect when you're taking your 300lb gf to in-and-out burger.

that having been said, a badly off corner balance can really adversely affect handling and braking. so, even if you don't track, you should at least make sure that your corner weights are not way off, if you have coils.

05-31-2009, 10:13 PM	#4 (permalink)
BlueR32 Base Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 20 Drives: 2004 VW R32 Rep Power: 204	corner balancing is an effort to get cross-weights equal. having the front lower than the back (or vice versa) would not affect one's corner balance, only the front/back weight distribution. if you have coils and care about handling, you should get corner balanced. it is primarily a track thing, since you have to make certain assumptions: weight of the driver, whether a passenger is present or not, how much gas is in the car, whether the spare is out or not, etc. so, a corner balance for the track will not necessarily be perfect when you're taking your 300lb gf to in-and-out burger. that having been said, a badly off corner balance can really adversely affect handling and braking. so, even if you don't track, you should at least make sure that your corner weights are not way off, if you have coils. littlejuanito likes this.

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05-30-2009, 08:46 AM	#2 (permalink)
ChrisSlicks A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: North East Posts: 6,203 Drives: 09 370Z Sport M6 Rep Power: 654	Yes, even 50 pounds can make a small difference. Not to the point that you can feel driving but you will see it in the telemetry. Right now with the stock suspension setup I have 20% more grip turning right (1.2G) than I have turning left (0.95G) and that is with passenger. Hopefully that will be corrected with coilovers, camber arms and a good alignment.