Time for the 10s.

GSS138

Hey Arvaxx you are thinking in the right direction, but have the wrong idea here I think.

Dropping the front low will actually add more weight to the rear. But dropping the rear will just counter act that.

Think of a suspension as 4 guys holding up a pallet full of dirt on all 4 corners.

FL FR
RL RR

If Mr. FL bends his legs and lowers down. It is going to get "heavier" for everyone else. Especially Mr. RR-his cross partner.

Now imagine that instead, Mr RL and Mr. RR both lift their hands and press the whole thing up. There is now a ton of weight on the rear.

Now imagine that while they have the rear raised in the air. FL and FR in turn both raise, their hands above their head. It's now equally distributed again.

(I am assuming of course these 4 men are clones with equal strength height and arm length.)

The point is you can add weight to the rear, by either lowering the front, or raising the back.

Lower too much, and it's just like doing a squat where you put your a$$ all the way to the floor-it becomes very hard to stand up- and, if your back is bent to much(camber out), you are going to lose the leverage of your legs.


The "Correct" height(if there is one) is this:
Street car-60% of shock travel length exposed(the silver piston thingy) and usable for compression. (makes nice smooth ride)
Road race-50/50 of shock travel length exposed used for compression/Bump (handles a variety of unknowns)
Drag car-40% of shock travel length xposed 40 for compression 60 for rebound (not worried about bumps in the road or ride quality, just want to put the power back on the ground.)

Don't flame me it's not a hard rule, but a good guideline.

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Current Mods: Vorpal Weapon +5.

wstar

Just thinking about basic physics with simple objects (as in your earlier example with 4 guys), this doesn't seem right? I realize with a suspension system there's a lot more going on, but think of the extremes with a simple static object: if the rear two guys kept their end 2 feet off the ground, and the front guys raised their end way up in the air (so that the object is now getting close to vertical, but not quite), wouldn't almost all of the weight be in the rear guys' hands at that point?

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7AT Track Car!
Journal thread / Car setup details

GSS138

Yes and I hope my previous post made you laugh hehe. Keep in mind the goal, the car stays perfectly level.

Yes if you lower the front end 12" and raise the rear end 12", then all the weight is going to be on the front. It will be physically impossible for the two rear people to hold up the weight(unless there are giant springs back there with and incredibly stiff frame). This is why just a little bit of preload is good as well, allowing you to adjust corner weights without actually moving the ride height too much. With 50 lbs of preload on the spring when you load it on the perch, you can first set the ride height, then balance. Lot of guys will do the back first, and then tune in the front. The heavier side(our front) will make more dramatic changes throughout.

When you lower one end of the car too far, it's pretty obvious because an unusual amount of weight will be transferred. That's when your roll moment goes out of whack. so you can use that as a measurement or baseline point. It's just like when you take 400 lbs and don't bend your knees on a squat rack. Sure anyone can suspend 400 lbs on their shoulders if they don't dig too deep. Try doing it with with a full knee bend.

Think of the frame of a house, it's job is to distribute equal weight to all four corners. Even if the earth sinks 1" on one side, the frame transfers this weight around. Same with a car. However, if you completely knock out one corner of the house, then you have a real problem.

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Current Mods: Vorpal Weapon +5.