Click to view attachmentQUOTE(ellisor3 @ Jan 16 2012, 02:32 PM)
I took my car to get it corner balanced, and all seem to work out pretty well. Then went to get the alignment and had some issues. I posted about that and got some really good feedback that will help me solve the problem.
Then today as I was looking at the situation again I noticed another problem. The ride height of my car is higher in the passengers rear than the drivers rear by 2.5 cm. I don't know how I or the shop that did the corner balancing missed it.
Here are the numbers from the weighing
LF 599 RF 541 =1140
LR 724 RR 678 =1402
Total weight 2542
Left side is 52% Right Side is 48% Cross weight is 50.23
To Correct the balancing, take the weight of the total of the front and multiply by the corner to be corrected: 1140x52%=593 for the LF 1140x48%=547 for the RF
1402x52%=729 for the LR and 1402x 48%=673 for the RR
Corrected quadrants
LF 592(-7) RF 547 (+7)
LR 729 (+5) RR 673 (-5)
Since I have steel flares, I measured the height from the floor to the lip of the flares and they are the same.
I also checked the height setting on the shocks (Bilstein Sports) and they are equal to each other.
What would make the car higher on one side?
Could the sway bars cause this?
It seems one option would be to raise the LR to not only equal the weight but correct the ride height. The only thing that puzzles me about that is that the shocks would be set in two different positions, is that normal??
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Hi ellisor3,
I’m GLAD to see another 914 owner bring up the topic of CORNER WEIGHTING!!! For starters, the shop who “corner balanced” your car SUCKED! While my car is a V8 conversion, I was still able to balance the front Rt to Left at 30 lbs and the Rear as 25 lbs Delta, right to left!!!! You should be able to match this or BETTER!
I honestly don’t know what the “corrective calculations” are about as it all comes down to the weight EACH wheel loads. When I raced a Formula Ford, I just put a bathroom scale under each wheel to do corner weight checks.
To start the process, load WEIGHTS in the driver’s seat AND floor to match the driver (generally, legs & feet = 30 lbs). I do NOT disconnect swaybars as I'm looking for the most TRUE data as possible.
Then, jack up the car, set 3 corners on pads (wooden blocks) to match the height of the measured wheel. Now you are ready for the tedious work of weighing each wheel and carefully making small adjustments.
My car has “adjustable” coilovers in the rear, but each adjustment is ¼” at a time. You should be able to make decent adjustments with the stock the coil-over via shims. In the front, we all can enjoy the wonderful adjust-by-bolt design giving us infinite adjustability.
My “measuring tool” is a simple lever arm I made from some sections of tubing I welded together for a 5:1 ratio. At the outer end of the “Lever Arm” I placed a simple bathroom scale. Start at a corner and record all the corner weights and
when done, you will have a base-line of data from which to start. Then, make a SINGLE adjustment and measure ALL 4 corners again. Make SMALL adjustments and repeat the process until you feel you have gotten the best results possible.
At the end, you will know what I mean about a commitment to do the job. Obviously, the Shop did NOT have a similar commitment.
Check out my Simple "lever-arm tool" which you could match with an aluminum ladder or similar thing.
If you have any questions, feel free to inquire.
Best,
Terry