Adjusting coilover ; Does it really takes 4 hours !?

[aN4rk1]

Ok I think I understand what you mean. Thank you

[C-unit]

sorry I suck at explaining..

[aN4rk1]

Nono, i got it. I will not fully understand until I actually put them in. Thanks a lot

[cobrAA]

damn... so i simply can't lower them.. arg lol..!!

[frankiman]

it can actually take a couple hours to PROPERLY setup a coilover suspension

most people install coilovers for aesthetic reasons, or simply think that putting on a set will make their car drive like a F1 car
truth is, you really need to setup the suspension correctly to fully utilize its potential

i just got my car corner balanced and alignment by VAG Motorsport in Laval QC,

corner balancing is a way of ajusting each individual corner - via the height ajustment of the coilovers - to carefully distribute the weight of the car on its 4 wheels
each 1mm makes a difference

it usually takes 2,5 to 4 hours depenping on the car
VAG is mostly used to do 911s and BMW race cars, but will do anything else with coilovers

it took them 3,5 hours just for the corner balancing, since they had to remove the rear wheels to acces the collars


first, they add the proper weights in the car to simulate the driver (i had them put 40lbs where the passenger seat is, because i didn't want to bolt it in just for that, and a guy sat in the driver seat with another 40lbs battery to simulate my weight)



then they put the car on 4 electronic scales



and start making ajustments corner by corner




the car started with an almost perfect side to side weight distribution



and a pretty good starting cross weight, for the adjustment i did myself using a tape measure



a 50% cross weight is the goal, comparing the weight of LF + RL and RF + RR, like an X
doing this ensures the car will feel exactly the same when turning right than turning left

a 50% cross weight was acheived
(thats without a driver, with a driver, its 50,1% good enough)



after that, a proper track alignment was done, which took another 3 hours to get perfect






the total weight of the car without a driver is 3360lbs / 1524kg
but thats without a front bumper and side skirts and some interior pieces, but without HICAS and a 1/3 full tank of gas
all and all, its not too far from the stock weight of 1480kg / 3262lbs

in the end, the car is probly 100lbs heavier than stock, considering i added a butt load of chassis stiffening and fluid cooling parts, and a much bigger braking system, its ok by me

[cobrAA]

wowww and I guess it's 65$ a hour? Damn.. lol

[frankiman]

70 actually

[aN4rk1]

Wow thats is pretty damn awesome. I wanna get that done to my car. I wonder if there is anywhere that does that and are that good in around the GTA?
Also Francois, Iam going to be putting on my new coilovers soon, and then want to get this done. I will then be storing the car pretty soon so should I wait till next season to get this done or no. If I get it done and then store it, will it loose its balancing over the winter?

[frankiman]

check out Can-Alignment in Milton, found that with a quick google search

you can get it done whenever you want, as long as you get the alignment done at the same time, once everything is locked in, it shouldn't change, unless you remove/add alot of weight afterwards

[cobrAA]

at least it's a one-shot thing. Still interesting but not for me at the moment.

[aN4rk1]

check out Can-Alignment in Milton, found that with a quick google search

you can get it done whenever you want, as long as you get the alignment done at the same time, once everything is locked in, it shouldn't change, unless you remove/add alot of weight afterwards

Thanks man. No no real weight change plans after so it should be ok.

[cobrAA]

So, those coils can't be lowered right?

http://forums.nicoclub.com/tein-ha-coilovers-s13-800-t271626.html

[frankiman]

yeah they can