Front end to high! How to lower?

[Jack Gresham]

Each half turn will lower the car 1/8 inch, back the car out of the garage and pull back in to settle the sups, its also good to spray some lub on the adj screw (blaster or wd-40) I like 1 inch of rake between the front of the valance and rear measured at each end from the ground.

Jack, 87 Carrera

[sammyg2]

Nopers, haven't corner balanced yet but it is still in the immediate plans. I just bought some new front sway bar bushings, need to get them installed first, then it's off to johnston's in Torrance. It's pretty close now but I want it perfect.

Recently I installed the rear shocks, played with the height and alignment with my homemade string technique, and replaced the front tires (flat-spotted). I have new front rotors and brake lines going on the car next weekend, I'm shopping for new carpet, trying to talk myself into finally installing the new headliner I bought 2 years ago, gotta get the front bumper painted, I just bought an intercooler off a Saab 9000 that I need to modify to fit, it never ends.
Going to the river this weekend so the car has to wait.
Some day I will be all done fixing up this car ......
LOL I crack me up.

[450knotOffice]

C'mon Sam, you oughta be able to get all that done in, what, 2 to 3 hours tops, right?

Have fun at the river.

[sammyg2]

Now it looks like I might end up getting a sway bar upgrade, kool.

Only problem is, I know me and I will end up reinforcing everything so the brackets don't break, then I will need an even heavier bar to compensate for the extra weight I add. Gotta find some lightweight welding rod

[Thrasher]

Originally posted by Superman
These cars are so light that corner balancing really is an issue.

Superman, I must disagree on this one. If you're saying a weight-jacked 911 will not pull on a perfectly aligned car, that's just dead wrong.

I did my own corner balance using the tripod height method and then checked it on scales. My car was 19 lbs off on one diagonal, and I'll agree that is so little, it's not worth mentioning, but prior to that I went thru Hell trying to get the ride heights even close until I removed the weight jacking.

Craig

[sammyg2]

Craig, I dunno but it sounds like you are superman are agreeing with each other. What'd i miss?

[anthony]

Whether or not new shocks have an effect on the ride height depends on the shocks. Bilsteins have a high pressure gas charge that raises the car up when installed on a car that previously had oem Boge (no gas) shocks.

[sammyg2]

Mine had stock bilsteins form the factory, I replaced them with HDs in the front two years ago and sports in the back recently.
Both times the suspension raised up, but with more difference in the back.
Maybe the gas charge in the sports is stronger than in the stock bilsteins, which I believe are the heavy duty models.

[anthony]

Was the gas charge dead on the old shocks?

[Thrasher]

Originally posted by sammyg2
Craig, I dunno but it sounds like you are superman are agreeing with each other. What'd i miss?

oops, I guess a read a "is NOT an issue" DUh!

Hey, like I said, Superman is absolutely dead on about this

anyway, I'll include my normal lame link to my windbag writeup of how it worked for me:

Home ride height and corner balance success story

[sammyg2]

Anthony,
The old bilstein shocks still take some force to compress and when I let go they spring back so I would venture to say they still have a charge, but they compress much easier than the new sports.

So to answer your question, sort of

[dentist90]

Hey guys,
I got my first 911 (84 Carrera) just over a month ago. It had been lowered by a previous owner and alignment done about a year ago. I doubt any corner weight balancing checked. The measurements are all even from side-side but definitely lower than even euro-spec. I did measurements from centre of wheel to center of torsion bars, as per 101 Projects and Bentley Manual
( I got these books even before I bought the car!)
When braking hard it does not pull at all one side or the other... would uneven sprung weight on corners cause erratic braking due to more pressure on a given tire? Pics below...

[sammyg2]

Yep, that is one sign of corner-jacking, instability during braking.
The other one I know of is if the car exibits oversteer in one direction and under-steer in the other direction on similar corners.

If you car hasn't been in an accident and the measurements look good and it handles good, you prolly don't need to spend the money for a corner-balance.

[dentist90]

Thanks, sammyg2. Turns out it can oversteer in both directions, but only if prompted to do so. It has been in an accident, unfortunately, but was apparently repaired very meticulously under the watchful eye of its independant Porsche mechanic who has seen it through several owners. It definitely is a good thing to get a history/paperwork with a used car. I got to talk to the mechanic who knows this car inside and out and he put my mind at ease about the repairs subletted out. On the other hand, the transmission ... arggh!

[anthony]

Originally posted by sammyg2
Anthony,
The old bilstein shocks still take some force to compress and when I let go they spring back so I would venture to say they still have a charge, but they compress much easier than the new sports.

So to answer your question, sort of

I just replaced the front Bilsteins on my daily driver VW and the gas charge was completely gone. The car had lost about an inch and a half of ride height.