Corner balance question

[axl911]

All,

I need a bit of advice on corner balancing. My car is a 993 with Bilstein & HR springs.

The front sway has fix end links while the rears are adjustable. So when doing corner balance, should I just disconnect the rear and leave the front bar in place?

I am thinking that since the front sway is not adjustable, it can affect the corner weight of the car by exerting force on the suspension. And I don't want to disconnect it only to have it exert the force on the suspension after the balance...thereby changing the corner weight again.

Am I thinking right? Or should I disconnect the front also (this would be a real big pain).

thanks,
anthony

[Shawn 357]

Disconnect both sway bars. If there is any difference in the ride height between the sides that sway bar will still be trying to equal them out...

[DRACO A5OG]

I may be totally off but I thought once the ride height is established, to corner balance one simply make minor adjustments to get desired equilibrium on each corner for type of driving desired. Heck did I make sense?

I do not recall the alignment company removing anything when they did this but did have me sit in my ride to make it more accurate.

But is a 85

[Shawn 357]

Sorry I should have been more clear. When you are corner balancing a car you are for all intensive purposes making ride height adjustments (small adjustments) so if your sway bar is connected is always trying to bring the low wheel (high ride height) and the high wheel (low ride height) as close to the same height as possible. If the car is being driven on the street this may be a bit overkill but if you are getting out the scales why not?

[axl911]

Originally Posted by Shawn 357

Disconnect both sway bars. If there is any difference in the ride height between the sides that sway bar will still be trying to equal them out...

That is what I am afraid of, when adjusting the corner balance, I am essentially raising/lowering the ride height. So I am thinking I would want the bar in place since it also affect the suspension.

Here is what I am afraid of. Corner balance is done with sway off. Car is balanced. Now I put back on the sway bar. The sway bar then pushes one side up or down which then throws my corner balance out.

Am I thinking correctly here?

[Shawn 357]

You are thinking correctly. That is why you want to adjust the preload out of the sway bar when you reattach. What do you use the car for?

[axl911]

Originally Posted by Shawn 357

You are thinking correctly. That is why you want to adjust the preload out of the sway bar when you reattach. What do you use the car for?

For the rear, it is adjustable so I can readjust the pre-load. But the front is fixed so that is I am thinking of leaving it attached when doing the corner balance.

This is a street driven car, but I know someone in Dallas who may loan his scales so I am thinking why not.

--
anthony

[Plays with cars]

Letter of the law - disconnect both before corner balancing. But, this is predicated on you being able to adjust the end links after the corner balance to make the sway bar neutral. I've had good luck leaving sway bars hooked up if the end links aren't adjustable; following the same line of thinking you did.

This is not ideal because as the car transitions from one side to the other the suspension will have some non-linearity as the sway bar bushings change from pre-loaded one way to the other. If you had adjustable end links, this transition would occur when the car was level as it is crossing between leaning left to leaning right. But, if you leave the sway bar connected when you corner balance, this transition will occur "off-center" (i.e. not when the car is level but when it is leaning one way or the other). Depending on other factors like spring rates, shock damping, driving style (smooth / aggressive), or driving event (street / autocross / track) this will be more or less noticeable. I'm guessing that you are not after the last possible degree of performance so most of this discussion is academic, otherwise you would have adjustable end links. I've had better luck leaving them connected on cars w/o adjustable end links. Curious what the consensus ends up to be though.

[Shawn 357]

Without adjustable end links I would just leave it connected. You may also have to compromise between the perfect ride height on each side (for looks) or the perfect corner balance (performance). With this being a car that you drive on the street I wouldn't stress it to much.

I guess I could have just quoted Mark's post and said ditto

[911pcars]

The term, corner balance, refers to each wheel supporting the same proportional weight of the vehicle, side-to-side and front-to-rear.

If a corner has a slightly uneven ride height adjustment to achieve corner balance, but the sway bar drop link is fixed in length, reinstalling it will negate accurate balance. I'd reconnect anyway, but look for a way to introduce some adjustment to the drop links in the meantime. Otherwise, you're only "sorta close" or "good enough".

Sherwood