alternative to spindle raising?

[sbmackie]

Is there an alternative to raising the spindles, like strut tower spacer removal/replacement, etc?

Car sits lowered to 24.5 front, 24 rear. Want to get geometry closer to spec.

Thanks

[Bill Verburg]

You can use steering rack spacers and o/s tie rod ends
Tarett has a couple of different versions adjustable bump steer kits

Elephant may have similar products, I didn't check

[IMR-Merlin]

Have you driven the car? I have about the same in the front and my struts bottom on big bumps.

[Trackrash]

If you just lower the front suspension much, without raising the spindles, you will have problems. Your struts will bottom out and the angle of the a-arms will not be parallel (or nearly) to the ground, causing poor suspension geometry.

[Elombard]

What about using a shorter insert and shortening the strut tube and then using a spacer between the strut and the LCA to correct the geometry....like they do on datsuns.....the spindle raising is much more elegant.

We used to make a sleeve to slide over the strut tube and cut like 2 inches out of the tube and weld the sleeve. Then use the sleeve as the mount for the coil over spring bottom mount. But some one figured out what insert to use, or we used to make up a spacer to fit a race insert..cant remember. Any way less work to raise the spindle, maybe an option for Konis?

[jpnovak]

There is no way around it if you really want a low ride height. Without raising the spindles the effective location of the wheel hub is always going to be the same with respect to the location of the a-arm. When you move the body down, lowering the car, the resulting angle of the a-arm will approach parallel to the ground and then end up with a net positive angle if you go lower. Meaning, the outboard ball joint height is higher than the inboard a-arm pivot.

The challenge here is not the car in a static state of driving in a straight line. When you go around a corner, the arc swing motion of the a-arm will move the ball joint closer in towards the chassis. This means you are inducing positive camber at a time when the car is leaning over. The combination of the induced positive camber and the body roll angle means you are loosing tire contact patch. The farther you lean and compress the suspension, the worse it gets. This is independent of bump-steer. Raising the top mounts of the damper (strut tops) has very limited effects on what is happening at the ball joint base of the strut.

Raising the spindles will position the wheel hub higher in the wheel well, lowering the car without changing the suspension geometry. To get it right you want to raise the spindles as much as you can so that when the car is cornering the arms are parallel the the chassis floor. The arc gives the greatest horizontal location of the ball joint and thus maximizes the negative camber at this point. Not really possible or practical but from a design and engineering position this is what we all aspire to be.