Corner Balancing

[Bobpantax]

Hi all. I thought it would be helpful to post Mark Jorgenson's ( Woodhouse Performance Guru ) description of the process of corner balancing. I beleive that this process is especially important to those of us who have chosen to add weight to the front of the car by the installation of a supercharger. Without this process, the car, especially with the extra power, has a greater tendancy to snake bite. See description below. It pertains to a Viper that has Eibachs and Motons but is equally applicable to other similar applications.

"When we corner balance a car we start out by driving the car for a short distance to seat in the springs and shocks, then once on the rack we loosen all the bolts slightly to insure there is no binding and set the overall ride height front and rear and the rake. From there we put the car up on the scales and adjust the corners to get the weight at the cross corners as close to 50 -50 as we can with the drivers estimated weight in the seat. This process will change the look of the wheel well heights on each corner slightly but is necessary to balance the car. After all the balancing is done we start the alignment process insuring the settings are where we need them and the toe patterns are good front and rear through the bump curve. With all the specialty tools to do this job it is very time consuming and when done right really transforms the handling of the car."

 

[EllowViper]

Great post! I know in my service manual that when one does an alignment, all the shocks are suppose to be loosened and the vehicle allowed to settle/load the suspension and put weight in the seat to simulate driver loading. Then the shocks are to be tightened under load and the alignment commenced at that point. Makes me wonder when I had my Eibachs installed and aligned how well of a job was done.

 

[hemibeep]

I'm glad they didn't need my weight to balance, would need helper springs on the driver side.....

Seriously, Ellow, Chuck knows a phone number of a shop in tampa that does corner balancing and focuses on higher end autos.

Pm him and he'll give you the name.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

No! I refuse to reveal any information regarding suspension setup.

...unless bribed. Winghouse preferrably.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

Can you ask them what the definition of "cross corners" means? With all the terms used (wedge, corner weight, etc) it might help understand this more.

Since I am very specifically interested in braking (and would have previously recommended corner weighting to reach equal front wheel loads so you don't skid one tire) I am curious what each corner ends up with when they are done. Do you have those numbers?

 

[Andrew2KRT10]

Know something? I have never had my alignment done. Neer seemed like I needed it. Forget corner balancing, I never looked into that.

Tom, I'm thinking October

AC

 

[GTS Jeff]

for those that don't know, corning weighting and ride height is usally done with threaded adjustable spring perches, its really not practical to do with stock shock and spring shims.

 

[Bobpantax]

Hi Tom. Just contact Mike Jorgenson yourself. I am sure that he will answer your questions.

Hi Andrew. The corner balancing procedure, as mentioned above, is really not for the stock suspension. However, rest assured that Eibachs, Motons and corner balancing results in much better handling under performance conditions. I have had both and the modified suspension is worth the money - assuming that it is installed and tuned by someone who knows what he is doing and has the tools to do it properly. There are quite a few posts in the context of lowering a Viper that indicate that little regard was given to suspension tuning after the new components were installed and the car lowered. Doing it this way, IMO, is foolish and a little dangerous.

 

[Andrew2KRT10]

Interesting. I keep thinking about lowering and improving the suspension, but the drive around town would be a nightmare. I almost wish I could keep my existing height, but decrease the roll around turns like during a road course or AX. Then again, the movement i'm feeling might be all in my seats.

AC

 

[mjorgensen Woodhouse]

Andrew,

You could keep the same ride hieght with the motons and you would still feel a decrease in roll because the springs and shocks are better mated to each other. The valving is the critical factor that you have no control over with the factory set up. This is also what will make the ride SOOOO much better than the stock suspension.

Mark Jorgensen

 

[GTS Bruce]

Once I became careful and learned not to bottom the car with the stock suspension it carried over and I have had absolutely no problem being lowered with eibachs and adjusted stock shocks. Bruce

 

[Andrew2KRT10]

Hummmm

 

[2 VENOMOUS]

Andrew maybe a slighly stiffer swaybars, it helps against roll, nothing to drastic since all the component have to work together, maybe just stiffer bushing on it

george

 

[2 VENOMOUS]

When coner balancing, the swaybar should be disconected and then adjusted with the proper weight on the car.

 

[Andrew2KRT10]

George:

I changed teh bushings a while ago to Delrin. I think I need to change the seats. I definately think I "feel" more roll than the car has.

AC