measuring suspension height. adjusting coilovers

[milkandoj]

Im playing around with the height on my g4 coilovers (height adjustment).
Whats the best way to measure you heights.

With the car on the ground im measuring 605mm from the ground to the gaurd. Then i adjust the coilover accordingly. 605mm same for the front and the rear. And it looks good to me.



Or maybe the gaurd to the ground isnt the best way. Is there another way?
Is there a way of knowing the suspension geomotry of the front and the rear are working in the same range so it doesnt handle like a pig?


EDIT: rephrased my question a bit.

 

[to4garret]

the best way,

is to leave them how they were, we lower cars, not jack them up

p.s. no one reply, he wants to hilux his car.

 

[Dean]

the best way,

is to leave them how they were, we lower cars, not jack them up

p.s. no one reply, he wants to hilux his car.

bahahaha.
how many beers you had today mate? lol

 

[milkandoj]

the best way,

is to leave them how they were, we lower cars, not jack them up

p.s. no one reply, he wants to hilux his car.

lol shut up craig!

I put it on its ass and it looked great but i havent got much of my flex join in my exhaust left!
So its gotta go up 5mm-10, not that much jeez!!!!


I LOWERED it 30 at the front and 45 at the rear from what the previous owner had it

 

[to4garret]

im pretty sure you just minimize the distance between the lower foot and the spring seat.

thats how you set the ride height.

serial.

 

[milkandoj]

lol craig be serious or do some work, stop thread whoring!!!

I need more clearance for jumping curbs comming out of roundabouts!


Seriously now, what the best way to meaure it all up.
I just want the front and rears to be operting in a simular range.


Im getting it all sorted before i take it in for a wheel alignment n hope i havent bent my coil overs.
It needs to go up a tad, i wont have an exhaust left otherwise!

 

[Dean]

excuse my ignorance.
but isnt it just trial and error?
just keep going until you get the same distance between tire and guard on both front and back.
they are not equal based on the coilover adjustment.
Even my hotbits make me have different height adjustment to my coilovers for both front and back.

 

[milkandoj]

Thats what im doing. measure it.... and adjust the coilover accordingly to 605. if i want say 6mm i measure it on the shaft, it works out to 3 threads as each is 2mm.
I have no problem with this.....

.


Question is what heights to set it to.

I want 605mm from gaurd to the ground on the front...

So do i just set the rear the same, or to keep the suspension acting in the same way between front and rear, do i do a differnt height at the rear.

i.e 10mm higher, lower? and how will i affect my handeling.

Edit: i edited my first a bit to make it more clear,

 

[to4garret]

measure the distance from the chassis rail under the car to the ground, it runs level front to rear.

it should be about 60mm from the ground, to allow enough clearance so you dont chop up worms

 

[milkandoj]

IM not talking about how the height adjustment will make the spring rate on the coil overs differ or anything like that, as i wont, im adjusting the shaft up and down as you know. And yes im pretty sure they would all differ a bit.

Im talking about how the camber and castor will behave when cornering. According to how low i put it at each end.

Am i making this a bit clear or still sound like im talking smack? haha

 

[milkandoj]

measure the distance from the chassis rail under the car to the ground, it runs level front to rear.

it should be about 60mm from the ground, to allow enough clearance so you dont chop up worms

60mm...haha yeah i was running about that before lol

Stuff it ill just run 605mm all around gaurd to the ground. Its too hard lol.

 

[Dean]

Just sma.. sma..sma.. smack it up aiiii!!
lol. So to clear it up....
having coilovers set to the same height gives you different guard to ground measurements. (which is normal)
so for you to have the same guard to ground measurements you are having different coilover height lengths...
so you want to know if that will affect your handling..

 

[milkandoj]

I just want to know whats the best refernce to use to measure it up.

Off the gaurd to the ground,
gaurd to the centre of the wheel,
Chassis rails to the ground?


I have no problem adjusting the coil overs. I just take my measurement form the gaurd to the ground, know how many mm im out then adjust on the thread. No probs.

AND.. for it to handle well is it best to say have the back a little higher or lower to handle better. Or just run flat. Maybe someone has experimented with this.

For example to compensate for when the car lifts on the front in a corner, leading to understeer.
"anti lift kits" are meant to prevent this but my suspensions rock hard so doesnt squat under power much. Prob not worth bothering about.

 

[VR-4Squid]

I just want to know whats the best refernce to use to measure it up.

Off the gaurd to the ground,
gaurd to the centre of the wheel,
Chassis rails to the ground?

It really doesn't matter as long as you take the measurement from the exact same place each time.

I use guard to centre of the wheel though.

Note, if the car is level, the guard to wheel centre measurement will not be the same front and rear.
My vr4 is 300mm front, 260mm rear, but it really needs to be abit higher in the rear to make it level.

 

[milkandoj]

Note, if the car is level, the guard to wheel centre measurement will not be the same front and rear.

That was pretty much the basis for me asking the question, and that what im gettin at!


The chassis rails is about 110mm, i cant be spot on at the drieway is slightly differnt from where the wheels are sitting to the centre of the car.

 

[rob323]

You do NOT have to have the rears set at the same height as the fronts. Yes, it will affect your castor angle on the fronts by a bees dick but you notice a thing because your strut tops do not allow you to change castor anyway.

It doesn't really matter where you measure it to, it will all change depending on tyre pressure, whether you have any passengers in the car etc. Try to get the front left and front right at the same height, then the same for the rears.

Do not lower it past the point where the lower control arms on the front go past horizontal when sitting still cause you will enter bump steer territory.

If you lower the rears too much, you may end up with too much camber that you can't dial out and that will give you less grip in the ass end.

Please remember that any change in ride height will change the toe dramatically and require a wheel alignment to correct it.

 

[milkandoj]

THANKYOU! rob323, that was the kind of information i was after.

Yeah im taking it in for a wheel alignment after this.

I gave it all a nice tap going up a curb last night my first "moment" in this car.
I put the allignment out and ive wanted to raise the car a bit so now i may aswell set it all up right again, before taking to the suspension mob up the road from me. ANd gettin it aligned again and have a look to make sure i didnt stuff anythig.

What should i look for to see if ive bent anything, ive taken the wheels off and had a look around and underneath the car, i cant see anything bent. However, one of the front wheels now looks have more negative camber after the hit.
Hope its just from shifting the camber tops accross and not bending the coilovers

 

[to4garret]

what have we learned from this?

chassis rail to ground clearance, 40mm

 

[Dean]

Also,
stay away from Trent from Punchy.
Watching him too much affects the way you speak.

 

[milkandoj]

Also,
stay away from Trent from Punchy.
Watching him too much affects the way you speak.

Nah it affects the way you drive.