truth.b

Hey guys,

I have a track day coming up in about 3 weeks and I'm trying to decided if I want the race shop that does my alignment to corner balance my car. I daily drive my car year round so I'm not looking to lower it.

Car:
Stock Grand Sport w/ F55 Magnetic Ride Suspension
Street Tires: Bridgestone Potenza Pole Positions Runflats
Intermediate Level Driver

Questions:

• Is there any benefit to corner balancing a stock Grand Sport with F55 Magnetic Ride ?
• If I get the car corner-balanced I was going to go with a full fuel load. Is this wise, if not what fuel level should I go with?
• How does having a car corner-balanced change the way tires roll over in the corners...? i.e. will there be more or less sidewall rollover do to the vehicle being balanced?
• What is a reasonable outcome from having my car corner balanced...? i.e. better handling? less side-to-side suspension travel? better traction out corners due to equal'ish weight transfer?

Lastly, can someone tell me if the below is the process correct?

1. Adjust ride height
2. Set tire pressures
3. Perform alignment
4. Make sure fuel load is set
5. Add driver weight (sit in car)
6. Disconnect sway bar to ensure suspension travel is uninhibited ... (i.e disconnect 1 end link front and rear)
7. When done, re-check it all and if you need to readjust ride height, alignment, etc....start over
8. When really done, connect sway bars

Nowanker

The standard corner balance equalizes the weight distribution side to side, making the handling more predictable between left hand corners and rights. You're not actually moving the weight around in the car, so you won't actually wind up with equal weight on each wheel.
There are different corner balancing strategies, depending on car/driver/track. For a production based car, without any special goals... I set the cross weights to 50%.
I typically set the ride height first, with ballast weight of the driver and whatever fuel load would be there midway through a session. Disconnect the swaybars... or you will be hating life. Set the tire pressures, make sure the F wheels have ~even toe.
As long as the alignment is pretty close, I align afterwards. Ride height has a more noticeable effect on alignment angles than alignment has on the corner bal. Align before and after if you're a glutton for punishment.
As for the benefits... unless it was MILES out, or you're extremely sensitive and skilled as a driver, doubtful it would ever be noticed. In a 900 lb. Formula Ford... more likely.

ErnieN85

you need adjustable end links so it stays where you set it (no twist on the bars)