How important is rake.....
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 43,084
Likes: 33
From: Raleigh / Rolesville NC
and then for race / track day cars the corner balancing.
Getting your car properly lowered, corner balanced and aligned. your corvette will feel like a whole new sports car.
again corner balcing is not really needed for street use, but it could not hurt either.
Corner balance is getting the corners
LF+RR = RF+LR as as close to each other as possible.
Getting your car properly lowered, corner balanced and aligned. your corvette will feel like a whole new sports car.
again corner balcing is not really needed for street use, but it could not hurt either.
Corner balance is getting the corners
LF+RR = RF+LR as as close to each other as possible.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 3,371
Likes: 5
From: Mission Viejo, CA
St. Jude Donor '10, '15-'16
Lots of good info.
When I lowered my car, I was pretty conservative about it; a little less than 1" total drop, preserved the rake, and had my base C5 corner balanced and aligned to Z06 specs. then I put Z06 size wheels and C6 Z51 sway bars on it.
All paid off when I did my first track event; car was 100% neutral, and highly stable at 125+ MPH.
My last car (in high school) I modded heavily, but incorrectly. Turned it into a POS. I am determined not to do this with my C5. After I got my engineering degree and started paying attention I realized that at least half of mods that people do are not harmonious with the rest of the car and decrease overall performance.
When I lowered my car, I was pretty conservative about it; a little less than 1" total drop, preserved the rake, and had my base C5 corner balanced and aligned to Z06 specs. then I put Z06 size wheels and C6 Z51 sway bars on it.
All paid off when I did my first track event; car was 100% neutral, and highly stable at 125+ MPH.
My last car (in high school) I modded heavily, but incorrectly. Turned it into a POS. I am determined not to do this with my C5. After I got my engineering degree and started paying attention I realized that at least half of mods that people do are not harmonious with the rest of the car and decrease overall performance.
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 4,095
Likes: 42
From: Pewaukee WI
Very important for any speeds over 80 mph. The rake helps hold the car to the ground. Bernoulli effect like sails on sail boats. high pressure above and low pressure below the car. The rake causes the low pressure air under the car to escape quickly in back of the car, helping to hold the car down to the road.
Lowering your car any more then 1" also needs to have a bump steer kit installed for proper steering and handling.
Slammed cars look cool as heck but hand poorly. and most guys dont even know.
Lowering your car any more then 1" also needs to have a bump steer kit installed for proper steering and handling.
Slammed cars look cool as heck but hand poorly. and most guys dont even know.
Safety Car
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 3,725
Likes: 53
From: Warrington Pa.
First let me say I am not an engineer, I'll leave that to the experts. After lowering my car and driving for about 200 miles I went for a 4 wheel alignment at Phoenix Performance (http://www.phoenixperformance.net/) a well respected shop that has had winning Corvette race teams. The process is very detailed, first they weighed me, then covered the drivers seat and put weights on the drivers seat equal to my weight. They balanced the car and checked the front to rear rake making sure it was set proper and level side to side. Then the alignment. I asked about the rake and I was told that the front should be 3/4" lower than the rear for proper handling at higher speeds. Down force on the nose. At 150 mph my car feels no different than doing 65 mph , things just go past you faster
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