[cwarren]

is it worth it ? having my car done this Thursday and wonder what your opinion's are on it.

[The HACK]

If you had to ask, it's not worth it.

How often do you take your car to the track?

[CALWATERBOY]

Originally Posted by cwarren

is it worth it ? having my car done this Thursday and wonder what your opinion's are on it.

Yes - if you know what to do with it and can adjust your suspension. For public roads, satisfies curiosity, at least. Maybe reveals an issue that can be adj'd out. Maybe not!

[cwarren]

Originally Posted by The HACK

If you had to ask, it's not worth it.

How often do you take your car to the track?

obviously having it done so I personally think its worth it. I just wanted others opinions if they felt spending the extra money having the corner balancing done was worth it to them and did it make a significant difference in the characteristics of the car as a daily driver/street car . have I tracked it no unless you want to count 40 to 50 times down the 1/4 mile do I plan to yes absolutely will be there this summer. that being said just wanted someone with experience in either doing it or having it done in the past and what they thought .

[CJ421]

Realize that your car will not sit 'even' after corner balancing since it's accomplished by adjusting the ride height at each corner.

I've had it done to my car but I take my car to road courses; it helps keep tire performance consistent.

[cwarren]

was one of my biggest concerns .don't think I would like it if it was a noticeable difference . I have heard of people having it done and the wheel gap was way off around the car

[The HACK]

Originally Posted by cwarren

was one of my biggest concerns .don't think I would like it if it was a noticeable difference . I have heard of people having it done and the wheel gap was way off around the car

If after corner balancing the gap is more than 1/4" off on each side, there's something else wrong with the car.

When I had my car corner balanced, all they did was turn one of the front collars by ~1.5 turns. That moved the corner up less than 1/16". Once the car is on the ground, it is impossible to tell that the gap isn't "even."

Now, based on what you said? It's not worth it. The biggest effect on corner balancing for me, was after each 25 minute session on a road course, I can measure my tire pressure and tire temp and they're all nearly identical, which means the car is using all 4 tires evenly, which leads to a more balanced handling and better lap times. Since the CB is done right after the coil-over install, I can't tell you how big of a difference it made. But judging from the tire temp and pressure data, it's worth it for me.

But if you've never taken the car to a road course, and are "planning" on going in the future? Don't bother. You won't be able to take advantage of nearly 60% of what the car is capable of doing, and that last 10% of handling "prowess" corner balancing will add won't be appreciated at your skill level.

Like I said. If you had to ask, don't bother.

[cwarren]

Originally Posted by The HACK

If after corner balancing the gap is more than 1/4" off on each side, there's something else wrong with the car.

When I had my car corner balanced, all they did was turn one of the front collars by ~1.5 turns. That moved the corner up less than 1/16". Once the car is on the ground, it is impossible to tell that the gap isn't "even."

Now, based on what you said? It's not worth it. The biggest effect on corner balancing for me, was after each 25 minute session on a road course, I can measure my tire pressure and tire temp and they're all nearly identical, which means the car is using all 4 tires evenly, which leads to a more balanced handling and better lap times. Since the CB is done right after the coil-over install, I can't tell you how big of a difference it made. But judging from the tire temp and pressure data, it's worth it for me.

But if you've never taken the car to a road course, and are "planning" on going in the future? Don't bother. You won't be able to take advantage of nearly 60% of what the car is capable of doing, and that last 10% of handling "prowess" corner balancing will add won't be appreciated at your skill level.

Like I said. If you had to ask, don't bother.

guess I should have added I just installed these (kwv2) and was taking it to the local indy to have the alignment done and was having the corner balancing done at the same time to set everything up rather than doing the set up myself.

[TSM330i]

Originally Posted by cwarren

guess I should have added I just installed these (kwv2) and was taking it to the local indy to have the alignment done and was having the corner balancing done at the same time to set everything up rather than doing the set up myself.

You should be sitting in the car when it's corner balanced. If it's done without you in the car, then it'll be off again once you sit in the car.

As The Hack said, I don't think it's worth your while since you don't track your car.

[TC Kline Racing]

Typically, when we install a suspension we do NOT corner balance. BMW's are so well balanced to begin with, that if you set the ride height correctly during the coilover installation, that is should be 85-95% corner balanced already.

We only corner balance if the customer specifically asks us to. On our own cars that we take to the track, we do not corner balance them.

So, if you set the rider height correctly, you should be good and I would say save your money.

[cwarren]

thanks for all the input guy's, dropped off car today and picking up tomorrow. spent some time discussing this with the shop and they said the same thing that its probably not worth it but since they are doing the set up of the suspension anyway told them to go ahead and do it since the cost of setting it up with the alignment was not much different than the corner balancing .guess in the long run at least I know its set up correctly .
the shop asked my weight and said they would be adding the 200lbs to the drivers seat and I made sure I had a 1/2 tank of fuel due to the fact I thought that was a happy medium for fuel weight .

[HP Autosport]

Originally Posted by The HACK

If after corner balancing the gap is more than 1/4" off on each side, there's something else wrong with the car.

When I had my car corner balanced, all they did was turn one of the front collars by ~1.5 turns. That moved the corner up less than 1/16". Once the car is on the ground, it is impossible to tell that the gap isn't "even."

Now, based on what you said? It's not worth it. The biggest effect on corner balancing for me, was after each 25 minute session on a road course, I can measure my tire pressure and tire temp and they're all nearly identical, which means the car is using all 4 tires evenly, which leads to a more balanced handling and better lap times. Since the CB is done right after the coil-over install, I can't tell you how big of a difference it made. But judging from the tire temp and pressure data, it's worth it for me.

But if you've never taken the car to a road course, and are "planning" on going in the future? Don't bother. You won't be able to take advantage of nearly 60% of what the car is capable of doing, and that last 10% of handling "prowess" corner balancing will add won't be appreciated at your skill level.

Like I said. If you had to ask, don't bother.

Valuable information for the community! Thanks Dan!

I only started to corner balance my car after 1) got serious about tracking 2) spring swap 3) major weight shavings 3) new coils. Other than that for a street car it really isn't worth it. I also have my suspension pretty dialed in so the corner balancing is somewhat necessary, as Dan said, to keep consistency.

-Mike

[Casca]

Originally Posted by The HACK

If after corner balancing the gap is more than 1/4" off on each side, there's something else wrong with the.......

Like I said. If you had to ask, don't bother.

Maybe the tech doing it was just lazy and/or doesn't really care about the results so long as he gets the left/right to match. I never corner balanced a car in my life, but I have jacked up 100,000lbs aircraft using 4 jacks. Its not just fore to aft and side to side, but also crisscross (left front to right rear etc).

Bring up the right wing too much and the left nose ......crinkles. Not a good thing.Adjusting the right nose is not the solution. I am sure it plays out very similar on cars, but it easier to be lazy.

[The HACK]

Originally Posted by Casca

Maybe the tech doing it was just lazy and/or doesn't really care about the results so long as he gets the left/right to match. I never corner balanced a car in my life, but I have jacked up 100,000lbs aircraft using 4 jacks. Its not just fore to aft and side to side, but also crisscross (left front to right rear etc).

Bring up the right wing too much and the left nose ......crinkles. Not a good thing.Adjusting the right nose is not the solution. I am sure it plays out very similar on cars, but it easier to be lazy.

Nope. All corner balancing is concerned with is the cross weight on the "front left + rear right = front right + rear left". It's never about getting all 4 corners to weight the same. The principle is, on a box sprung on 4 corners held down by gravity, weight transfer happens on opposite corners (when the right front gets heavy, the left rear lightens up). So if you can get the cross weights to be equal on both sides, weight transfer become more predictable and the amount of work each tire does through a combination of corners, braking, and accelerating equalize.

I can tell you for sure that after corner balancing, the left != the right. See corner balancing sheet below. My car was set-up to include a 225lbs driver and a 180lbs passenger. The cross weight came within 7 lbs, 1,801 vs. 1,808. But the side to side difference is 19 lbs, 1,795 vs. 1,814 (the left is heavier when the car is static).

[Casca]

Originally Posted by The HACK

Nope. All corner balancing is concerned with is the cross weight on the "front left + rear right = front right + rear left". It's never about getting all 4 corners to weight the same. The principle is, on a box sprung on 4 corners held down by gravity, weight transfer happens on opposite corners (when the right front gets heavy, the left rear lightens up). So if you can get the cross weights to be equal on both sides, weight transfer become more predictable and the amount of work each tire does through a combination of corners, braking, and accelerating equalize.

I can tell you for sure that after corner balancing, the left != the right. See corner balancing sheet below. My car was set-up to include a 225lbs driver and a 180lbs passenger. The cross weight came within 7 lbs, 1,801 vs. 1,808. But the side to side difference is 19 lbs, 1,795 vs. 1,814 (the left is heavier when the car is static).

Thanks for the write up. Might mess with doing this myself once I figure out how accurate the scales I have access to are. Doesn't really seem difficult, just a lot of adjusting and readjusting I guess. Will read up on it! Or I'll just pay with alignment if it's not too bad. Still haven't price checked.