"proper" ride height for best suspension performance

tmwnn88

tmwnn88

Spectator
As much as I like having a lowered car and all, Im a function>form guy. I wouldn't mind raising my car a bit if doing so improved handling.

My question is, more or less, what should the suspension height be set to to ensure proper travel etc? I've been reading through this thread http://zilvia.net/f/tech-talk/29672...ickup-steering-angle-modification-thread.html and I know the topic can be really advanced and technical, but I just want to know more or less what a "proper" ride height would be for an s13, without going into the advanced stuff
 
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proper ride height will depend on wheel size type of coilovers you have tire clerance. in therory on legit coils proper ride should be with the adjustable bottom mount maxed out and no adjustment to spring height which will lower the car but still maintain full shock travel.
 
i would say it depends if you have roll center adjustability or not. you would want the angles of the control arms to be close to 0. when you lower the car the control arms go up in degrees relative to the ground. if you had control arms that space this out you would be able to lower the car more and have useable travel.

if you hit bump your stops frequently your car is probably too low or your shock/spring combo is to soft.
 
what do you have going on for suspension?

you can adjust/modify your suspension to be 'proper' at just about any ride height(within reason).

LCA's parallel to the ground is a pretty solid goal but can get very difficult to accomplish depending on your desired ride height.
 
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lcas and tie rods right around parallel with the ground. Pretty much it.
 
SAS said:
proper ride height will depend on wheel size type of coilovers you have tire clerance. in therory on legit coils proper ride should be with the adjustable bottom mount maxed out and no adjustment to spring height which will lower the car but still maintain full shock travel.
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S13 on 15in wheels with disgusting amounts of positive offset :(. Coils are Tein Superdrifts. 10k-8k. I have them lowered without messing with the spring preload.

Im confused, by "adjustable bottom mount maxed out" do you mean going as low as the bottom mount allows? :eek: that would mean going even lower and from what I've gathered slamming your car to the ground might earn you jdm cookie points but its not the best set up for correct suspension geometry
(like I said, without going into adjustable arms, subframe risers, etc etc)

carcrazee said:
depends; track racing , drifting or daily?
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Its my daily driver. Its a pain to scrap my skid plate over speedbumps:rolleyes: But the plan has always been to set up the car and use it as a weekend track warrior mostly for drifting and maybe auto-x now and then. Hope that this summer I'll finally be able to hit the skidpad at least

green_machine said:
i would say it depends if you have roll center adjustability or not. you would want the angles of the control arms to be close to 0. when you lower the car the control arms go up in degrees relative to the ground. if you had control arms that space this out you would be able to lower the car more and have useable travel.

if you hit bump your stops frequently your car is probably too low or your shock/spring combo is to soft.
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Ok, so the angle of the control arms should be almost parallel to the frame, without angling too much right?

Im running adjustable tension rods in the front, and RUCAs in the rear. Stock tie rods. Next week I'll be installing adjustable toe and traction rods (been in a box for like 4 months) in the rear as well so I can finally get it aligned, which is why I wanted to find a proper ride height before taking it to the aligment shop...
 
dude get some tie rods and couple sets of the spacers, your wheels will be like 'blop' when u turn the wheel.
 
tmwnn88 said:
S13 on 15in wheels with disgusting amounts of positive offset :(. Coils are Tein Superdrifts. 10k-8k. I have them lowered without messing with the spring preload.

Im confused, by "adjustable bottom mount maxed out" do you mean going as low as the bottom mount allows? :eek: that would mean going even lower and from what I've gathered slamming your car to the ground might earn you jdm cookie points but its not the best set up for correct suspension geometry
(like I said, without going into adjustable arms, subframe risers, etc etc)



Its my daily driver. Its a pain to scrap my skid plate over speedbumps:rolleyes: But the plan has always been to set up the car and use it as a weekend track warrior mostly for drifting and maybe auto-x now and then. Hope that this summer I'll finally be able to hit the skidpad at least



Ok, so the angle of the control arms should be almost parallel to the frame, without angling too much right?

Im running adjustable tension rods in the front, and RUCAs in the rear. Stock tie rods. Next week I'll be installing adjustable toe and traction rods (been in a box for like 4 months) in the rear as well so I can finally get it aligned, which is why I wanted to find a proper ride height before taking it to the aligment shop...
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You're thinking into this too much, and a lot of that info isn't correct. All coilovers are different, maxing out the lower adjustment doesn't mean anything.

Just make the lcas and tie rods parallel with the ground. That's usually pretty high though, so you have to compromise if you want it to look cool. Just go as low as you want, while still retaining a sweet alignment.

You can go low and still make everything work, but it takes a lot of cool adjustable suspension stuff. Like if you get front control arms with adjustable ball joint height, and outer tie rods with bumpsteer adjustment, and adjust eveything properly then you'll be good up front. For the rear, get the subframe risers and all the links and you'll be good. Then come back for sweet alignment info and you're done.
 
↑ Pretty much I just want to get an approximate proper height and take advantage of my coils, without having to buy adjustable front or rear arms or subframe risers like the PBMax ones. Just using front tension rods, and the 3 rear adjustable arms.

I'll raise it more and try to get the control arms not to angle as much without returnign to 4x4 status, thanks :bigthumbu
 
Yeah I mean honestly if you can keep a good alignment, you probably won't be able to tell the difference. Don't 240s like toe out real bad in the rear when you go low with stock links or something like that? If you can go low, but still have minimal rear camber and keep 0 toe or a little toe-in, then you'll be good.
 
what exactly do subframe risers do?

i have polyurethane subframe collars (spacers are another name i think)

is that the same thing? i only bought them cause my bushings are 19 years old and i dont want my rear end to clunk like my s14 did
 
tmwnn88 said:
, etc etc)



Its my daily driver. Its a pain to scrap my skid plate over speedbumps:rolleyes: But the plan has always been to set up the car and use it as a weekend track warrior mostly for drifting and maybe auto-x now and then. Hope that this summer I'll finally be able to hit the skidpad at least


QUOTE]

id say make it soft for the weekdayz then adjust it for the weekend the way u want...wen i get legit coils i think ima do that lol
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op you can take it to the track and still be able to clear the speed bumps, hehe. 240s are relatively flexible when it comes to suspension. its all up to preference. if you're like me with 3 speed bumps in the neighbor hood and a huge speed bump/hidden barrier in the ground going into work then raise that thing. expensive exhaust goes to hell real fast. seems like you've got the parts for a decent alignment so just adjust accordingly. your coils shouldn't hate you for that.

fc3sbmx i'm not sure if this applies to every 240 but slamming mine to the ground just gave me crazy negative camber. i got the front camber plates with my teins so they were straight. but lowering the back, stock wheels tuck under, there was around -3 deg camber, no toe in. now when i adjust my rucas, they're in at stock setting, then i'll probably get some toe in.
 
imSUPERjon said:
op you can take it to the track and still be able to clear the speed bumps, hehe. 240s are relatively flexible when it comes to suspension. its all up to preference. if you're like me with 3 speed bumps in the neighbor hood and a huge speed bump/hidden barrier in the ground going into work then raise that thing. expensive exhaust goes to hell real fast. seems like you've got the parts for a decent alignment so just adjust accordingly. your coils shouldn't hate you for that.

fc3sbmx i'm not sure if this applies to every 240 but slamming mine to the ground just gave me crazy negative camber. i got the front camber plates with my teins so they were straight. but lowering the back, stock wheels tuck under, there was around -3 deg camber, no toe in. now when i adjust my rucas, they're in at stock setting, then i'll probably get some toe in.
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every 240 ive had when slammed you get toe in. my s14 has shitloads of it right now:laugh:
 
Sketchy564 said:
what exactly do subframe risers do?

i have polyurethane subframe collars (spacers are another name i think)

is that the same thing? i only bought them cause my bushings are 19 years old and i dont want my rear end to clunk like my s14 did
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QUOTE=tmwnn88;697528], etc etc)

No subframe risers are different. What they do is literally raise your subframe, correcting the rear suspension geometry that you screw with when you lower your car

http://www.gtfactory.jp/cms/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?3169.0


carcrazee said:
id say make it soft for the weekdayz then adjust it for the weekend the way u want...wen i get legit coils i think ima do that lol
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I know but Im talking about ride height not dampening. I've been palying with my dampening and now its alright for dd. It was too stiff/bouncy before.

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And yeah right now I have lots of neg camber in the rear as well as toe in. Bad thing is its not even, its a bit different on both sides lol. Its not too bad but when it rains I definitely feel that its not as stable :ugh:. Need to get that shit aligned soon

Classes end this Thursday, after that I'll be able to install all the parts I've had in boxes for so long (toe arms, traction rods, fog lights, grounding cables, welded diff....)
 
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^ I have no idea why you asked this question here, there are only a handful of people on this board that even understand that making your car as low as possible isn't the best for performance driving. Much less why.

realistically if you have read all the way through that thread on zilvia (I have as well) you now know more about suspension geometry than 90% of SFLD. I would say the best ride height without getting crazy with drop spindles or RCA's 1-2"'s lower than stock would be the limit. Sure it doesn't look all that cool but your roll center will still be above ground and your roll couple difference between the front and rear won't be that bad yet.

less is more until you can correct it. Its the main reason my car isn't lower than it is. If I had RCA's on the front and could raise my rear subframe my car would be on the ground in a heart beat.
 
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