EFFECTS OF ADJUSTING COILOVER SUSPENSION

After fitting coilover suspension it’s common to try and get the gap between the tyres and guards the same all around, so that they all look even. While this might look better, there’s a chance that the vehicle won’t handle as well as it should because the corner weights may not be balanced, and this will have an adverse affect on handling.

The advantage of platform-adjustable coilover suspension is that it not only allows you to set your ride height, but that at the same time it also allows you to play with moving the weight to where you want it to sit. Lifting or dropping each corner of the car by adjusting the height results in altered corner weighting. Cross-weight percentages over 50 per cent produce understeer into a left-hand turn. This gives the advantage of the left-hand rear wheel carrying more of the load and therefore the car drives better out of the turn, however the compromise is reduced performance into right-hand turns. In almost all instances, this loss of performance in one cornering direction is greater than the gains in the other.

Changes to these percentages will take into account the car’s handling characteristics, and how they will affect — and change — cornering and braking.

For road racing and autocrossing, the ideal left-weight percentage is 50 per cent. This makes the cornering force balanced from left to right and offers the best performance overall. However, many cars cannot make the 50 per cent left-side weight percentage due to driver offset.