Corner balance height numbers

Just curious if any of you have height figures for your cars after a corner balance. I realize all cars are going to be slightly different but since I'll be paying $100 / hr I'd like to get the car as close as possible before getting it to the shop for the final balance. Andy

I don't have the height numbers per se, but here's a photo for reference it was corner balanced with the rear 1/8" higher than the front to account for the rear engine placement (doesn't look too saggy in the rear under load - balance it out). on the M3, the front gap was a little higher in the front. but i guess it'd all depend on the look you want as to the height and then your tech should be able to keep it in the ballpark from there. sorry i can't be of more help. i didn't have my vendor print out the corner balance specs.

Andy, I don't think measurments will do you much good. It's a pretty precise process. They should instruct you to arrive with 1/2 a tank of gas. (maybe it's 3/4) They will put weight equal to your weight in the drivers seat and will inflate your tires to their optimal hot PSI. They will then set the ride height you want and from there balance the car. So unless you get someone to do all of the above, and you do the same, the measurements won't mean much. Even then, I don't think they will help. Good luck but don't expect much. Corner balancing is the right thing to do but it's very very unlikely you will notice a difference. Jim

jim, totally. CBing is... i guess i really don't know why i even paid the extra $100 to get it done when all i really wanted is the rear lowered a bit

I appreciate the feedback. I'll set it to GT3 height specs per the manual and let them do what they do from there. Andy

I assume you have an adjustable suspension? Jim is spot on. It does no good to get others numbers since a corner balance is specific to a specific car.

Jim, as a former motorcycle roadracer, doing my own motor and chassis tuning over an 8 year racing span, your post struck a chord with me. I hear a lot about corner balancing and alignments for every track, etc. Is this necessary or really a benefit other than psychological? In my experience racing, it was about 85% rider and 15% machine. A great rider could still kick a** with an inferior or ill tuned machine, whereas a marginal rider on the best tuned, fastest machine was still mid-pack at best. When the fastest riders were racing in a pack, then machine prep, and super tuning made more of a difference.

Nick, I agree it's all about the driver (see plenum thread) but 996s are highly tunable once you've added adj coilovers, sway bars, etc. To me that means you can really screw them up. If you don't set the car up right, they can be downright undrivable on the track. On the other hand, they can be tuned to near perfection. A bit of a double edged sword I suppose. Jim

So assuming we don't track the car, but lower/mod the suspension, is it still necessary to do a corner balance? Ok, I know you won't feel the difference driving on the streets, but what about high speeds, tire wear, etc? Will an alignment be enought for street use after a suspension mod?

I think it's a good idea to have a corner balance done when you lower the car. We rebalance race cars all the time but once should be good for a street car unless you change the ride height. Don't get too worried about it though. Think about what adding 80 lbs of gas and a 200 lb passenger does to the car's balance.

Ok, Thanks JimB! (I was actually wondering about that, gas and passenger which could come in various weights.)

Which is why I only date thin women. The real value of your corner balancing is getting the diagonal weights equal. This is akin to adjusting the legs on a chair so it doesn't wobble. Good luck, Jim

you guys do realize that your 911 wasn't corner balanced from the factory right?

jim my man, you KNOW that the effect isn't nearly as bad not even close

Actually given that the chassis and the suspension are both built within pretty tight tolerances and aren't adjustable you can assume it comes from the factory pretty well balanced.

Not nearly as bad as what? The stool example? Certainly not. It's just an example to explain why you corner balance in the first place. It's not like you have to put a book of matches under one tire to keep your 996 from rocking.

exactly... corner balancing has got nothing to do with anything so long as your tech guy knows generally what they're doing... and tight tolerances? i've come to find out porsche has two different rubber washers to accomodate for the varying heights per strut to get them close enough, good enough. my point being corner balancing is splittin hairs imo unless you're a serious track dude who can kick **** in a 1.6 litre civic with race tires on them and can push the 911 to its outer most limits where it's the car limiting them, not their ***** of steel. thoughts?

I hear what you're saying but I think you've gone too far. By that logic there is no reason to do any modifications to a 996. But many people are into making their car the best that it can be even it they don't really use the capability. As I said before, I think it�s worthwhile to balance the car when you first add height adjustable coil-overs. Having a tech eyeball it is far from optimal. It�s worth the fairly low price to know its right.

I think it's good if you can justify the value of the extra $100-200 for the actual corner balancing on top of the alignment/height adjustment chalking it up to the 911 "ego", but if I asked to to begin to quanitfy the "worthwhile" piece, I'd be curious how you go about that other than adding to the mental/pyschological bottom line knowing you've got the 911 super cool balanced. And I have not gone so far by my logic to say there is no reason to modify the 996. For the best visual effect, one should lower their car to avoid the 4x4 look and that is a tangible, salient value add whereas corner balancing you simply cannot tell unless you are really extracting the full potential of the car which cannot be exploited on public roads. I would bet you the cost of a corner balance , Jim, that you could not discern a car that was corner balanced v. one not corner balanced after a back to back drive (both cars aligned properly of course) 8 out of 10 times. so i think you and i would both agree that it's a mental boost v. an actual performance boost. $100 more, yea to some it's worth it, to others it may not be. i actually did it for POM. =D

You are exactly on target. Bobby Archer got in my race car a month ago and using 70% of the motor(I didn't have time to tell him where the shift light was) and new to the car he turned a 1.5 second faster lap than me. With all of the motor he would have murdered my times. For most of us a lot of money is wasted on the car when we should be spending the money on driver training. That is my new moto...as soon as I spend another $2,500 on the suspension

Not a good bet Ben. See the Longacre scales and stands against the wall in front of my car. I do my own balancing for free. As I recall, I warned the original poster long ago that he would not be able to tell the difference after the cornerbalance was done. Could I tell? It depends on how far off it was to start with. Probably not. Jim

i think the bet is still good because you having scales in your garage has no bearing on your **** being able distinguish one from the other. that's a crazy garage, though, jim - very nice

Great point! Of course Bobby and his brother Tommy are Minnesota boys so you know they are going to be fast.

Great guys!