Post by
Exar-Kun »
https://forums.nicoclub.com/exar-kun-u1725.html
Sun Jan 12, 2003 7:21 pm
"Simple concept: the lower the center of gravity the more control and better handling the car will have (providing struts and spring/coilover are in good shape) so lowering your car more than that will not worsen your handling what so ever, most likly IMPROVING it."
thats true to a point. but if you slam(past 1.5 to 2" on most cars) your car your suspensions geomerty, and how it functions, will take a major hit, causing you to handle far worse.
if slamming the car is such a great handling trick, why dont all the 1" high hondas handle better?
...lowering the center of gravity can only help so much, and after about 2"(or maybe less) on our cars, the positive effect becoms nill because of both tire contact patch changes, and the problems with suspension componenets not being meant to function under those circumstances(IE suspension geometry), if you want, you can slam your car to 1" off the ground and I'll get a set of coilovers set to a 1.3" drop and see who makes it around the track faster.
in fact, motor trend did a test a while (2 years?)ago lowering a bmw differnet ammounts, and found that the skindpad and slalom(sp?) suffered after a 1.6" drop.
its not just about the center of gravity, but how your car roll and suspension geometry work to keep the car(and tires) in good gripping contact with the road, slamming a car doesnt do this, and unless you put in all adjustable suspension componenets, you wont ahve the ability to make the adjustments necessary to keep your make your handing better with an extreme drop.
anyways Im at school and dont feel like fighting with you anymore. im sure russ, or c-kwick will be more than happy to elaborate on my points(and correct me if I strayed somewhere) for you until i get back in the mood to post more.-chet
also:"im not looking for a slammed look, just something over 1.5 inch drop. I like the way it looks and the handling wouldnt be too much different from the 1 inch drop." well if thats true, why drop if farther if you get the same results? wouldnt you wnat to keep as much ground clearance as possible if it didnt mean sacraficing your handling?just a thought.
EDIT2: back from school, thought about this some more. if you lower the car excessivly, you get negative camber, excessive ammounts, causing the contact patch on your tire to become very small. normally, a bit of negative camber is good, because when you go into a turn, the car litterally "rolls" onto the tire contact patch, ensuring more grip. with too much negative camber, it never rolls onto the patch, and if the cars lowered excessivly it just skids across the edge of the tire. *shrug* Im sure somone has more to tell about this, but Im sure if you talk to more people you'll get more information on why dropping car too low is bad for handling purposes.