Quote:
Originally Posted by yiweno
MCS. Especially since you are tracking and are looking at things over $4k. Don't bother with kw or fortune since you already have magride.
Don't bother with it looking even height because it won't be. Front is always lower because you want rake and drivers side without you in it will always be higher because when you corner balance it, it needs to account for your driver weight.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PowerDemon
I thought I was the only one. I’ve got BMR springs on mine and it’s higher on the drivers side than the passenger side. Passenger side looks perfect, but drivers is maybe 0.5” higher. It drives me nuts.
That’s why I’m also here looking into coils! Did you ever make the switch?
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yiweno makes an excellent point here that always is overlooked.
Anti roll bar preload and static weight distribution play a part in static ride heights. A small variance in those ride heights are normally nothing to worry about. You have to remember that the corner weight distribution is more important than symmetrical ride height. These cars have excellent corner weight distributions from the factory (with an average sized driver in the seat). I have personally put my Gen6 on scales and with me in the car the side to side weight distribution is impressive. 1lb side to side at the front and 18lbs at the rear. While cross corner weights can change due to anti roll bar preloads and other bind, some weight distribution can only be altered by physically moving static weight. Like having a full fuel tank vs empty or adding the driver or passengers to the car. Have someone measure the ride heights with you in the car. It won't change much but it is worth noting. To make sure everything is correct a few things must be taken into account.
First off, installing drop springs requires any rubber bushed suspension joint to be loosened and retightened at static ride height. This is often overlooked by owners who have had drop springs installed. Otherwise that suspension joint can be in a state of bind and this will create resistance in that corner which can alter ride height and corner weights. That resistance also acts like additional wheel rate that is not accounted for in the damper tuning. Uncontrolled wheel rate is never a good thing for chassis dynamics. Some owners will complain of a "bouncy" feeling after the drop springs are installed. Some but not all Gen6 joints use rubber. Most of the upper level performance variants use spherical joints that do not need to be reset to a new ride height.
Related to the above, is the way GM mounts the anti roll bars to the car. They use a rubber bushed mount that is actually glued to the bars. The position the mounts are glued to the bars is important because it is done at or near static OE ride height. If the car's ride height changes then the bar is now rotated slightly creating preload. GM has engineered some bar preload into these cars, I believe to help fine tune the corner weights and to add responsiveness in the chassis. It's not much but I have personally seen how it effects the feel/responsiveness and weight distributions on my car. Once you start making ride height changes this will put the bars into a different place relative to their intended static position. This causes more or less preload and can change the car's actual static ride height. Note that the typical aftermarket anti roll bars do not use a tight/glued mounting bushing but a greased poly bushing that allows for unbound rotation of the bar within the mount.
If someone wanted to add coilovers to only worry about the final ride heights then they may create corner weight distributions that are not optimal for maximum grip and chassis response. If max grip and chassis response are important then anyone who adds coilovers must put the car on scales and adjust the coilovers to maximize the corner weight distribution. Just adding drop springs or coil overs is not a simple R&R. There are a few things that must be looked at to maximize the new setup.