Ride Height

[Paul]

Why do people say you shouldn't run novas as low as possible? Whats the theory behind it?

[paul james]

The same reason you have suspension in a car at all.

[Adam]

As above, when you get so low you will run out of suspension travel, meaning no suspension.
No suspension is not going to make for a well handling car.

[Stuart]

Depends what else you do to the suspension system other than simply dropping her to the Tarmac lol.

[MK999]

You don't need masses of travel when you're running track spec spring rates anyway, or shouldn't do. Main decent reason is it buggers the geometry, and you start getting lots of track width/castor/camber change with very small displacements.

All fixable if you want to reap the rewards of the lower CoG, ground effect and other aero effects etc. So as Stu says basically lol

[Calamity Josh]

also as stu says as you could also move the turrets aswell so that there is similar suspension travel but it is lower

[Connor]

I think the saying has come around from people winding there coilovers down to the bumpstops and wondering why there cars handle like a dog, if other modifications are carried out to maintain the decent geometry then theres no reason you cant go low :)

[Mark]

Sorry to nick STT's pic again, but as I am to be running rear coilovers I will be beefing up the bottom mount like this...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/CorsaNova/NovaSaloon/4e1b12f4.jpg

If I lower the mount point like this..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/CorsaNova/NovaSaloon/4e1b12f4-1.jpg

Then I can run an inch lower but with full travel....Correct?

[Benn]

Mark, can you not spec your coilovers up to have shorter pistons? This is what i had done.

[Mieran]

I found Novas/Corsas handle better very low (not scene broken low)

[Mark]

Mark, can you not spec your coilovers up to have shorter pistons? This is what i had done.


Unfortunately I already bought standard ones, so it would mean having to sell them and buy more, not very cost effective.

[Benn]

Ah deffo not.

[Stuart]

Mark, can you not spec your coilovers up to have shorter pistons? This is what i had done.

That'll still give you less travel though

[Mark]

I'm still tempted, the rears are still brand new so I should loose too much, but you'll never get back the full cost.

[Benn]

That'll still give you less travel though

Does it? Surely if the pistons shorter then it has more room to move in the tube?

[Stuart]

Does it? Surely if the pistons shorter then it has more room to move in the tube?

If you think the bottom of the piston to bottom of the tub distance is the same then you've gained nothing bar being able to drop the ass further for the same damper/ spring length / rates.

[Pistol Pete]

lol if you aint rubbin' you aint dubbin' :roll:

I wouldnt run mine as low as possible. I think theres a fine line between a decent handling setup and the broken look.

[staggy_gsi]

id rather be running as low as possible than have a fine handling car....but thats just me lol

[Calamity Josh]

id rather be running as low as possible than have a fine handling car....but thats just me lol

+ rep lol

[Calamity Josh]

id rather be running as low as possible than have a fine handling car....but thats just me lol

+ rep lol

[Paul]

So as long as its not cut springs/coilovers as low as possible, you do want to be as low as poss.

Ive done what mark pictured at the rear on the beam.

[Benn]

If you think the bottom of the piston to bottom of the tub distance is the same then you've gained nothing bar being able to drop the ass further for the same damper/ spring length / rates.

Oh, the guy at Gaz said i'd keep piston movement having them made like it..

[joshy]

Nova's and Corsa B's arnt as bad as other cars when it comes to lowering. They have quite long lower track contol arms which slow down track and camber changes through the suspension's travel.

50-60mm is the lowest I would go without other changes to the suspension geometry.

Fords tend to be less well suited to lowering with there short TCA's.

[Spudly]

If I lower the mount point like this..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v11/CorsaNova/NovaSaloon/4e1b12f4-1.jpg

Then I can run an inch lower but with full travel....Correct?





That pic looks to have the 'disc' adapter plates welded on, if youre doing that, then another way is to weld them on higher up, thus when the stub axle is back on (obiously suitably braced and the holes re-drilled) then the wheel is higher in the arch/the back end will be lower and still retain the original suspension travel, a local lad did this many moons ago by about 20mm, so with a -60mm drop with uprated dampers, it was -80mm, so even lower yet still had a good amount of suspension travel available:thumb:

A car dropped on its ringpiece with no thought to making small changes like that will handle like a brick, on your typical average backroads, it will jump and skip about and you will risk losing control and be forced to drive slower than you could (not condoning speeding on public roads here btw) and i have no idea what the road surface on a track would be like but i imagine it to be fairly smooth, well a lot better than average roads anyways, but im sure about 70% of members on here will be using the happy pedal on normal roads most of the time, so imo it needs to handle well, so modifications like above, are a necessity!

[stt]

That pic looks to have the 'disc' adapter plates welded on, if youre doing that, then another way is to weld them on higher up, thus when the stub axle is back on (obiously suitably braced and the holes re-drilled) then the wheel is higher in the arch/the back end will be lower and still retain the original suspension travel, a local lad did this many moons ago by about 20mm, so with a -60mm drop with uprated dampers, it was -80mm, so even lower yet still had a good amount of suspension travel available:thumb:

A car dropped on its ringpiece with no thought to making small changes like that will handle like a brick, on your typical average backroads, it will jump and skip about and you will risk losing control and be forced to drive slower than you could (not condoning speeding on public roads here btw) and i have no idea what the road surface on a track would be like but i imagine it to be fairly smooth, well a lot better than average roads anyways, but im sure about 70% of members on here will be using the happy pedal on normal roads most of the time, so imo it needs to handle well, so modifications like above, are a necessity!

That does have disc adapter plates welded on - but ones to suit vw stub axles - and my car wont be running that low as it will be used predominanly on bumpy country roads and gravel lanes

[Spudly]

I wasnt particularly aiming the comment towards you/your build, i was just using the pre posted picture to generalise:thumb: