EK stance for handling

[quang]

Hi everyone,
i've been looking for a post a that was done a while ago about was about the stance (heights) for the EK but i can't find it anymore.

So my question is what stance should the EK be setup to for better handling.
i understand that the civics were slightly lower at the front standard but what defines "lower" is it the gap between the tyre and guard or the actual physical heights of the chassis of the car (determined by looking at my side skirt lol and along the bottom of the door)?

Also, is it just me or is it the just because its summer? my car seems to be handling better with the 1.5 finger gap at the back and almost 3 finger gap at the front as compared to when i had a 1.5 finger gap at the front during winter.

Cheers

[CB7_OWNER]

im at work atm, so cant get the link for u, but if you go to whiteline website. they have a good write on both the eg and ek handling setups. they also mention the ideal drop heights.

[quang]

i should probably mention this would be mainly for street use.

[Mugen Civic]

i find that my civic EK handles best at around the 1.5 inch lower than stock.
this is for a Sedan thou.

[beeza]

The trick is to have your driveshaft flat,if you have your driveshafts at angles you are losing power or not putting that power to the ground.

[mocchi]

The trick is to have your driveshaft flat,if you have your driveshafts at angles you are losing power or not putting that power to the ground.

why is that?

[beeza]

It's in the physics I guess.Gary on here,I forget his user tag but he works and has designed some whiteline products,he told me that and it sits right with me.

[CB7_OWNER]

^makes sense..flattest contact patch = best traction?

[beeza]

I think too where the inner driveshafts meet the outer driveshafts,left and right is the CV joint,so the flatter that is the more power will transfer straight accross to the wheels.

It's just physics :)

[Mugen Civic]

sorry i don't think so, only way to loose power from the drive shaft is if you have some play in them. Which a good drive shaft shouldn't have.

Optimal height or stance of a car is determined by centre of gravity. Having too high or too low can upset this.

[beeza]

Maybe more so if your driveshafts are at crazy angles you will lose power.

[m0nty ITR]

Maybe more so if your driveshafts are at crazy angles you will lose power.

Power does not = handling though. Ride height affects the angle of control arms. The lower centre of gravity, the better, however suspension still needs travel otherwise contact with the ground is compromised when going over bumps.

What suspension does the OP have? If it's adjustable I'd suggest booking in for corner weighting and alignment with places like Heasmans for best results.

[quang]

i have a set of cusco dirt racing coilovers that jdm concept??? sold a few years back. they are height and 4 level damper adjustable. i'm assuming that heasmans is in syd?

[quang]

what about ride height then or guard clearance, getting a car balanced up like a 4wd isn't going to help much :).

[chargeR]

Optimal ride height like any aspect of suspension tuning in a production based chassis will be a huge compromise in which many factors must be considered.

Off the top of my head some of the factors that should be considered include the obvious like ground clearance, and tyre to guard/chassis clearance, along with roll centre and centre of gravity height, driveshaft angle as beeza mentions, dynamic alignment change of both camber and toe, aero effects, static alignment, desired spring and damper rates. The list goes on forever. A compromise must be reached between all these factors.

For example one could run a car 30mm from the ground with significant aero to get it to grip/handle well but the spring/bar/damper rates required to control the chassis such that the aero would work well would be much too high for a rough track like Oran park. Good engineering is compromise.

[quang]

yeah i figured, that question was to general to ask. but one can hope :). well i'll just keep it at about 1.5 to 2 fingers gap for wheel to guard clearance seems have worked for me so far plus allows for passengers.
well i guess back to the original question, stance, front just a little lower than back?

[SPEEDCORE]

quang: Couple things for you.

Don't measure from the guard lip.... if all you want is aesthetics then by all means go for it.

Relating to civics/tegs.. not considering adjustments in geometry with adjustable products.... but mearly changing ride height like you seem to be doing/wanting to know about, a rear end that is equal or lower than front will have more push through corners.

I'm not going to get into details.... just something for you to consider.