50/50 Weight Distribution?

[AreteAuto]

Helloooo fellow 86 lovers! I'm pretty new to the forum, although I've read a whole lot of the posts here over the past year. There is an ongoing thread already about weight reduction overall, but I was wondering if any of you set out to even the weight distribution specifically.
I'm fairly modest with upgrades, and so I'm really reaching out to the guys who are taking weight from the front without spending an excessive amount of $$.
Anyone manage to work some magic?

Aaannnddd.. GO!

[mav1178]

Why? What is the benefit of 50/50?

(this isn't a troll question, it's meant to figure out what your thought process is)

-alex

[Captain Snooze]

50/50 weight distribution is something that the marketing department promotes. Especially BMW. Note that that it is static weight distribution that is being promoted so maybe it improves handling when the vehicle is stationary. Also something that never gets mentioned in those adverts is where that mass is located; that is, having 40% of the mass in front of the front axles and 40% of the mass behind the rear axles is very different from having 80% of the mass between the two axles but both are 50/50 distributed.

That figure "50/50" is front/rear. There is never any mention in adverts about left/right balance which in road cars is kinda difficult unless one removes the driver. If one is serious about this one will get the car corner balanced but it depends on one's ability to make use of what I believe to be an incremental benefit.

Have a read of this:
https://oakmanonracing.wordpress.com...n-doesnt-work/

Also have a look at this and listen to the explanation about weight, braking and aero distribution:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_INdbXMqsw"]Track Test: Nissan DeltaWing Driven At Road Atlanta -- /CHRIS HARRIS ON CARS - YouTube[/ame]


I am suggesting that in a BRZ/86/FRS weight reduction from anywhere is more significant than worrying about distribution.

[ZZT86]

Way to go Nissan ! What a machine ! The last time I thought that was in the late 80's when Fred Gibson Jim Richards & Mark Skaife launched the GTR's into the Australian Touring Car Championship - that car obliterated everything & changed the rules of the game.

[AZP Installs]

There isn't a lot of weight reduction to be had on these cars, and your best bet is to get the car corner balanced which will also help fix the cross-weight as well.

-mike

[renfield90]

Originally Posted by AZP Installs

There isn't a lot of weight reduction to be had on these cars, and your best bet is to get the car corner balanced which will also help fix the cross-weight as well.

-mike

+1. If F/R weight balance is important, corner balancing is the best time to address it via ride height changes.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by renfield90

+1. If F/R weight balance is important, corner balancing is the best time to address it via ride height changes.

You can corner balance a car independent of ride height, if your dampers allow for it.

[renfield90]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

You can corner balance a car independent of ride height, if your dampers allow for it.

You're talking about increasing/decreasing gas pressure, yes? Why would you want to do it that way? You'll end up with different damping levels on each shock...

If you're running pimp $hock$ like that you probably have adjustable ride height anyway.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by Captain Snooze

Have a read of this:
https://oakmanonracing.wordpress.com...n-doesnt-work/

To add onto this, weight distribution should reflect the car's handling characteristics and goal.

Unless you are trying to reverse engineer a better solution, there is no benefit from achieving a 50/50 weight distribution.

Most prototypes have aero balance that drives tire sizing choice, and this also affects how much braking power they can have. For the average street car, corner balance is fundamentally better than weight distribution front/rear.

If I were to rank the various "balances", it'd be as follows:

cross/corner balance
aero balance (front/rear downforce distribution via aftermarket splitter/wings, not necessary if stock body)
power "balance" (significantly more power than stock resulting in need for more rear tire, for example)
weight distribution/balance, only if above don't solve your needs.

-alex

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by renfield90

You're talking about increasing/decreasing gas pressure, yes? Why would you want to do it that way? You'll end up with different damping levels on each shock...

If you're running pimp $hock$ like that you probably have adjustable ride height anyway.

It's actually much simpler than that...
You know how some dampers advertise independent ride height adjustment? if you can set the springs independent of the perch, and have helpers.... you can change height without adjusting preload and vice versa

[AreteAuto]

Thanks for the responses guys, a lot of great info. I hadn't ever thought about corner balancing that much until reading your responses.
So 50/50 isn't that meaningful after all then?
The main reason I was interested is that I'm more accustomed to a rear weight bias, and I figured I could get rid of some oversteer on corner exits if it was more even.
Have any of you done a complete corner balance yet?

[Sleepless]

For oversteer correction you want more rear weight bias (up to a point); not more even distribution.

[AZP Installs]

Originally Posted by AreteAuto

Thanks for the responses guys, a lot of great info. I hadn't ever thought about corner balancing that much until reading your responses.
So 50/50 isn't that meaningful after all then?
The main reason I was interested is that I'm more accustomed to a rear weight bias, and I figured I could get rid of some oversteer on corner exits if it was more even.
Have any of you done a complete corner balance yet?

We have corner balanced our Spec86 and Project BRZ as well as probably 20-30 customer cars for track and Auto-x.

-mike

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by AreteAuto

Have any of you done a complete corner balance yet?

Yes. This is the whole point of buying coilovers. Most people just get coilovers for looks.

-alex