What is the ideal ride height for a LCR?

[Willie]

As my signature, I have S3 strutt brace and rear Neuspeed ARB and I'm thinking of getting KW V1's or V2's. I have found a place close to my house who can set these up to race spec but don't know how much yet. I'm going to fit this set up myself with new OEM top mounts.

So back to the original question, what is the best drop on a LCR to give the best handling? This might come out as two settings one for road and one for track but am interested in what people have experimented with and what they have found

Cheers

 

[traumapat]

i think mines 20mm lower with 18s. no issues re height and handles well.

no front arb ... but the rear arb makes a difference.

my car is very practical in use, shopping, sacks of coal ect. no problems.

 

[jonjay]

The idea ride height is:

lower = better

Lower the car is the better speed/handling will become. However trying to "deck" the car isnt a good diea. As Traumapat stated you want to avoid being to low where you rub on arches and isnt practical for everyday use.

I read on here that Weitec is owned by KW and near enough the same as KW v1s but cheaper!

 

[Willie]

The lower isn't the better as the wishbone angles change at some point.
Have been reading the there on weitec-KW coilovers with interest. Would be ineteresting to have the sets side by side to SEE the difference

Traumapat is yours 20mm lower than the standard cupra ride height therefore 9 mm lower than the LCR ride height?

 

[colinpuk]

lower is not always better for handeling , the lower you go the more you throw out the camber and caster ,

the ideal hight for driving on roads is how it came out of the factory , the stiffer the setup the worse it will handel on bumpy british roads

if your going to make it a track car thats a diffrent story , on a smooth track the increased camber will increase the contact patch in fast corners

but you have to make sure you dont lower the car to much , hitting the bump stops will send you straight of the track

 

[Willie]

Cheers Coilpuk

Anyone done any testing with ride heights on the LCR

 

[Ruddmeister]

On an LCR I would suggest -20mm ish is ideal

Any lower and you are in serious danger of loosing your sump, chunks of bumper........this assumes you car is an everday driver on UK roads (speedbumps and multi-storey carparks etc). If your car is a show car then that's different

 

[Willie]

Cheers Rud, my car is an everyday family car with subtle mods to allow some enjoyment from back road thrashes. My car will be on the track a few times this year, once before suspension and a few times after.
What do you understand about optimum ride height for the track with the mods I have

 

[Ruddmeister]

Cheers Rud, my car is an everyday family car with subtle mods to allow some enjoyment from back road thrashes. My car will be on the track a few times this year, once before suspension and a few times after.
What do you understand about optimum ride height for the track with the mods I have

Adjusting the car ride height is a PITA

The coilovers need changing individually, jack up the car adjust etc for each damper in turn.....dampers screw up and down and are adjusted with a spanner like tool so it's not a quick job........reverse process to return to standard height.......and as soon as you touch the height the tracking needs redoing.

Air suspension could be an option aside from the huge compressor needed in the boot.

There are coilovers etc with electrical adjustment but you need a seriously large wallet IMO.

So unless you can dedicate plenty of time to testing, playing and adjusting i'd find a happy compromise and leave it alone Dropping 20mm ish will leave you with a car that drives ok on the road.......if your carefull maybe 30mm drop.......if you like big repair bills 40mm+

 

[Ruddmeister]

For track work i'd say

Suspension, ARB's and strut brace then spend your time on the track day tinkering with tyre pressures.........buy a decent gauge and inflator.

After your first session measure the pressure which will have risen from say low30's (or whatever you run normally) to 40's......let air out of the tyres down when they are really hot to low 30's.....once the tyres are cool they are effectively under inflated so do a warm up lap first and you'll find the tyres perform better once really hot.

Adjust the pressure back up for you drive home.

 

[traumapat]

The lower isn't the better as the wishbone angles change at some point.
Have been reading the there on weitec-KW coilovers with interest. Would be ineteresting to have the sets side by side to SEE the difference

Traumapat is yours 20mm lower than the standard cupra ride height therefore 9 mm lower than the LCR ride height?

there sportline springs . eibach say lowers 1.8" on a mk4 golf.

that is the same im guessing on a standard leon. lc is 10mm lower ... not sure what the lcr starts at.

real terms drop is hard as i put 18s on the same day but i think as an lc it dropped about 15mm.

it only looks lowered next to other cars. very subtle

 

[Willie]

**** hot advice there Rud
I have the braces and tyre gauge and inflator
Just need to find out the drop a set of KW V2's give at max height, the web site says for Loen its 35mm, I'm taking it that a LCR is say 20mm lower than a standard Leon therefore min drop on these would be 15mm
There must be someone who has tracked a LCR and found a good ride height??

 

[Ruddmeister]

Just need to find out the drop a set of KW V2's give at max height, the web site says for Loen its 35mm, I'm taking it that a LCR is say 20mm lower than a standard Leon therefore min drop on these would be 15mm
There must be someone who has tracked a LCR and found a good ride height??

I have tracked the LCR at Donnington

Your calc sounds about right I did loads of research and you'll find very little LCR specific info, the LCR market is very small compared to Golf mk1V etc.

 

[Willie]

Aye traumapat, its difficult to tell, just trying to sus out as much as I can before taking the plunge

 

[Willie]

I have tracked the LCR at Donnington

Your calc sounds about right I did loads of research and you'll find very little LCR specific info, the LCR market is very small compared to Golf mk1V etc.

Were you running coilovers at the time?
What ride heights did you try and what successes did you have
Its just that I have found a guy that can set car to race spec but want to go with an idea of ride heights to start with

 

[Ruddmeister]

I never adjusted the height, found something I was happy with, let it settle for a week or so, no scraping the wheels and cleared speed bumps etc.......this was -20mm and I found it a good compromise.

Why not put the coilovers on at -20mm, leave it for a few weeks, wind down 5mm try again for a few weks and repeat until you are happpy. Once you are happy get the tracking done.

Bill has KV race spec stuff on his car so he can probably advise best.

You want rec spec stuff for primarily road use? I think the ride on the road would be unbearable.

 

[colinpuk]

setup on a car is all about balence , once you have a good ballence you shouldnt really mess with it , the car is already nicely setup so just play with tyres and pressures , some nice yoke trackday tyres will give so much more grip than sports suspension with road tyres, and is nice and easy to change when you get back on the road

on my race car last season we didnt change the setup at all other than tyre presures
thats going from bumpy swisty tracks like cadwell to smooth flowing curcits like silvestone

 

[Willie]

Well race spec setting up of the suspension not race spec suspension.
The kit I will (probably buy will be KW V2's)
I was hoping that I could get a ride height that would suit both and just have to change the damper settings
That sounds like very good advice about the 20mm drop leave for a bit then drop 5mm more etc, cheers Rud

Coilnpuk cheers again what car did you run on the track?

I have the adjustment on the rear ARB to consider aswell so hopefully with the ride height set inplace and the adjustment of the rear arb and dampers i'll be able to take the car from race spec to road spec

 

[colinpuk]

i race both these cars http://www.colinpeach.co.uk/images/rsgallery/original/Picture7.jpg

 

[Willie]

hmm okay, that is a very different league to any of the stuff I'm speaking about.
Suppose its all the same principals. How come your on a Seat forum then?