Which is what makes me think that ride height and ballast have been implemented similarly. Changing the ride height seems to just move the center of gravity...
{Cy}
Nice one for doing a test on this..
Pre 2.08 I would've disagreed about the ride height and ballast being 'similiar' (in terms of the affects of the car), but post 2.08 - you may have a point here.
Pre 2.08 ride height could affect traction, without having a major impact on the handling.. post 2.08, when I tested my Viper, it didn't seem to have anywhere near the same impact on traction (talking 3-6mm differences in ride height, not max front / rear).
Without meaning to cause you extra work, could you try your test but equal ride heights slammed (as low as poss) and as high as possible?
Would be interesting to compare this to the stock ride height..
I did my testing (results mentioned earlier) with an offline tune. This tune was very well balanced with equal front and rear ride height. Online this same tune had brutal oversteer.
If you're using a 'setup' would be best if you could post it so we can see it and even better, try it.
Oversteer could be caused by a number of things - roll bars, diff etc
Raising the rear by 20mm has always been a cure for oversteer, but if there's something 'wrong' in the setup, sometimes amending this means you can get balance in the car without such a large increase in ride height difference front and rear.
Offline has much more grip and stability than online (unless you're using a naturally well planted car on very grippy tyres online). So you can get away with a more aggresive "turn in" and losser rear end ofline. Take it online, you can end up with a 'drift' car by mistake.
Big differences in ride height are an "easy fix" for online setups, but should only ever be used when all other avenues are explored.
Springs, dampers and roll bars are very powerful factor in the handling of a car online. Having these working together rather than against each other is as different as chalk and cheese.
Get it right, car will fell great (even with general LSD, ride height, camber & toe - NOT specific to the car / circumstance it's being driven in), get it wrong, car will be undriveable..
Tune a 100 different cars for online - run them with springs dampers & roll bars working together, with the rest of the setup general settings; like what I put in the setups a few pages back (option A). Overall, these cars would be better than 100 different cars with the opposite - general springs dampers and roll bars, with specific LSD, toe, camber, ride height (option B) etc etc
Reason being - look at the tyre load indicator, this will tell you everything you need to know.
Option A - get this right, generally over the 100 cars you'll have balance in the indicator as much as with the cars
Option B - you won't... it'll be all over the place..
Tyre load indicator is poor for general tuning, but great for telling you whether you are on the right track, or whether you need to turn round and start again, or what 'side' of the setup you need to adjust / tweak / look at.
The dampers can make or break this, there is a
rough guide, if using the weight distribution theory:
FWD = dampers same strength as springs
RWD / 4WD = do above, but then REVERSE dampers front to rear
MR / 4wd MR - varies, could be either depending on characteristics of car.
As always, some cars will be different i.e Murcielago, do what you'd do with the FWD. It's trial and error, but once you get the hang of it (knowing what to do when), it all starts to make sense and you'll enter a whole new world of online setups...
🤬
