GG Allin

What is the best (closest to 50/50) one could expect to get from a 964? Last time my car was weighed it came to about 62% rear and 38% front. With a more adjustable suspension how much closer to 50/50 could I expect to get?

1990-964

If my understanding of weight distribution is correct then you will not be able to affect the distribution with suspension. It is a function of the mass over each axle respectively. The only way to alter this is to move weight around or remove wieght from one end of the car. In the case of the 911 weight removal would need to be from the rear of the car, but I doubt that 50/50 can be achieved in one of these cars. Sorry if I burst your bubble. Do not sweat it though, these things handle great when set up well rear weight bias or not.

SimonExtreme

I am not sure what you are trying to achieve but if you play with the suspension I believe that you can move the weight distribution. I have just checked my last corner weight figures and before I had 36% front and after 38% front (actual difference about 1.56%!).

The problem is whether you actually want more weight to the front. Let us assume that you could get 50/50 weight distribution on your car, you would find the car a total pig to drive. As you play around with weight distribution, you need to play with spring rates and probably dampers as well.



What you should do is get the car corner weighted and the geo checked by a Porsche specialist who knows the "numbers" and can get your car to those numbers. That way, you will have optimised the car's potential but you cannot change the fundemental weight bdistribution of the car. Beyond that, I wouldn't want to go any further. Remember, the weight distribution of a 911 has many advantages and the car is set up specifically for it.

springer3

Slide the seats as far forward as practical. Remove AC and any other non-critical parts from the rear and help both the front-rear bias and the total weight. Add ballast to the front to balance the weight, but that will harm the handling characteristics. There is nothing you can do to the suspension settings to make a meaningful change in the front-rear weignt distribution.

robmug

Brake hard. 1g of braking gives about 50/50 weight distribution in a 964!

Hard acceleration = more weight to the rear (where it's needed)

Standing still not going anywhere - why does it matter what the weight distribution is if it's not moving ;-)

GG Allin

Maybe my question should have been, what is the weight distribution on a properly set up track 964? I know I'll never get to 50/50 but I wonder if 38/62 is the best it will ever be.

TR6

My understanding (what little I have!) from my reading on the subject is that on a 911 (or any car), static weight distribution is a relatively meaningless number. What matters is your dynamic weight transfer technique while the car is in motion. Eg. acceleration and deceleration (braking) creating weight transfer forward or rearward depending on the needs of the moment (entering a corner, exiting a corner, etc). And then of course, there is all of the other stuff like polar moment of inertia, etc, that you can play around with.

cobalt

Standard distribution should be 60% rear and 40% front under a 1 G braking load you are actually looking at 38% rear and 62% front.

tonytaylor

TBH 38/62 would be pretty good for a track 964 since it's actually easiet to remove weight from the front ( get rid of spare, tools , lwt battery, CF wings and hood etc) but rather more difficult to delete stuff at the rear. Dropping the front is limited by clearance for the wheels and you might want some suspension travel after all and raising the rear is a no no because the C of G is adversley affected.
There are of course well known ways of driving round the problem and the uneven weight distribution is beneficial some of the time but sometimes there's no way round the problems it causes - wet weather braking in my track car is laughable really.

braol

The proven way to change the weight distribution is by weight removal (or mounting an engine in the middle). What I'd like to see is a lightweight bumper. Ever hold up a removed 964 rear bumper...HOLY COW!!

cobalt

Actually you can drop rear weight by replacing the exhaust with an after market header system. The B&B on my car dropped quite a bit and the muffler delete a bit more.

Bearclaw

On a related note, has anyone had corner balancing done, and could you tell a difference in handling?

cobalt

Corner weighting is critical to a well handling car and does not cost much over the price of an alignment.

SimonExtreme

Have I had it done? Yes, regularly! As often as I have the geometry checked which depends on use but in the last 4 years the car has been corner weighted 3 times.

Can I tell the difference? I have to be honest and say i don't know but that is because I have never just done corner weighting. Can I tell the difference between the car before and after a full suspension set up. Yes, it's night and day.

If you want your car to handle to the best of it's potential, get it set up properly by somebody. You won't regret it.

Danz C4

Speaking of corner balance, I am curious how to set both the ride height and corner balance without putting one or the other out of spec. With the H&Rs and Bilsteins, I set mine up to the RS ride height but have not done corner balance. It seems to me that in order to do corner balance, you adjust the spring bearing plates to effectively put more or less weight on any one corner, consequently changing ride height.

What am I missing?

Danz C4