Causal link between camber and ride height?

[Yumichika]

I have some unproven guess. I used to try some combo of suspension and found that if I do some implement to increase camber (i.e., wider LCA ball joint), the ride height might lower down. A 20mm wider LCA might cause 20mm lowering.

Yet I haven't do any comparison test, so I'm not sure about the guess. Any one have experiment to prove or disprove this?

 

[GTI Jake]

It would be much less drastic.

Since 99% of forum members here are only dropped on lowering springs I'm surprised by this question. But to answer it, the lower you go the more camber is added just by design. However it takes a big drop (4" or so) to even end up with 4-4.5 degrees of camber, which for reference is only double what you'll have with a 1.5" drop (roughly)

 

[breaking badly]

Why am I under the impression you didn't answer his question?

I used to try some combo of suspension and found that if I do some implement to increase camber (i.e., wider LCA ball joint), the ride height might lower down. A 20mm wider LCA might cause 20mm lowering.

Please explain, why do you think longer LCA (for added camber) would lower your car?
It's the strut and its spring making the ride height and the strut itself doesn't change.
Only the angle of the strut will change > kingpin inclination.
It isn't too difficult to calculate the resulting change in ride height, but it's certain not
20 mm when you elongate the control arm by the same 20 mm since inclination is way
smaller than 45 °.

 

[Yumichika]

Well it is just a guess...I first installed a Taiwan coilover kit and then change into B12. But the front height was about 0.7 inch lower than expected. Many facts may cause this so I didn't care a lot at that time.

Recently I'm planning about the TT swivels, and it is said that TT swivels may lower the car about 1 inch along with TT LCAs, which sounds stange to me. Then I were recalled that LCAs were also widened for about 15mm when B12 was installed onto my car. So I guess there may be some causality.

According to calculation, 15° kingpin inclination itself will turn 15mm additional width into 4mm lowering height. And the change of kingpin inclination will cause more horizental force on springs. However, considering all there will not cause such a drastic change about 0.7 inch.

Again, that's just a guess

 

[AR11]

Decrease in ride height can affect camber but change in camber doesn't affect a change in ride height as far as I'm aware.