Consequences of raising suspension?

[ridebikes]

Hi there, new member here! Great to see so many fellow enthusiasts.

I have an 05 M3 coupe with TCK DA coilovers and a fairly aggressive street alignment. I got all this work done at once at a local race shop and have been very happy with the results.

However, now with COVID-19 having the car less and less on track, I'm hoping to raise the suspension to a more "liveable" height.

This feels like a bit of a dumb question, but will raising the suspension up equally on all four corners require a new alignment? Anything else to consider when adjusting coilovers ride height yourself for the first time? Thanks!

[timmo]

How much difference in ride height are you talking about? Just FYI if your front ride height is indeed low to the point of not liveable, you'll have some camber loss under compression since the FCA will be pointed upwards.

Rear camber will decrease, I believe you will also toe-out a bit as well. To what degree depends on the difference in height, FWIW I saw camber change quite a bit (~0.5 deg) with perhaps ~15-20 mm ride height difference, and my string tells me toe barely changed. But if you're looking to run on street, less camber should be what you want, if you're running a decent amount.

Front camber should also decrease, again it's what you want if you have a decent amount and you just want to drive on the street. I did not observe significant changes in toe either.

It goes without saying that if you had the car corner balanced, that gets thrown out the window if you change the ride height - you can get it quite close measuring spring seat heights with digital calipers, but not perfect.