Time to get nerdy again. I thought of a easy way to describe why the front ride height is effecting the geometry of the front suspension. So the LCA is 14" long and right now the inboard mounts are 1" lower than the outboard. That means at ride height it is at a 4 degree angle.
So to look at things simply without getting into too much accuracy with the M2 weighing 2250lbs and 60% is in the front which means 1350 on the front. Now when cornering lets say that 75% of the weight is on the outside tire, it is probably more than this, but this is just for sake of the explanation. That means what while cornering there is 1012lbs on the tire. With the tire making 1G of cornering that means that there is a side load of 1012lbs horizontally on the LCA. Now not even including the roll the car will see which will make the inboard mount of the LCA even lower, if you do the math with the LCA being angled at 4 degrees that is 72lbs off force which is going through the control arm which is pulling that side of the chassis down.
With the bilsteins being ~275lbs/in springs that means that that outer corner is going to lower 0.26" more than just the roll alone because of the geometry of the suspension. That is why those roll center kits help to reduce roll. It makes the angle of the arm better to prevent this extra lowering. On the inside of the car the effect is the opposite because the force on the LCA is going the other way. So the inside of the car will be pulled up.
Hopefully the picture helps as well.
Oh and yes I am a suspension nerd and an engineer. This is all pretty simple stuff to me. Just trying to explain it to everyone.
So to look at things simply without getting into too much accuracy with the M2 weighing 2250lbs and 60% is in the front which means 1350 on the front. Now when cornering lets say that 75% of the weight is on the outside tire, it is probably more than this, but this is just for sake of the explanation. That means what while cornering there is 1012lbs on the tire. With the tire making 1G of cornering that means that there is a side load of 1012lbs horizontally on the LCA. Now not even including the roll the car will see which will make the inboard mount of the LCA even lower, if you do the math with the LCA being angled at 4 degrees that is 72lbs off force which is going through the control arm which is pulling that side of the chassis down.
With the bilsteins being ~275lbs/in springs that means that that outer corner is going to lower 0.26" more than just the roll alone because of the geometry of the suspension. That is why those roll center kits help to reduce roll. It makes the angle of the arm better to prevent this extra lowering. On the inside of the car the effect is the opposite because the force on the LCA is going the other way. So the inside of the car will be pulled up.
Hopefully the picture helps as well.
Oh and yes I am a suspension nerd and an engineer. This is all pretty simple stuff to me. Just trying to explain it to everyone.