Coilovers that I am getting (hopefully soon, this time ) come with 8k/mm front and 6k/mm rear springs rates. In order to get different rates, I would have to order different springs by myself.

So the question I have is, does it worth it getting different spring rates or 8k front 6k rear is good enough?

Edit: my primary goal is neutral understeer/oversteer balance.

Thanks in advance!

 

You need to drive the car with the new setup first

You may find if you only track the car a few times a year, the 8kg front and 6kg rear may be perfectly suited to your daily driving. Your overall balance can be attributed to other factors as well

 

ya, I figured, but it was too late...

 

8/6 should be great.

Even though they are different coilovers, I have 9/7 on my D2's and I find them to be a bit to harsh.

Larrio should be able to compair the D2's 9/7 to his Boss 8/6... He had them both

 

I found the D2's at 9f/7r too harsh also. Then the 8f/6r on the B.C.'s were too soft

So now i'm back at 9f/7r Plus, the Eibach spring rates are a lot more accurate compared to off the shelf generic black springs

 

Stupid question, will I be able to preload the original springs (the ones that come with BCs) to make them as if they were 9 front and 7 sear and still have adequate suspension travel?

 

u should be able to preload them to that....but depends on what setup u are getting.....8/6 should be good though....

 

Careful. Preload doesn't work exactly the same way as a higher rate.

 

Exactly. Messing too much with the preload is gonna unbalance the car unless you cornerweight every time.

 

I'm on 9/7 on my D2's, and they can get a tad harsh, but the car stays FLAT.... Of course, after being on the bike all the time, the maxima feels like a luxery car.

What kind of coilovers are you getting??

Mike

 

I would recommend against preloading the spring at all. There is no specific measurement you can do. Also, the ride will feel bouncy as the spring is always under slight compression when you preload it like that.

Ideally, you would like to have 1.5-2 inches of gap between the top of the spring to the perch. That way you can use a helper spring to keep tension on the main spring when the suspension fully extends (gets ride of the ocassional clunk when the suspension fully unloads and the main spring is sitting there unattended)

 

...provided your dampers allow enough piston travel to accommodate that.

 

Mine do at almost 4 inches of lateral travel (rear shocks)

I forgot to mention that my method would be to order a shorter ERS spring to accomodate the extra length of the compressed helper spring, hence negating the fact to worry about piston travel on the shock absorber

 

...Lateral travel in a damper?

 

Ah, i'm sorry sir.... I got the terminology wrong (English isn't my first language).

I meant to say vertical travel of the piston shaft. I wasn't understanding this correctly. I thought the term lateral implies the up and down movement of a specific object. In this case, the piston shaft of the damper travels up and down the shock body during compression and de-compression

 

8kg and 6kg is fine...consider that our rear ends are very light compared to the fronts (although they still have to have a specific "harmonic balance"), then you have to look at specific "wheel rates" instead of just simply spring rates, the higher fronts are only that way to compensate for our fat @$$ front ends...but the wheel rates at the rear should be actually higher than the front...

ask norm peterson on here....he would probably be able to tell you more and bejay1 as well...

 

A lot of its feel also, not just what some engineer can tell you based on physics or book math.

Many people comment on modifications they don't have, much like how people argue all the time on "magazine times" between vehicles. The 5th gen weighs a bit more than a 4th gen, considering if the two vehicles ran the same spring rate (8kgf/6kgr), the 5th gen driver may want to opt for a stiffer spring rate all around

 

right...but then things get more interesting again when you start specific weight reduction, then wheel rates change again, and therefore the spring rates are more effective due to supporting less weight...

 

Then the same could be said for adding more weight back in if a system was installed or if the car was at full gas load, etc. Its obvious changing the characteristics of the car will warrant different suspension setups.

The question is whether the average person starts specific weight reduction, changing wheel rates, etc upon installation of coilovers.

 

well, I was addressing the crowd/demographic that this thread would reach...the hardcore crowd as it's in the advanced suspension/brakes forum...and most do eventually end up going on a specific weight reduction mission to incure better balance or alter wheel rates since it is cheaper and easier to do then keep changing spring rates by purchasing different springs...

example--I spent most of my time focused on front weight reduction since our cars are so front heavy that they don't like to slalom or take tight corners (typical of an autocross) and push (understeer) pretty bad...but since this would effectively stiffen the front wheel rates, I balanced it out by taking a little off the rear, but not nearly as much, since in our case, I believe it is better to focus more attention on getting weight off our front ends to turn-in better and deal with the increased wheel rates imposed on the front by other methods...

 

But that's the fundamental problem with FWD cars...you want to get 50/50 balance so you want to remove weight from the front but every pound you reduce from the front hurts your off-the line acceleration limit. For my purposes it would be pointless but if you autocross mainly it would be worth it. I will never again buy a FWD car.