jirro22

hey guys,

just wanna ask what is the exact benefits of going for a higher spring rate for the coilover.right now i have a 12kg on all 4 coilover and i was thinking of going to 14kg on all four.

i want to know what are the expected outcome of increasing the spring rate?

thanks...

jirro

INTJ

Eh.

Technically it just counters the force of gravity...without being rigid.

Picking the right spring is part science and part preference. What are you going to be doing with the car, what are your roads like, what shocks do you have, why the same rate, why a single rate?

Stiffening will make the car react to smaller imputs. Matched F:R rates leads to oversteer. A shock designed for higher rates will lead to significantly less comfort on the road. (Not the spring up to natural frequency, but the shock valving...)

jirro22

i will be tracking the car about 4 to 5 times a year but i go to canyons evry weekend....i love how my setup is right now suspension and power wise, but becoz i have a craving for much better performance, i want to know if getting a higher spring rate is a good idea.

INTJ

Personally I wouldn't touch it if you like it. Still street driving, I would pay attention to tires.

For more performance- I would take a drivers class or join the SCCA. The car's absolute limits are way higher than you can safely reach consistently on the street...bone stock.

jirro22

that sounds fair, changing my spring rates isnt a must as of now, maybe i am just getting bored that i wanna do all the things possible i can think of my car. so yea, thanks.

TrackStar

OP- I don't understand . . . Why do you want to up the rates if you don't know the benefits? A word of advice- a stiff setup with short stroke will keep your wheels from staying planted on the ground on rough roads. Braking can be seriously affected over the bumps.

jirro22

thats why i ask..if its a god idea to increase the spring rate. but thanks for the advice.

b00st4ddicted

go with higher spring rate if you want to go drifting =)

TrackStar

Setting up for drifting is more about the balance. Ask Billman if you wish. I run Buddy Club RS and for drifting I actuallly soften the damping.

OP- what's your opinion of the rear sway bar? Is it a bit to stiff to go with the stock front? If drifting is your thing it might be better to run the stock one to make the rear rotate at a slower rate. I always said if I had an AP2 I'd run the AP1 (00'-'01) rear sway with the AP2 front. I believe this is what the CR runs.

INTJ

The drifiting comment was a joke methinks...I'll take a drift over snap oversteer any day.

The spring/shock/bar issue is pretty complex. Lots of personal preferenced involved.

Some people like a stiff spring (myself included) but it requires much better damping, which is really hard on streetability. But it retains suspension independance better (up to a point).

A bigger bar helps get some of that feeling, but is much better for the street. But as other people have posted, it doesn't have stiffer transient response, just better static cornering. But for AX stock, you don't have a choice, run the biggest bar to crank up the understeer and reduce the roll at the back.

Regardless of the route to get there, balance is critical. I'll take a bit less rate for better balance and catchability any time.