From what I read here on springs/bars it seems you want to run about 100lbs more spring up front than in the rear with a big front swaybar or discconect the rear bar.

If I wanted to stay with both OEM swaybars connected could I run maybe 200lbs more spring up front that in the rear to compensate?

 

If your coilovers are adjustable you can also try running the fronts stiffer than the rears. I run 12k all around with the dampening set softer in the rear and also have an ap1 front sway (cheap upgrade that seems to help a little) Car feels great and never too tail happy.

 

Increasing the front roll stiffness relative to the rear is the right thing to do, and your examples are in the right ball park. It really depends on your driving preference on how much front biasing you go.

My half ass way of getting the equivalent balance is to change the front/rear spring stiffness ratio by the same percentage as the front/rear tire stagger change. So if the tire stagger ratio goes up 10% to get approximately the same balance the front to rear spring rate ratio has to go up 10%. I'm sure this is not mathematically correct but its close enough for me.

 

Damping (not dampening) changes affect the car differently from spring and sway bar changes, and should not be used to adjust steady state balance except as a last resort.

 

+1. With the spring rates I am running, if I wanted to drop back to a stock front sway bar I would up my front rates 150 lbs. Which would put me at 1000 lb front springs to go with my 700 lb rear springs. I love the balance on my car right now. I am just going to add a touch more toe in out back to stabilize the car a little more in fast transitions.

 

any idea what a saner on soft is worth spring wise? 150lbs?

 

Dan, your timing is creepy. I just did a search yesterday to try to take a stab at a 'more spring/less bar' setup. I came up with this:

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showt...&#entry18751178

Those numbers appear to be in the ballpark when you do the math (or use one of the online calculators), but they would not correspond to wheel weights.

On my autocross car, I'm trying the following setup this weekend:
950F/700R with a stock '01 bar up front and a 7/8ths-inch solid rear bar. My previous setup was 950F/950R, saner on the middle or full soft, and the 7/8ths rear bar.

My gut says that I may need to go a little higher on the front rates, but the next step up that I have onhand is 1250. I'll see how she does this weekend and adjust from there.

 

are the given figures for race tires or street?--or does it matter?

 

Thanks for that info I'm still a bit of a noob when it comes to suspension tuning. I'll have to take that into consideration about using dampening settings last. I guess I should also be looking into a bigger front sway.

 

hey I had seen that number but I wasn't sure how it translates directly to spring rates

By my calcs if I'm at F/R 500/550 + Saner on soft, I'll need an extra 200-250lbs front spring with OEM bars.

Be interested to know how you car feels with those spring rates

The way I see it can't hurt to ditch the 15lbs+? saner off the front of the car if the springs can do the job instead