| Coilover Spring Rates - Click HERE for Original Thread |
| Ninharu |
I am looking at getting rid of my shot springs on my car (98 eclipse gsx) (i have tokico illuminas which are pretty much brand new & ebach prokit which the rears are shot and i keep bottoming out) and I was considering a coilover set up. I have looked around and i have narrowed it down as far as price range and brands but i am beyond confused as to how these things will ride considering every company uses a different spring rate.
So far here is what i have
ksport 13/7
Megan 14/6
TEIN SS 9/6
D2 ???
NEX 12/6
I think im leaning towards the ksports just because i have read decent things about them and they are probably the best priced for performance. My only concern is the front spring rate. I have read on dsmtuners that anything over ~7/400 for the rear is too harsh for our cars but as far as the fronts go i have no idea. Im thinking that 13 is way to stiff, so i was going to try and order a custom rate of 10/7 or 9/7 . Has any one living around edmonton used similar spring rates on their car and drives it on a daily basis without rattling their fillings out? Or better yet does anyone have any of these on their cars now? And if so how well do they work for you?
Thanks
heres is description of my car
98 GSX Eclipse
FP T28
MafT & 95 EPROM w/ stage 3 keydiver
AVCR & MSD w/ COP
PTE 880s, Walbro 255 & Aero AFPR
AMS 2.0l build 7 bolt block
ACT 2600 & Xact Flywheel
Greddy Big FMIC |
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| CanadianR |
Well, first off, i have to say that i doubt your eibach springs are shot. I do believe Eibach offers a lifetime warranty on their springs; they are some of the highest quality springs you can buy. It's more likely that the drop is too much or the valving in the Tokico's isn't strong enough to keep the spring from bottoming out or posibly there are bumpstops the Tokico's came with that needed to be trimmed for the amount of lowering the spring provides.
The reason the different companies use different spring rates is because they all have a slightly different view of what the desired handling characteristics are. The dampers will be valved according to what the spring rate is, though. In order for you to change out the springs for a different spring rate you will have to consult the manufacturer to first, see if alternate rates are offered (not all companies offer this) and second, see if the damper is compatible with your desired spring rate. I would mention as well that unless you are pretty knowledgeable it's unlikely that you will get better handling qualities by picking your own rates. A good manufacturer should be able to advise you whether going with a softer spring will give you the desired results (softer ride) and whether the damper has the ability to work with the desired spring rate (the damper should work fine with a softer spring). I noticed that you are thinking of changing rates from, say 13/7 to 9/7. I would advise against this, as you are changing the front to rear spring rate bias. The bias is set to give a desired handling trait and it's likely going with a much softer front spring while leaving the rear the same will promote a more oversteer prone car. While some may find this desireable, i get the impression you are not doing any circuit driving with this car and will be using these for the street. I would suggest if you want to go with a change from 13k to 9k in the front , that you also change the rear from 7k to something like 5k.
I will also say for the record that i had a set of Tein Flex on my itr with 9k/4k spring rates and the car was quite jarring (the car was not daily driven either). But i then switched to a Spoon N1 coilover with 12k/14k rates and actually found the ride to be more comfortable, though it wasn't great for daily driving (i had to daily drive the car for about 2 months after my work beater died) but it was tolerable. Part of the reason for this was the Tein had sperical bearing mounts (pillowball mounts) and the Spoons used stock mounts, but it also had alot to do with the actual valving in the damper. So to make my answer really muddy, it really depends on the damping characteristics of a given setup. I would say that my recommendation is to contact the manufacturers of the brands you are comparing and ask them for a recommendation for softer spring rates and whethter they offer different rates as i would guess that the stock rates they offer would be fairly uncomfortable.
Lastly, may i suugest you look into a combination of Ground Control coilover conversion paired with Koni yellow dampers. This will likely be of equal or better quality than a similarly priced coilover and Ground Control offers custom spring rates in 10 lb/inch increments. If you're not sure what spring rate to use you can just tell Ground Control what you will be using the car for and what our roads are like and they will choose an appropriate rate for you.
Hope some of this rambling helps:thumbup: |
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| Ninharu |
Ya that totally does. THanks for all the info, it you really do know your stuff. Basically from what i did find is pretty much what you said. Every company specifically does design their rates to match the dampening and recoil. I just ended up going with a Ksport setup just because of the pricing. The are probably going to do what i need them too and not going to cost me a fortune. But i know if i did order a custom set up the bias would change and my car would probably start to oversteer too much into the corners. I'll let you know how they compare to my current setup when i put them in.
Thanks again |
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| ChromeDragon |
| Did you cut the bumpstops in your car when you installed the Eibachs? That could be your bottoming problem, because it's not usually likely that putting a stiffer spring will cause bottoming issues. |
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| Ninharu |
| ya i dont really mean bottoming out in the sense of there being no more suspension travel left and my shock is hitting the top of the tower. What is happening is that my wheelwell is rubbing on my rear tires when i go over a dip. I have pretty wide tires and they just fit within my factory offset. So just the lip is rubbin on the outer corner of the tire. Its just lower on one side that it is on the other. So im guessing the springs are done for, because the tokico illuminas dont even have 2000kms on them. |
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