flubyux2 said:
yes, i was asking about cutting my springs since i removed alot of weight from the front of my car... just to make me feel better about being seen in my car for a few months till i pick up some coil-overs. its more of an image thing in regards to my question about cutting the stock springs.
as far as the 25% figure, i was referring to limiting the increase of spring rate when retaining stock shocks. to high of a spring rate on a shock that is too softly valved will creat a bouncing effect, from what ive seen. IE: Ebay sleeve-over kits for Sport compacts and such. the idea is sound but poorly executed because those kits use such harsh springs rates over the stock/stockish shocks.
i dont want to throw a set of Koni Yellows, KYB AGX's or even Tokico blue's on my car w/ drop springs when i can get Megans for a little bit more money. im just looking for an inexpensive stopgap solution for a few months.
and for deciding what 2.5" ID springs id want to order, is there a formula i could find that would allow me to plug in all the variables to help point me in the right direction of spring selection? i figure, theres probably a formula or constant equation that would show me how much spring rate per unit length of spring coil would be needed to support X-amount of unsprung weight compared to total shock length or reduce shock stroke length. i just dont konw Where to plug these values in.
I wouldn't suggest cutting your springs. Just ignore it until you can put something else on there. It's just not really worth it.
25% isn't a number I would rely on. I'm sure for some shocks, it's fine. But with stock shocks, meaning OE stuff and not OE replacement, I wouldn't do anything with them. It's just not worth it, they're probably blown anyway. But with OE replacement, depending on how they're valved you can get away with running different spring rates. So if you had bilsteins or koni or another replacement damper, you might be able to get away with a different spring rate than stock and have them handle fine. But without seeing dyno plots and knowing a little more about the setup of the car, I can't say what springs you can run with what shocks.
As for getting megans instaed of running konis or bilsteins, your car would handle better with a koni or bilstein damper and a properly selected spring. The valving on the megans, from what I've seen on other cars and probably a very safe assumption to make, is that the valving is bad. It just is, like most of the JDM dampers, the valving just isn't right for the car, for the springs, for anything. But the problem with using a bilstein or koni will be the valving may not be suitable for running as high a spring rate as you may want to run depending on what you're doing with the car. But I would definitely suggest this route with spring sleeves and regular coilover springs instead of lowering springs.
There is a formula for what you want, there's a formula for everything. Here's what you would need.
Wheel rate = spring rate * installation ratio ^2
installation ratio = spring travel/wheel travel
Static wheel displacement = Sprung weight/wheel rate
Static spring displacement = static wheel displacement * installation ratio
so
Static spring displacement = sprung weight / (spring rate times installation ratio)
And that should get you pretty close. And it will only work with linear springs. With progressive springs, things get messy quick, unless you know exactly how the spring is going to react with travel. I mean they'll list a range, but is it a linear progression or is it non-linear, if you don't know that, it would be hard to even make an estimate that would be close to real world numbers.
Oh and it's sprung weight you're interested in. Not unsprung. Unsprung is the wheel, tire, brakes, half the suspension. Sprung is everything else. And the sprung weight you would want is just for the corner. And front and rear installation ratios are going to be different as are the sprung weights and spring rates. But this will only give you static position stuff. And it will only tell you how far the spring will compress and this is total compression. So any preload into the spring would be part of the total compression. For example if you come up with 1" as the static spring displacement, but you have preloaded the spring 0.25" already, then it will only compress 0.75" more.
stevenr816 said:
i dont want something that is soft, i want more firmer.
thats why i want the tokico sturts. so i can adjust the firmness normally.
but what springs do you guys recommend since the eibachs are softer. obviously i want the car lowered too.
last thing what is progressive? that it gets harder the more it compresses?
and why does it say for the eibachs 6.1mm-11.2mm. are they adjustable?
It really depends on how stiff you want to go. And since you want to keep TEMS, you're limited in your shock choice. And depending on the valving on the illuminas you only have so much freedom in your spring choice. And I don't know the valving on the illuminas, so I can't say what springs would work. But a lot of people seem to think that the eibach springs are enough for what you want to do. And also consider, that if there are this many people that like them and run them, then there's probably other people that don't have them yet that want to run them as well, so if you get them and don't like them, you should have no problem selling them. But it seems that they're about par for the course in terms of lowering springs.
As for progressive, all it means is that the spring does not have a constant rate throughout it's travel. A linear spring will have a rate like 100lb/in meaning it takes 100lb to compress the spring 1", 200lb to compress it 2", etc. A progressive spring may take 100lb to compress it 1" but 250lb to compress it 2" and so on. These numbers are just examples, they aren't for anything that you would be running.
BlackMKIII said:
I've heard Tokikos have a tendency to blow out on lowered cars. A good coilover set is really the best investment one can make. Megan Racing Track Specs are what I use, and I love them. They're not expensive either. 935Motorsports (a vendor here) sells them for about $900-$950.
Of course, the "best" is really just a matter of opinion.
It's all about how the vehicle feels to
you.
Like I said earlier, I would rather see someone running a good bilstein or koni damper with a properly selected spring than most of the entry level coilovers on the market. I'm just not happy with the valving and the reason that people give these things good reviews is because they don't know what a proper set up really feels like. No offense meant to anyone, it's just how it really is.
Tim
