solo-x

another thread inspired me to write this. i'm curious as to if i will have any longevity issues by using 6 inch 2.5 inch inside diameter 600lb and 500lb springs over 8 inch springs of the same rate. to answer the inevitable "why", the car needs to go on a diet this winter and still be legal in sts. preliminary plans include hollow sway bars and shorter springs. additional input welcome.
curb weight: 2450lbs with driver

nate

WRXRacer111

Can you get the proper ride height with those? That seems a bit short. You might have some spring seating issues of the spring hanging on and tearing up the threaded sleeve. (Assuming this is a Ground Control setup, I've seen a car do this with 7" springs or whatever it is GC supplies in their Integra kit)

MechE00

Will what break? Are you worried because they are shorter springs? Less metal involved in providing the force? If a spring is properly designed, it shouldn't break when used for the design purpose.. without knowing the material properties, manufacturing processes, etc. I really can't see how I could comment on a product's likelihood to break..

one thing though, shorter springs means you're that much closer to the bumpstops and bottoming out your shocks, unless you've already taken that into consideration..

Are you going to get "wave rotors" for your rear brakes? (if you're going to get them for your fronts, don't tell me..)

Anyway, I really haven't seen many _broken_ springs, unless there was a flaw in the manufacturing process or they were used way out of spec..

edit: punctuation


[Modified by MechE00, 5:37 AM 9/5/2002]

civicrr

There won't be any problems with the springs 'breaking'. As mentioned above, with the shorter spring, the spring will come unseated under full droop. There might be some popping/rubbing when the car comes back down. Nothing to worry about IMO.

RR98ITR

The question is how much spring travel do you get with a spring (Free minus Coil Bound), how much you have to preload that spring to get your desired static ride height, and how much shaft travel you have from static ride height to full bottom. It should be obvious that you don't want to coil bind the spring in operation (most typically cornering) and get sudden infinite rate.

Scott, who says this isn't the place to shave every last ounce - run 7's or 8's....but do the homework....

solo-x

as far as getting the ride height i want with a 6" spring, that is not a problem. and with the 8" springs i have already, the spring unseats in full droop. in fact, with the front koni's at the standard perch, i have the collar almost to the bottom of the sleeve to get the ride height i want.

there is no pre-load, if what you mean by that is tension on the spring without any vehicle weight on it. coil bind and spring longevity were my main concerns. i don't think coil bind should be an issue. i'm using standard ots koni's so i only have approx. 1.5 inches of bump travel, maybe a touch less. (i haven't really had the time to measure it) you are probably right about how much, or really how little weight i'll save. most of the 50 lbs my car gained this year could probably be attributed to the switching to 205 falkens over 195 avs-i's.

nate