Road Racing / Autocross & Time Attack Road Racing / AUTOX, HPDE, Time Attack

Quick question about swaping springs.

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Oct 28, 2006 | 10:00 AM
  #1  
invisible's Avatar
Thread Starter
Member
 
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,339
Likes: 0
Default Quick question about swaping springs.

Question is, can I swap the rear springs with the front? Reason I ask is because the fronts right now are 400lb and the rears are 425lbs and I wanted stiffer in the front. And the front and rear springs look totally different.

Also how "rough" of a ride would it be with those springs rates daily driving?


Modified by Battle23 at 3:32 AM 12/27/2006
Reply
Old Oct 28, 2006 | 10:14 AM
  #2  
rotten's Avatar
Member
 
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,006
Likes: 0
From: Renton, WA
Default Re: Quick question about swaping springs. (Battle23)

You could swap the springs, but I wouldn't. ALthough they are so close in rate that it would hardly be noticible.

It'll be stiffer than stock, but certainly drivable.

Plus you can adjust the Koni's towards the soft end of the spectrum while daily driving.
Reply
Old Oct 28, 2006 | 10:16 AM
  #3  
Cory Matthews's Avatar
Honda-Tech Member
 
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,165
Likes: 1
From: ca
Default Re: Quick question about swaping springs. (Battle23)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Battle23 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Borrowing these pictures, but my set up is exactly the same, GC with Koni Yellows and extended top hats..



Question is, can I swap the rear springs with the front? Reason I ask is because the fronts right now are 400lb and the rears are 425lbs and I wanted stiffer in the front. And the front and rear springs look totally different.

Also how "rough" of a ride would it be with those springs rates daily driving?</TD></TR></TABLE>


see how the front is wound up kinda funny? that is a progressive spring rate. the it starts out soft and then gets harder.


you could possibly swap them but then i think it will be just as rough if not rougher.
Reply
Old Oct 28, 2006 | 12:14 PM
  #4  
Cory Matthews's Avatar
Honda-Tech Member
 
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 1,165
Likes: 1
From: ca
Default Re: Quick question about swaping springs. (Battle23)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Battle23 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

How much should I turn from fully soft? I'm going to run pretty low daily driving.


so you suggest just leaving them the way they are too?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

yea. i think you will have a better ride of the two with the progressive spring in the front since it starts out softer.
Reply
Old Oct 30, 2006 | 10:57 AM
  #5  
TunerN00b's Avatar
Honda-Tech Member
 
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 7,539
Likes: 5
From: Sherman Oaks, CA, United States
Default Re: Quick question about swaping springs. (Cory Matthews)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Cory Matthews &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yea. i think you will have a better ride of the two with the progressive spring in the front since it starts out softer.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I always thought that the rear springs influenced ride quality alot more than the front springs. I suppose the real answer is, try them both ways and see how you like it.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Battle23 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How much should I turn from fully soft? I'm going to run pretty low daily driving.

so you suggest just leaving them the way they are too?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Konis only adjust rebound. Turning them up wouldn't help to avoid bottoming, that is entirely dependant on your spring rates and ride height. If the rebound is in inadequate at fullsoft, you'll feel the car continue to bounce a little after the bump, and you can turn them up a little until the bounce is gone. I daily drive my 00 GSR with them on full soft with 400/400 springs, for best ride quality, and them turn them up for auto-x and HPDE use to fine tune the handling.

If you want to ride really low, I'd swap the springs if those fronts are really progressive. Reason being, our cars lack front suspension travel, and we make it even wirse with lowering. A progressive spring will start out softer, which will allow the suspension to move more than a linear spring of the same rate that the progressive increases to, which will increase the chances of bottoming with the progressive spring.
Reply
Old Oct 30, 2006 | 12:21 PM
  #6  
.RJ's Avatar
.RJ
Senior Member
 
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 30,826
Likes: 0
From: RIP Craig Jones
Default Re: Quick question about swaping springs. (Cory Matthews)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Cory Matthews &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">see how the front is wound up kinda funny? that is a progressive spring rate. the it starts out soft and then gets harder</TD></TR></TABLE>

No, the springs are wound that way to increase the travel before you run into coil-bind - they are NOT progressive.

Call GC or Eibach if you have questions about them.
Reply
Old Nov 7, 2006 | 11:27 AM
  #7  
DFW's Avatar
DFW
Honda-Tech Member
iTrader: (1)
 
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 12,413
Likes: 1
Default Re: Quick question about swaping springs. (.RJ)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TunerN00b &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

If you want to ride really low, I'd swap the springs if those fronts are really progressive. Reason being, our cars lack front suspension travel, and we make it even wirse with lowering. A progressive spring will start out softer, which will allow the suspension to move more than a linear spring of the same rate that the progressive increases to, which will increase the chances of bottoming with the progressive spring.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I got the ones pictured, the GC springs (two on the right) are the fronts and the other two on the left are the rears. So it's good to have they way it is for being riding low?
Reply
Old Nov 7, 2006 | 01:23 PM
  #8  
Jack Black's Avatar
 
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,125
Likes: 0
From: 15 percent slip, FL, USA
Default Re: Quick question about swaping springs. (Battle23)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Battle23 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
How much should I turn from fully soft? I'm going to run pretty low daily driving.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

To answer your original question, yes, you can switch them, with a couple caveats.

One thing you want to watch out for is that you don't put too short of a spring with a low rate on the front or else you can have problems with coil bind. It looks like those springs are both the same length, so you should be fine. I run 450 x 7 on the front of my 94 Integra, and it works, but a 450 x 6 probably would not.

Another thing to watch out for is clearance on the back with the larger-than-normal diameter springs you currently have on front. If I recall correctly, there's not much room between the inside of the tire and the spring in back.

How stiff to run the shocks is largely personal preference. I find that I don't like less than 1/2 turn from full soft on the front, but I typically run 1 full turn from full soft for better transitional behavior.

Be careful not to run too low as you can run into bottoming problems very quickly if you go too low, especially if you have adjustable front upper arms like the Skunk2. 400-ish is stiff compared to stock, but it's an average to low race rate for something like a DC or EG. I'm dropped slightly less than 2" on the front and I'm right on the edge of being too low. If I'm not careful it will bottom in certain street driving situations (potholes, speed bumps), but so far it's been OK for autocross.
Reply
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
6thgenftw
Suspension & Brakes
17
Oct 31, 2012 05:25 PM
bopbop93030
Suspension & Brakes
8
Jan 1, 2009 08:37 AM
rota power
Honda Civic / Del Sol (1992 - 2000)
2
Mar 20, 2006 04:53 PM
96hb
Honda Civic / Del Sol (1992 - 2000)
6
Apr 20, 2004 06:41 PM
Ignitecivic
Acura Integra
2
May 24, 2003 10:46 PM




All times are GMT -8. The time now is 01:33 AM.