Hi there, i have found some good info on spring rates and choosing the right setup for the application, and i have decided on the range i want for my setup; 88 crx hf. This car will be street driven although not dd. Basically i don't mind sacrificing ride quality at all for increased performance. My car is currently stripped with no dash no climate, etc. So comfort is out. Car weighs 1730 with 1/2 tank and junk in trunk haha. B18 powered.

My main concern is if i do go with a pretty stiff setup(somewhere around 400-500f/600-700r) that i will be risking breaking suspension components while the car sees limited street use. What will break? Who runs a setup near this on the street and what(if any) problems have you had? I assume this stiff of a spring will also transfer more energy into other parts of the car, so good engine mounts etc should be used.


I do not participate in any real racing events, someday when im more financially secure i will, but not for a long time, so rules are of no concern to me. Right now its just track days and mountain carving.

As always guys, thanks for the help.

 

The life of a car or parts of a car shouldn't be any shorter due to spring rates. I have high spring rates on my ITR and have not had any problems after 3 years. Having a good set of dampers helps. An undamped oscillating mass would be more detrimental to the suspension pieces than anything. pick up a mechanical Vibes book and drown yourself in the world of dampers and springs and masses if you want to know more.

But any street use is no where near what hitting a burm on a race track in an accident would be.
But don't race on the streets please.

 

Haha yes, but when you hit that berm do you have suspension problems? lol

Anyways what spring rates are you using? And no i don't race on the streets not unless the road is blocked from pizza guys getting in the way(sorry FF reference). lol

I just imagined that the suspension was transfering more impact to the rest of the car, and with high spring rates things may break. Any more input?

 

I don't know about the life of suspension, but I have noticed an increase in little noises and vibrations here and there in my car after driving a few years on stiff suspension. I think My CD player died prematurely because, at least in part, of that also.

 

The only damage I've ever seen (and who knows what this was really from) was a crack in the body, near the top of the A-pillar where it meets the roof. This was on an ITR several years ago, and I don't remember any of the details, other than that the guy thought it had something to do with his suspension.

<--- Been rocking some pretty hard suspensions for several years with no apparent ill effects...other than two busted CD players, weirdly enough... I drive a Civic, so it's going to squeak and rattle no matter what

 

Thanks for the input guys,

can you guys list your spring rates so we know how stiff and can(sortof) compare.

No cd player for me, just the zune with over the ear headphones haha.

 

You have to realize just looking at spring rates won't tell you anything. Shocks will play a big part there, as will vehicle type and vehicle weight.

<-- '93 Civic hatch, 16K/18K on Ohlins shocks, vehicle weight of 2180lbs without driver.

 

I have daily driven 700/800lb springs since June. Other than being bouncy as hell it isn't too bad. I am going to a little softer combination for the nex event though.

 

Yeah i know things are different, im just getting a baseline to see if anyone with any setup(good or bad) is having problems. This is not a difinitive answer to every car every setup, but its a start.


Oh and i have insomnia, sometimes i notice things cause im bored. Did you notice that the two posters above me both joined on the same exact day.... 5 years ago... pretty cool huh? lol

 

I have skunk 2 coils 10k 8k and in my 95 civic and yea the amount of little noises and minor rattles definately grew after the suspension upgrade.

It's alright I like stiff suspension

 

I've got PIC coilovers with stiff 12k/14k springs. The suspension parts themselves are likely stronger than the rest of the car. In my case, my exhaust came apart near one of the mounting welds and had to be replaced. race shocks are likely stronger than other parts of the car, so i'd worry more about rusted out bits than the shocks themselves.

DJM:>

 

Ive been running mugen n1 dampers 16k/18k for about 4 months, before that I had gab revostrokes with 600/800lb springs, the car is noisy, squeeky and very annoying to drive on the street but I havent noticed anything broken yet, alot of it has to do with damper settings also, if I loosen up the n1's its not as bad...personally I think springrates in the 14-20k range are too nasty for a street car, but since when have I cared about what is too nasty for a street car

 

You will learn to drive better and the learning curve will be much quicker if you use a little softe of a spring. You will be able to feel weight transfers more. Unless it's a purpose built race car extremly high spring rates are overrated.

 

My rates a lot stiffer than the ones you are looking at. The car is a 92 hatch. Its all about getting the right shock set up for your rates.

My car see's lots of street duty. Some of the problems I have had from stiff rates and stiff motor mounts include:

Lots of little sounds
random bolts loosen them selfs off
broken gas tank strap
bitching from my girlfiend
front shock tower bolts loosen and fall out on
tons of fun on track and at autoX