How exactly to they work???? Like the ones that Weapon R make. Is Weapon R even a reputable company? I was looking at a car for sale and seller said that it had dual spring Weapon R coilovers. Just curious because I have never heard of them before and Ive tried searching....


Modified by jdmturbo1127 at 3:58 PM 9/25/2007

 

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This forum moves slow in comparison to some others, dont bump a thread after half an hour.

The Weapon R coilovers, or any others that have a tender spring setup for that matter, have 2 springs stacked atop each other over the shock, one of the advertiesed rate and the second of a much much lower rate. The purpose of the lighter rate spring is to keep the main spring seated on the spring perch under full droop (i/e when one wheel is off the ground), and at static ride height and under compression, that tender spring should be at coil bind, fully compressed, leaving you effectively with a thin spacer on the main spring when under load that under droop keeps the main spring from flopping around.

While this can be helpful in some circumstances, the times where you are fully unweighted at one or more corners are, or should be, rare. If youre cornering fast enough to tripod on the street or are launching off curbs or speed bumps, having a spring unseat momentarily is bound to be the least of your worries, particularly with a coilover kit of such questionable quality as the Weapon R.
Most of the time, your springs should be under load so tender springs are unnecessary. I autocross and know of very few other autocrossers who use a helper spring assembly under far more sever driving conditions than you should be seeing on the street.

Nearly the first entire page of a google search for "weapon r coilovers" was dedicated to the subject, including one user review site that i didnt see a single thoroughly satisfied review, most were in the 2/5 stars stc (not the most reliable source I know, but there isnt a metric ton out there as there is for other companies, Koni Tokico et al.) From my impressions, they are better than generic Ebay junk but not by a whole lot, similar range to dropzone, which I will never run on any car I own.


ymmv, hth etc

 

If the secondary spring's only purpose is to keep the spring seated at full droop, it's a helper spring and should these typically have negligible rates (they do not affect the overall spring rate) and compress flat like a hockey puck. Tender springs have a rate and do contribute to the overall spring rate of the coilover, they do not compress flat and their purpose to make an other linear spring progressive.

 

my bad, I thought helper and tender were the other way around. I dont think ive ever seen an tender spring arrangement used though, ust the low rate type to keep the spring seated

 

i figured that out relatively recently as well. it looks like sometimes "tender" is used to describe both.

 

Pretty stiff spring rates. Be sure to check for the bottom of the sleeve to see if it's starting to flare out on the shock. My old ones seemed to be doing that, although this is after running them since late 2002/early 2003. As with many coilovers in this market segment, the collars have a tendency to seize, so adjusting ride height may not be possible.

I had them paired with KYB AGX and they were underdamped, Tokico Illumina's may have been a better choice. If the owner has been running them on stock shocks for some period of time, I can pretty much guarantee you they are blown. If they were on KYB's for 3-4 years that are not blown yet, they are near the end of their life cycle.

 

If you end up buying the car I'm sure you will be able to tell right off the bat if you like them or not. If not, swap them out for something that handles and rides better. Was looking a bit too other than here and most people didn't have the best things to say about them.

 

I wasnt really looking to buy the car. I just seen the dual spring coilover and wanted to know just what it was.