Please offer me a theory or text book answer on this set up.

Stiff front springs and OEM rear springs.

FWD, 60/40 distribution, 3,600lbs.

What would handling be like? Track and DD street.

 

how stiff are the fronts gonna be, and what are the oem specs?

 

The stiffer the front is relative to the rear, the greater the understeer tendency will be. Since almost nobody wants more understeer than stock, for most people and most cars it would be a bad idea to stiffen the front without also stiffening the rear.

In broad terms it will mean weaker turn-in and the front end will "give up" more easily in turns. You'll also get a slightly stiffer ride in front.

 

Sharp turn in, and then it'll wash out and understeer like a pig, depending how much you've increased the front roll rate.

 

Let me slide this in. Then wouldn't adjustable coilovers be a bad thing?

Yes, owners can adjust to whatever setting they like. But the settings could be all wrong in terms of handling and safety, no?

 

adjust what? shock damper settings is different from spring rates.

 

damper settings.

 

What is the rationale for wanting soft stock springs in the rear?

 

Yes, that can be true. Fortunately most people who have little knowledge/interest in how suspensions work buy cheap adjustable coilovers -- and those are barely adjustable.

I could be wrong about this but I suspect the problems with badly adjusted dampers probably have less to do with steady-state handling (i.e. steady-state understeer/oversteer) and more to do with dynamic changes in handling, like if you hit a bump or change the load on the suspension. So it's not a direct analogy to stiffening the front springs, if that's what you're getting at.

I would guess that 95% of people with badly adjusted dampers have them underdamped. I think it's also safe to say that many people who change their suspensions do it for cosmetic reasons, sacrificing ride comfort, performance, AND safety.

 

I'd say more people have them overdamped, especially for performance driving. They crank the dampers up expecting that they'll perform like stiffer springs, and to the inexperienced driver they will. They also think that stiff means better handling, when it usually doesn't.

 

Let's not forget weight transfer as well. It's a catch 22 really because:

- During braking, you want a stiff front (keep weight off the front end).

- However, during acceleration in a FWD car you want a stiff rear (to keep the weight on the front end which helps with tractive forces).

This is why (for example), the ITR is a very neutral car at the brink of oversteer. Front and rear spring rates / sway bar sizes are very similar.

 

lol, you just basically called everyone that runs stock class in autox inexperienced.