Need to understand suspension basics
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 10
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From: boston, ma, usa
Need to understand suspension basics
I have some simple yet potentially involved Noob question here. I've been trying to research the basics of how the springs and struts of a suspension work in these forums, but everyone seems to talk about it at too high a level for me.
Specifically I'm trying to understand things like what is a spring rate, what are the differences between linear and progressive rates, is it the spring or shock or both that affect performance gains/ride quality, which one affects it more, how does lowering ride height affect performance (is too low actually a bad thing?), etc.
Is there any basic literature out there that can help me understand the basics? Thanks.
Specifically I'm trying to understand things like what is a spring rate, what are the differences between linear and progressive rates, is it the spring or shock or both that affect performance gains/ride quality, which one affects it more, how does lowering ride height affect performance (is too low actually a bad thing?), etc.
Is there any basic literature out there that can help me understand the basics? Thanks.
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 12
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From: Corvallis or Portland, OR, USA
Re: Need to understand suspension basics (bostonegcivic)
I learned alot from Gran Turismo 1/2/3 in the suspension tuning part, but seriously http://www.howstuffworks.com might have stuff to read, also check Sport Compact Car's website if they have past tech articles, because i think they do a good job explaining tech stuff.
Down Since Day 1
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 7,104
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From: Gilbert, AZ
Re: Need to understand suspension basics (OSUBeaver)
http://www.howstuffworks.com is a good idea, they go pretty well indepth.
Ill try to be as basic as possible in my ranting.
When lowering a car it depends on what your lowering it with and how low you are going to go. If you lower it up to 1.5" your not going to NEED to buy new shocks for probably about a year, maybe more. Anything more than that your going to want to get aftermarket performance shocks, tokico and koni are pretty much standard. There are basically 3 types of suspension damper setups. Lowering springs (eibach, sprint, H&R), Sleeve Coilovers (skunk2/ground control) and full bodied coilovers (tein, JIC, HKS). A full bodied coilover is a factory tuned one piece unit, a spring and shock combo prefabed from the factory. With sleeve coilovers or springs its just the 1 or 2 pieces, and you have to supply your own shocks.
Right now it seems like you can get a entery level set of Tein full coilovers for around the same price youd spend on some ground controls/koni's.
Did that help at all? Im bored.
Ill try to be as basic as possible in my ranting.
When lowering a car it depends on what your lowering it with and how low you are going to go. If you lower it up to 1.5" your not going to NEED to buy new shocks for probably about a year, maybe more. Anything more than that your going to want to get aftermarket performance shocks, tokico and koni are pretty much standard. There are basically 3 types of suspension damper setups. Lowering springs (eibach, sprint, H&R), Sleeve Coilovers (skunk2/ground control) and full bodied coilovers (tein, JIC, HKS). A full bodied coilover is a factory tuned one piece unit, a spring and shock combo prefabed from the factory. With sleeve coilovers or springs its just the 1 or 2 pieces, and you have to supply your own shocks.
Right now it seems like you can get a entery level set of Tein full coilovers for around the same price youd spend on some ground controls/koni's.
Did that help at all? Im bored.
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