I'm purchasing a set of Ground Controls to put over my Koni shocks. I've been searching everything from autox forum and everything on spring rates. Since I'm going to be mainly daily/street driving I'm looking for added handling and less body roll, because I feel like i'm falling outta my seat now stockwise. I think I'm going to go with 350F/400R........has anyone driven these rates or relatively close that can somehow tell their experience. Will I feel every bump on the road? Is rear to stiff for daily driving. I also don't want to start pushing my back end out riding through corners. I don't know what spring rates were on cars that I've rode in previously, due to lack of cars with aftermarket springs around here. Any advice would be helpful. OTS GC's are 340F/250R.....any suggestions

 

350F/400R is a nice setup. It will handle pretty good with those rates (youll feel the bumps but its not bad, well it all depends on your tolerance. ). I currently have 375F/450R and Its not bad. Pretty neutral feel. I drive my car 50-100 miles daily. I plan on going with stiffer rates. something like 450F/550R.

 

i asked a similar question to crx lee, and got a wonderful response. i'll share it with you, because i think what he said to me applies to your case also - very sound advice.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">(11:43 PM 5/24/2004) jwn7: hi
could you please give me some advice on spring rates?
just picked up a set of yellows & gc sleeves. i need a good autox setup, no understeer, pretty neutral. something with good rotation. i have a stock ex front sway, rear comptech bar and es poly bushings.

car is daily driven, but i can deal with a stiff suspension.

thank you so much for any advice


(11:45 PM 5/24/2004) jwn7: i was thinking somewhere in the area of 400F 500R +/-100

(9:21 AM 5/25/2004) CRX Lee: I am guessing that EX means a mid-'90s Civic. Generally those rates sound in the right ballpark but it is hard for me in Cincinnati area with my roads, tastes, preferences to tell you whereever you are what you will want. I also can't tell you exactly how much salt you shoulds like on your scrambled eggs in the morning, just too much depends on personal taste. I can say that you will like somewhere between a pinch and a tablespoon of salt and that has gotten you in the right ballpark just like I think your spring estimation is probably in the right ballpark but beyond that there are so many variables based on personal taste. With a stock front bar and a slightly larger than stock rear bar and with adjustable shocks that let you change your rebound around to tune oversteer balance with, generally I would say that a primarily streeted, occaisional autocrossed car would wantsimilar spring rates all around to maybe 50-100 lbs heavier in the rear. What is good rotation for autocross is most likely too much on the street, especially in an emergency situation. The older I get and hopefully smarter as well, I realize that I don't really want to have to live with a harsh street suspension in the name of good handling, but I do want iot to be firm. There is a difference between firm and harsh and acceptable and unacceptable ride quality if you are going to live with the car on a day to day driver.

The good thing about having a GC style sleeve system and adjustable shocks is that it does let you interchange springs and tune valving to find the sweet spot combination that gets the most for you. They are so easy to change, I actually have two different spring set-ups for street vs. autocross/track for the same car if I don't mind a few hours to swap rear spring before and after the event. Even if you autocross your dailly driver, I'll bet that 99.9% of your driving is on the street so suffering or compromising every day just to have a good autocross set-up for the 0.1% that you do is a bit crazy.

Long story to say that your springs sound like a good basic ballpark to start. You have the tuning tools and it is not hard to learn to use them and you can develop for yourself what you like and easily do it. Your own personal tastes will probably be refined as you learn too so that is factored in. No one can say "XXXfront and XXXrear is the magic set-up for you", there are just too many variables so I suggest that you ask questions to get the right ballpark then start on the somewhat conservative side and try it. If it is too much, try less. If it is on the soft end, drive it a while and then maybe try a bit more. Don't just throw a ton of spring at it becasue someone else who lives elsewhere says he like it and suffer a needlessly harsh ride because of it. Hope this helps. Lee</TD></TR></TABLE>

i think you should just go ahead with the 350/400 and see how it is. if it's not to your liking, you can easily buy another pair of springs, and sell your old one for almost the same, maybe a few bucks less.


Modified by jwn7 at 9:47 PM 5/26/2004

 

you rates area little to close, you wanan keep a difference of at least 75lbs between the front and back

 

see and i'm in WI....and I can't say the roads are always that great...I don't wanna get to much spring and have to try to deal with the harshness....and get headaches from bumping all over the road. 350/400 I'm stiffer then stock and prolly not all that stiff. I think i'm gonna start there....How much is a new set of just the springs....looked around but couldn't find ERS springs.......or are they sold under something else?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SleepnCiViC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you rates area little to close, you wanan keep a difference of at least 75lbs between the front and back</TD></TR></TABLE>
Why? Any reason you'd like to share with us?

 

i think this is the most replies I got on a thread lol.......I'm also looking at getting some LCA's cause I have a CX and then going with a CTR rear sway....what else should I look at to complement this...a front sway...i hear a lot of back and forth about going with front sway...but thats cause I read a lot of autox forum which I don't see myself doing a lot of.

 

If your roads are of questionable quality go with the stock or a little heavier gc setup. The 350/250 or 350/300 is a pretty good feeling setup if you are worried about rideability. I am running 400f 475r because thats what I came across used. I have 500, 550, 600, 375, 350, 400lb springs and I've tried them all in different combinations. 350/400 is not that bad of a ride. If you find it too rough just reverse them. You say that you don't want the *** to come out in turns why are you going to a rear bias spring rate then?

 

well i figured stiffen the rear up....but some go with crazy 900lb's in the back strictly for racing......I was just stating that I didn't need a spring rate like that cause i'm daily driving....i don't think 400 would make it kick out like that