gc coilover springs overcompressing?

[talonturbotsi94]

Ok I’m wondering if my front coilover springs look fine or are they compressing to much. I barely have my car set maybe a centimeter below the very top and the springs look very compressed in comparison to the back. Ok so here’s the pics and tell me if thats just the way its suppose to look or if there’s something wrong.

Front: 1cm below top

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Rear: mid way through

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[kronus]

Well I'll tell ya now, your rears will always have more room to work with than the fronts. Especially on AGX's. But I ran to the garage and took a look at mine. Same setup. Can't exactly tell from the angle of your first pic, but they do look a little more compressed than mine do. But my rears are WAY more compressed than your rears are.

Just a question first. What are your spring rates? If they're lower (softer), you'll probably be able to compress the spring more just with the weight of your car than if you were running stiffer springs. Also, where's your front bump stop? I probably should've run the whole stops in the back (I think I blew my rears), but you DEFINITELY need them in the front!

 

[jtmcinder]

This thread is worse than useless -- i.e., misleading -- without springrates.

- Jtoby

 

[talonturbotsi94]

its the regular spring rates of
front : GC150.64.66 rate of 375
Rear: GC180.64.44 rate of 250
and i know the fronts bumpstops are not in, its a long story, but will be fixed on friday

 

[kronus]

Well that's wierd, I'm running 375f/325r. And mine seemed to be compressed just the opposite of yours. Wanna take a pic of the whole side of the car? Might give us a little more insight.

 

[talonturbotsi94]

Well that's wierd, I'm running 375f/325r. And mine seemed to be compressed just the opposite of yours. Wanna take a pic of the whole side of the car? Might give us a little more insight.

ok ill take some more pics tommarow

 

[jtmcinder]

Are you sure you have the springs on the correct ends of the car?

If you have two springs with the same free length and same wire thickness, then the one with more coils is the one with the lower rate. Yes, you read that correctly: more coils = longer wire = lower rate (all else being equal).

Sometimes different rates are produced using different thicknesses of wire. Sometimes different rates are produced by different spacings of the coils. Sometimes it's a combination of the two. Look carefully at the springs to make sure you have them on the correct ends of the car.

Beyond that, keep in mind that the front of your car weighs a lot more than the rear.

- Jtoby

 

[talonturbotsi94]

ok i hope these pics work better so yall can compare it to your cars. from what i read about how the spring rates are determined by the # combination my springs are in the correct location, so im still not sure as to if its just supose to be like this.
front coil

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and a side view

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[jtmcinder]

I'm an airhead.

Look at the numbers again. You have 6" (150mm) fronts and 7" (180mm) rears. In order for a 6" spring to have such-and-such a rate, it must have closer-spaced coils than a 7" spring of the same rate. Combine this shortness of your front springs with the higher weight of the front of the car and the difference in coil-spacing is explained.

- Jtoby

 

[kronus]

I'm an airhead.

Look at the numbers again. You have 6" (150mm) fronts and 7" (180mm) rears. In order for a 6" spring to have such-and-such a rate, it must have closer-spaced coils than a 7" spring of the same rate. Combine this shortness of your front springs with the higher weight of the front of the car and the difference in coil-spacing is explained.

- Jtoby

Ah. Good call. Didn't catch that. Oh, and that car doesn't look to bad. You could lower it a bit more IMO. Just be careful, lowering it much more than maybe 3/4 of an inch more, and you might be blowing out those struts.

 

[jtmcinder]

I'd leave the tail where it is and drop the nose another 1/2". Getting the front roll center down while keeping the rear roll center up is the best set-up, IMO, for our cars. Better turn-in and also makes the tail much easier to control.

- Jtoby

 

[talonturbotsi94]

yea i didnt lower the front down much because i dont have the front bump stops in but that should be fixed in acouple of hours. but yes the rear is staying where its at. i guess the front spring are supose tobe like that although it does look odd to me.