spring rates
Honorary Moderator Alumni
Joined: Sep 1999
Posts: 8,735
Likes: 0
From: Someplace with cones=AUTO
Originally Posted by ED9man
I see. What charecteristics did the handling have with the car bone stock and what do strut bars, sway bars, stiffer springs front or rear, etc. do to change it? I thought you might have an idea.
Strut bars help to stiffen the car. If you basically look at a car it's shaped like a U. And the shocks mount to the U like this /U\ The strut bar will brace the part between the shock mounts so they do not flex.
Sway bars help to keep the car from leaning AND effectively make the tire opposite the sway bar get more traction.
Stiffer springs prevent the car from transferring weight (or transfer weight quicker).
__________________
Sponsored by: KAM Racing Sports, Falken Tires, Progress Technology, Brady's High Performance, Taggart Performance Engineering, Rotora Brakes
Autocross is: 90% driver, 5% car, & 5% CRAZY MOJO!
Autocross Help Page
Sponsored by: KAM Racing Sports, Falken Tires, Progress Technology, Brady's High Performance, Taggart Performance Engineering, Rotora Brakes
Autocross is: 90% driver, 5% car, & 5% CRAZY MOJO!
Autocross Help Page
A Philanthropical Fruit
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 756
Likes: 0
From: Ann Arbor Michigan Aim: nickbeier
Originally Posted by 1stGenCRXer
It's all about weight transfer and how you manage it.
A lighter spring is more willing to accept more weight transfer in a turn or under acceleration and braking by compressing than a stiffer spring is. The reason a lot of people think a stiffer rear spring means a loose handling car is because under braking more weight is transfered to the front, and off of the rear, causing the rear to feel light, so you get rotation. This isn't exactly ideal though because the stiffer rear springs mean that the car doesn't want to shift weight aft under acceleration mid-corner or on a quick corner exit. This is fine if you have a great tire setup, but anything less means that the fine line you toe as far as the limits of adhesion go, you just crossed over and the front just wants to plow.
I'm not saying a lighter spring in the rear is better, all I'm saying is that it is a driver comfort issue first. Personally, I've raced long enough to be very smooth in the braking zone, late braking and a smooth turn into the apex. Because of this I seem to do quite well in cars with heavier springs up front. The reason it rotates just fine also is that the front is more responsive on turn in because it doesn't transfer as much weight side to side. It also doesn't transfer as much weight forward under braking, but that's ok because the stiffer front springs bring cross weights more into play, and the outside front spring still ends up carrying a lot of weight, even though it doesn't compress much, which unloads the inside rear tire, and viola, rotation. The main difference with this setup is that coming out of a corner since the front is less prone to physically move in it's suspension travel, addition of throttle tends to transfer more weight aft, and settle the rotation. Of course, the danger here is on open diff cars or cars with a high amount of power, because any time you transfer weight off the front wheels you have the potential to induce understeer or break traction.
Both methods have their ups and downs, both methods work. :dunno:
A lighter spring is more willing to accept more weight transfer in a turn or under acceleration and braking by compressing than a stiffer spring is. The reason a lot of people think a stiffer rear spring means a loose handling car is because under braking more weight is transfered to the front, and off of the rear, causing the rear to feel light, so you get rotation. This isn't exactly ideal though because the stiffer rear springs mean that the car doesn't want to shift weight aft under acceleration mid-corner or on a quick corner exit. This is fine if you have a great tire setup, but anything less means that the fine line you toe as far as the limits of adhesion go, you just crossed over and the front just wants to plow.
I'm not saying a lighter spring in the rear is better, all I'm saying is that it is a driver comfort issue first. Personally, I've raced long enough to be very smooth in the braking zone, late braking and a smooth turn into the apex. Because of this I seem to do quite well in cars with heavier springs up front. The reason it rotates just fine also is that the front is more responsive on turn in because it doesn't transfer as much weight side to side. It also doesn't transfer as much weight forward under braking, but that's ok because the stiffer front springs bring cross weights more into play, and the outside front spring still ends up carrying a lot of weight, even though it doesn't compress much, which unloads the inside rear tire, and viola, rotation. The main difference with this setup is that coming out of a corner since the front is less prone to physically move in it's suspension travel, addition of throttle tends to transfer more weight aft, and settle the rotation. Of course, the danger here is on open diff cars or cars with a high amount of power, because any time you transfer weight off the front wheels you have the potential to induce understeer or break traction.
Both methods have their ups and downs, both methods work. :dunno: