Coilovers

Am I being very hard of thinking (I've forgotten all of A-level Physics), or does raising ride height on coilovers decrease spring rate, and reducing it increase spring rate? I.E, the lower the car goes, the harder the springs get due to preload?

Reply to
Doki
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Wouldn't it stay the same since the spring is the same length and the car still weighs the same? As you lower the spring platform the whole spring will move down and the shock absorber will shorten due to the weight of the car, since it's the spring that's supporting the car and the weight hasn't changed I'd have thought it was under the same load as before. The only exception I could think of is if you raised the car so much that the shock absorder was at it's upper limit of travel and the spring was being compressed as you wound up the platform. I could be wrong though.

Reply to
Homer

Preload is just a figment of the imagination dreamt up by bikers. (Dons 3 layers of nomex).

Spring rate is down to the number of coils, the rating of each coil and the effective rate due to inclination. (Don't forget that it's rarely totally linear all the way either.)

Reply to
Bob Sherunckle

No, it's not. It takes the 'sag' out of the spring.

HTH.

Reply to
SteveH

Ride height adjustment I can understand. Preload I struggle with.

Still - live and let live and all of that nonsense ;-)

Reply to
Bob Sherunckle

Spring rate and damping should stay the same. With coilovers you are adjusting the height of the platform in the lower postition, not shortening the spring. Now, shortening the spring (not fitting a shorter spring) will increase the spring rate of that spring. A shorter spring could be wound with with the same spring rate as the longer one. Also progressive springs would allow the first few coils to be softer/lighter than the rest of the coil to mop up small bumps, but not have the spring coil bound when you whapped the first biggy.

Reply to
NeedforSwede2

Depends on whether it's got progressive springs

Reply to
Abo

The spring rate is independent of the preload[1], but changing the ride height can change the geometry and thus the mechanical advantage, so the _effective_ spring rate can change, but that depends entirely on the specific geometry of the car, so there's no straight answer. On any normal (i.e. not mad offroader type arrangement) the effect is quite small.

OTOH, _chopping_ the springs to reduce ride height does increase the spring constant.

[1] well, not really - there aren't many truly linear springs about, but over the range used it's pretty much true.
Reply to
Albert T Cone

Only if part of it goes coilbound.

John

Reply to
John Greystrong

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