Hi, I read your post because the concept of ridding yourself of old rubber suspension cones seemed appealing. I can not quite visualise the height problem & I am not sure what a Hilo is but ....... Had you considered having the springs you want custom made by one of the many springmakers who specialise in auto spring making. They can set the spring rate (stiffness) compressed length, & free length. More to the point you will have a safe spring which if not exactly right can be remade at modest cost. I was concerned that the springs you fitted "settled", by which I assume you mean their length changed permanently due to the weight of the vehicle & its road loads. Springs should be designed to alter length in motion in a near perfectly elastic manner, any yeilding would indicate a poorly made or designed spring which could ultimately fail. Dampers or shock absorbers would need to be different for a steel spring to those designed to control rubber cones, have you done anything about this aspect? Pete
"Dantiri" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...
Hello again, I haven't been posting for a while. This time it's to
> review the s-racer blue coil spring conversion kit I have fitted (not
> coil overs, but the springs that replace rubber cones), so here we go
> ... DEEP BREATH ... Not much to say about the fitting process them
> except that you want hilos at the front because the front springs are
> shorter than the rubber cones. just after fitting them the car was
> incredibly high with hilos at the lowest safe position at the front.
> The first test drive was one of the scariest things i've ever done.
> The car handled hideously because of the exagerated ride height, with
> plenty of bump and torque steering. after a few miles the springs
> started to settle and the ride felt safer. At this point I was able to
> test the ride quality by driving into bumps on purpose. Apart from
> bump steering at high speed, the car felt wonderful. The handling was
> better than with the standard rubber cones and the ride was MUCH, MUCH
> MORE COMFORTABLE. the only problem remains the height. I'm hoping to
> see the car settle even more, but if it doesn't I'll have to lower the
> hilos and use lowered height dampers to prevent the spring from
> falling out of position when the suspension is at it's lowest (sitting
> on the rebound buffers). I'll continue driving and will post more
> about this problem. Any advice is welcome.
>
> Dantiri