A Spring Is A Spring Is A Spring? Real Differences?

[Ronin 09]

I'm looking for some lighter rear springs for my GTR32.

These are a 'home brand' spring, and for 40 bucks a pair, it seems pretty reasonable.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/370668179346?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Question is, are these really any worse (or are Swift really any better) than Swift springs at $160-180 for a pair?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/170818582040?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

or are there locals (e.g. King Springs)?

cheers

[GTSBoy]

Quality of the steel used, quality of the heat treatment done. These are the main differences. But then there are the simple things like how well tidied up the top and bottom of the coils are, how well designed the spring is (for the given rate) to determine how much free length vs bound length there is.

A cheap spring can very easily be a complete knock off of a good spring and therefore be of perfectly fine design.....but the question of the quality of material and treatment remains.

Edit - Oh, and Kings are fine.

Edited November 7, 2012 by GTSBoy

[djr81]

The other factor is the accuracy of the spring rate. You only need a small diameter change in the wire to make a big spring rate difference.

Why not Eibach? They are as good as you will get. I have boxes of the things after trying various rates and they are all excellent.

Also what length are you after?

[simpletool]

Also do you need them to bow out in the centre. Swift and Hyperco all have a noticeable bow-out in the centre. It's all part of a design to reduce the amount of material and mass and increasing usable range (free height - block height). It also has a side effect of improving clearance over things like caps on the top of the shock bodies, etc.

IF you are getting a short spring 8" or less then the total usable length of the spring can start to be relevant. So you need to know block height, you want to stay away from block height or you run the risk of literally getting kicked off the road/track by a large bump or ripple strip.

What:

Height

Rate

ID

[Ronin 09]

thanks for the reply fellas

simpletool, I don't know about bow out or if I need it; I'm currently running Swifts on my remote reservoir Ohlins

djr81, I'm looking for a pair of 65mm ID, 8" (203mm?), in 5kg/mm

happy to go eibach if you have some in that size? They're for the back of a r32 GTR so I assume I could go slightly longer if necessary as the spring adjustment is a reasonable range.

[Ronin 09]

on this, I am currently running 8kg/mm and 6kg/mm on these Ohlins below.

They rear end is a bit stiff for the road, should I swap rears only to something like 4kg/mm or 5kg/mm, and leave the fronts the same, or change the fronts as well? Eibach do a 4.4kg/mm model 0800.250.0250

[Ronin 09]

Crap, actually after a pair of 10" or 254mm springs, 65mm ID, 5kg/mm...

so the Eibach part number is 1000.250.0275 or 1000.250.0275S

[R31Nismoid]

It won't just be the springs Marcus.

It's also the actual shock rebound and various other things that come into play.

I'm pretty certain I had 8/6 in my GTR and the rear was very soft compared to move, but they were custom valve'd (Tien) to suit and the shocker was quite forgiving.

[Ronin 09]

It won't just be the springs Marcus.

It's also the actual shock rebound and various other things that come into play.

I'm pretty certain I had 8/6 in my GTR and the rear was very soft compared to move, but they were custom valve'd (Tien) to suit and the shocker was quite forgiving.

Thanks Ash, maybe i'll get the suspension fellas to back off the compression damping and up the rebound a touch and see how that goes first.

[R31Nismoid]

Yeah give it a go first.

(you taking it out the back of my place? ).

Perhaps give Traction Tyres a go - bit of a drive, but that have always served me well in that regard along with other SAU members if you tell them what you want from the car