SciFly

Preface: This is learning thread for all including myself.
It is -your discussion thread-.

We map out the roadway of spring rates by collating some proprietary information and ask you to do the same. Or ask questions for others to answer per usual.

Most will want a cushy ride. A few like myself will want a stiff responsive ride.

Hope to bind this thread more around a factual basis with perhaps less of our own anecdotal opinions regarding of what is, and is not, needed for a flat-turning corner-carving xA or B


Some of us aim to minimize body roll even at expense to ride comfort.
Some of us want comfort foremost. That's fine but not my own focus.
Many need height adjustability for seasonal and road variations.

Tein happens to offer a rather complete lineup of spring kits for the more popular cars. I draw initial data from a that popular rice car, the Civc.

To start, please skim over this extraction of spring rates Tein's product line for the 01-05 Civic.

I presume Civic is not so very different in weight distribution and curb weight than our cars. (Will research and edit this line shortly)

Here we adopt the metric system of Kg-per-mm in favor of pounds-per-inch of compression for ease of expression of spring compression strengths.
To convert one system to the other employ the factor 56

condensed from http://www.tein.com/ti/a22.html Two popular lowering springs up first

x.xF/x.xR

"Stylish Spec Dress Up Master S-Tech"
2.8/5.2

"Luxury Master H-Tech"
2.5/4.6

Now for the Tein coilover line

"Basic Damper"
6/8
whooaaa! compare that civic Basic kit to the rates for the xA/B Basic kit. Some difference between the market wants of Civic drivers and we Scion drivers, huh!


"Super Street" a Basic kit but with adjustable damping
6/8

"Control Master Type Flex"a drift spec. kit for sure.
12/14


summary
-There is major spread in possible spring rates. Your driving wants versus your driving tolerances decide what rates work best for you

sidebar
-The primary reason for stiffer spring rates is to reduce body roll.
-Reduction of body roll abates not only the sickening yaw during hard cornering or slalom swerving..
-..But in main, this minimizes camber change in the road wheels
-The tradeoff for this purest-way of achieving better handling is]a harsher ride
and also a tendency to skip over roughnesses, making for lose of tire grip on washboard surfaces, etc.



Note the range of variablity in Tein's spring rate choices for the popular and variably-tuned Civic amounts to
a factor of more than four X



Emphasis in this thread is for those who want to carve flat and sharp as possible in their Scions.
These compromising choices are best mastered when we know exactly what we want the most and how to best get it.

Links to particularly relevant Scion Life threads related to coilovers and springs may get pasted here in time. I see no prior spring rate thread for rough rider peeps therefore this is it for now.
thx, reid