Amature question

[AE86_4life]

is it very bad to get your springs compressed to lower the car? some one told me it was legal but i dont think it is.

[RobertoX]

its called resetting, your spring rate stays the same but with your car lower and might cause it to hit the bump stops more. It wont make your car handle any better. (sure CoG will lower but geometry will not be as good)
legality will probably vary state to state but you can usually legally lower your car about 20-25mm.

[flamingheads]

In QLD last time I looked and if I read right, every car must have at least 10cm clearance, you can lower it as much as you want as long as it has the clearance.

[AmyC]

I was chatting to a QLD engineer about my ke70 and he mentioned that if i lower it more than 2/3rds of the original ride hieght that he cant pass it. http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/forums/emoticons/angry.gif . Dont know how true it is but or wether he is being a tosser.

[Jason]

yeah that sounds right, there something in the qld mod guide about bumpstops and shit. Cut the stops http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/forums/emoticons/tongue.gif

[RobertoX]

compressing springs DOES lower the spring rate

because the pitch has changed significantly

as in the angle of steepness

so yes you can do it, but compress = softer

cut = harder

neither ideal, but both have thier places

[rthy]

if you ask me I think its irrelevant weather or not they are legal because they just look like sagged versions of the originals. The question is why would you do this when aftermarket springs are so cheap, atleast you know what your getting

[riceburner]

I have Kings low springs you can buy if you want. 30mm lowering. Not much stiffer then standard but the slightly lower center of gravity will help "a little"

Personally i wouldnt cut or resize your springs, especially stock ones.

But each to there own.

[anastasios]

wow dave i didnt know that compressing springs softened them that would explain why the ke30 scrubs more thanks!

[JDMJNKY]

The handling of a car, altered by lowering it, has absolutely nothing to do with centre of gravity!!!!

[RobertoX]

centre of gravity height is one of the most fundamental things you can do to alter the handling of your car. Lower is better, it decreases weight transfer and body roll.
The problem with lowering your sprinter (at the front anyway) is that the roll centre is lowered creating a larger roll moment which can be bad.

also spring rate of the coil will not change... the formula for calculating spring rate can be given as:

k=(G*d^4)/(64*n*R^3)

k is rate,G is material bulk modulus, d is wire diameter, n is number of active coils, R is radius of outside of the spring

Rewinding the coils for a shorter overall length does not affect any of the parameters in this (actually 'n' will increase marginally which will lower the rate but not significantly)


The question is why would you do this when aftermarket springs are so cheap, atleast you know what your getting[/b]

agreed! You should really be looking at your shocks too though