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Thread: LR spring rates

  1. #1

    Default LR spring rates

    looking for some pro's con's to light vs heavy LR spring setups

    we have been on a 150# and its good when its good but doesn't seem super consistent. Our setup overall seems a bit hot or cold especially on corner entry (tend to get tight first)

    we want to try a change here just not sure if its better to go lighter and more preload, and heavier with less first

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by outlaw4j View Post
    looking for some pro's con's to light vs heavy LR spring setups

    we have been on a 150# and its good when its good but doesn't seem super consistent. Our setup overall seems a bit hot or cold especially on corner entry (tend to get tight first)

    we want to try a change here just not sure if its better to go lighter and more preload, and heavier with less first
    1) your spring should always have load on it.

    2) find the extended load where your car works best entering the corner.

    3) leave it alone
    Modern Day Wedge Racing
    Florence -1

  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by MasterSbilt_Racer View Post
    1) your spring should always have load on it.

    2) find the extended load where your car works best entering the corner.

    3) leave it alone
    2) find the extended load where your car works best entering the corner.

    This is the part we struggle with i think, balancing on / off throttle entry. We seem to not need much preload for on throttle, but then struggle off throttle. In my head it seems the heavier spring would help more here.

    Like we are good on sweeping tracks, or tracks with banking, not so good on paperclippy or slower entry tracks, then ok if we can use enough rear brake to cheat

  4. #4
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    How much are you traveling the LR spring? or how much Drop?

    Just say no...

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kromulous View Post
    How much are you traveling the LR spring? or how much Drop?
    right now we are @ 4" drop

  6. #6
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    Ok, our current chassis is traveling 6" but its to much, we had a Pierce car (we should of kept LOL) and it was around 4.75" with zero index. Think I will cut it back and try something in the 5's

    Heavier or Lighter Springs i dont know of any difference. I know some guys are running 50 Lb spring, around 100 to 150 lbs droop load, then resting on a bump at ride. No idea if one is better than the other. I guess its a trial and error deal.

    A lot of it is in the shock, Ive seen some Insane Compression numbers when running a 50lb spring.

    Just say no...

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kromulous View Post
    Ok, our current chassis is traveling 6" but its to much, we had a Pierce car (we should of kept LOL) and it was around 4.75" with zero index. Think I will cut it back and try something in the 5's

    Heavier or Lighter Springs i dont know of any difference. I know some guys are running 50 Lb spring, around 100 to 150 lbs droop load, then resting on a bump at ride. No idea if one is better than the other. I guess its a trial and error deal.

    A lot of it is in the shock, Ive seen some Insane Compression numbers when running a 50lb spring.
    yeah if we run much more than 4.5" ish we start to get real tight, back of the car feels good but have a tough time getting it to turn. I think its the added jbar rake.

    we probably are in that 100-150# load # most of the time as well. We have a 1/2" preload on a 200# for the weekend. will see how it goes

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by outlaw4j View Post
    2) find the extended load where your car works best entering the corner.

    This is the part we struggle with i think, balancing on / off throttle entry. We seem to not need much preload for on throttle, but then struggle off throttle. In my head it seems the heavier spring would help more here.

    Like we are good on sweeping tracks, or tracks with banking, not so good on paperclippy or slower entry tracks, then ok if we can use enough rear brake to cheat
    When you are off the gas, LR load rotates the car. The only thing that matters is the load when you are asking the car to rotate. The stiffer spring will pick up load quicker, as the car settles, but that's no good if it leaves you with too little when you need it.
    Modern Day Wedge Racing
    Florence -1

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by MasterSbilt_Racer View Post
    When you are off the gas, LR load rotates the car. The only thing that matters is the load when you are asking the car to rotate. The stiffer spring will pick up load quicker, as the car settles, but that's no good if it leaves you with too little when you need it.
    yeah i think this is where i get confused on the LR...

    earlier this year at a track that was new to us we struggled the first half of the feature being tight on entry. then all of a sudden the car took off and we started driving through the field. after the race we found the lock pin on the LR slider had came loose and the preload nut backed off taking almost all of the preload out.

    But if we try to run that really low preload at the short tracks the car doesn't like to stay up and is super inconsistent.

    we don't want to use LR as an adjustment as honestly i don't even understand the why completely, so we are trying to get this area of the car more consistent so we can figure out what other adjustment we need to make at the track to affect entry better

    i also struggle with if we need say 200# of load, what is better a 200# spring @ 1" or a 100# spring @ 2".

  10. #10

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    well we ran the 200# in LR Friday. Unfortunately we got caught in a pretty good wreck and ended the weekend early so didn't get a full run on it, but car was nice and free and we were going forward.

    Need to get a full run on this set, then we are going to put a 100# in and see what the difference is

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by outlaw4j View Post
    well we ran the 200# in LR Friday. Unfortunately we got caught in a pretty good wreck and ended the weekend early so didn't get a full run on it, but car was nice and free and we were going forward.

    Need to get a full run on this set, then we are going to put a 100# in and see what the difference is
    ran the 100# setup last night. set load on it to match scale #'s, ended up being a couple inches of preload in it at drop.

    id say it definitely made off throttle corner entry better (more consistent). but we were definitely tighter on throttle entry.

    we were maybe faster on the 200# than the 100#, but 100# was easier to drive and with some secondary adjustments might be pretty nice. the 200# was faster but is very particular and we would be to free and too tight sometimes

    going to roll here the rest of the weekend with the 100# and see if we can dial it in more

  12. #12
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    Throttle entry, that intial turn on while not getting out of the fuel?

    Sounds like its keeping more drive in the LR longer down the straights.

    Ive noticed this when i added more drop out load (LOL at the different names, i call it droop load) Im right at 200 lbs with a 100 lb spring as well. It makes good exit traction but at the end of the straight he has to get out of the throttle to get the car to turn, and that aint fast.

    A mix of the two i guess is what we need.

    Just say no...

  13. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kromulous View Post
    Throttle entry, that intial turn on while not getting out of the fuel?

    Sounds like its keeping more drive in the LR longer down the straights.

    Ive noticed this when i added more drop out load (LOL at the different names, i call it droop load) Im right at 200 lbs with a 100 lb spring as well. It makes good exit traction but at the end of the straight he has to get out of the throttle to get the car to turn, and that aint fast.

    A mix of the two i guess is what we need.
    On throttle entry yes up to a point just past phase 1, then we have to get out of the gas to get through the middle. Nice part here is so far its the same whether the track is heavy or slick. Have to start turning early before every getting out of the fuel. at least thats how its working for us. As soon as we roll out it starts to turn. Running 4.5" of drop.

    Had an interesting one last week where we had a real heavy wettish track in our heat race and won by almost a straightaway. For our feature the track actually tractioned up and we got super throttle tight, but entry stayed really good.

    we actually also put in a little more chassis side jbar and got a little better feel on what car is doing on entry.

    we are off this week for other commitments but are going to back off on a couple of the traction changes. not sure yet if we will stick with this or not but the consistent entry is so far a nice addition

  14. #14

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    after a run with the soft LR we ended up going back to a stiffer one. the soft LR was really good with off throttle entries but was a bit to inconsistent for us in all on throttle applications.

    the stiffer LR is much better for us on throttle entries and on throttle in general.

    was fun experimenting with this and even though we dont understand it all, we at least understand what it is doing / not doing for us.

    had a good run friday and had a bad break in lapped traffic and then won on saturday night.

  15. #15
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    Soft LR was really good off throttle, how so?

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  16. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kromulous View Post
    Soft LR was really good off throttle, how so?
    always turned.

    where as with the 200# in there if you are on throttle and have to get out of the gas it tends to get tight

    when we had the 150# in there it could go either way

  17. #17
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    So where did you end up?

    Also were all 3 springs ran with the same droop / extended load?

    Slider or Coil Over behind?

    Started messing with a Coil over behind, really makes better traction, but entry is tougher. Then i remembered this post, and thought you must be on a Coil Over as well.

    Just say no...

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kromulous View Post
    So where did you end up?

    Also were all 3 springs ran with the same droop / extended load?

    Slider or Coil Over behind?

    Started messing with a Coil over behind, really makes better traction, but entry is tougher. Then i remembered this post, and thought you must be on a Coil Over as well.
    The rough part about the rear coilover is so little shock movement vs wheel movement. Sure, you can make it stiff, but if it's barely moving, it can't do much. At max hike, when you need it to catch the car as you slow, it's practically at a dwell point.
    Modern Day Wedge Racing
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  19. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kromulous View Post
    So where did you end up?

    Also were all 3 springs ran with the same droop / extended load?

    Slider or Coil Over behind?

    Started messing with a Coil over behind, really makes better traction, but entry is tougher. Then i remembered this post, and thought you must be on a Coil Over as well.
    we run a wissota bmod so are 3 link, and springs have to be the same position each side. so we run springs in front shocks behind. we have also ran on coilovers in front (is very sensitive, but makes tons of traction as well).

    we have a deck height max we have to make so it makes the LR a bit tricky for the loads. you can load the heck out of a 100# and still make deck height and can barely load a 200# at all.

    After all the testing and messing around, we ended up back on a 150# with about 1/2" of preload at droop. We did chain down a bit and are at 4" drop now.

    One of the things we did do however which seems opposite yet to me is we went up on the chassis side jbar quite a bit. IDK but it seemed like the car was easier to keep up and gets through the entry and middle so much better now. We tried this first when we had the 200# in as we were looking for some more drive, and have kept it now and really like

  20. #20
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    Gotcha, on a 3 Link Ive never messed with one. We are 4 Bar, Coilover or Slider Behind (Spring Behind).

    We are fighting what MBR said above, Zero Indexing helps but without enough load in the spring its hard to keep the car up on corner entry.

    Just say no...

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