hey everyone , i just have a really quick question... do you guys think that 8k front , 6k back skunk2 coilovers would be too stiff for daily driving ?

any help would be appreciated (also getting the skunk2 shocks)

THANKS

 

Depends on the car and your tolerance. The heavier it is, the softer it'll be.

I've got 12k fronts and 10k rears on my Integra and that's fine for me, too much for some people, though.

 

^ what he said

I have 8/6 on my car and I like them alot. But I love driving my car so it works for me.

I also like to 3 wheel going into driveways and other steep embankments.

 

This is related to adjustable coilovers and shocks.......
Original question:
Bob's request for more information:
Requestor's reply:
Bob's answer/reply:
Since most spring rates are quoted in hundreds of pounds instead of thousands, I went to the Skunk2 site. I could find springs listed in hundreds of pounds, but not thousands. Maybe people who say they have those "6K" and "8K" springs could tell us the spring rates and educate us.

If a MFG has "6 thousand pound" springs for a car that weighs about 1/3
of that, there is something here that I sure don't understand as to what would push it onto the road with that kind of force.

Generally a spring's purpose is to support the weight of a car and keep it from bottoming out. Stock springs were engineered/designed to support the weight of a car, so I believe spring rates close to stock do what they were designed to do if a car is street driven. I believe heavier shocks
and lighter wheels keep the tires in contact with the road longer during bumps and depressions.

In a racing application such as a banked turn, the car will "weigh" more than stock as it is pushed down into the banking by cornering forces, so heavier springs than stock are needed to keep the car from bottoming out.

In a racing application such as a car getting airborn, the car will "weigh"
more when it lands, as it is pushed down into the pavement by an "increase" in gravity, so heavier springs than stock are needed to keep the car from bottoming out.

If I were driving on a banked track or one where the car becomes airborn,
I would calculate what the car weighs sitting still, and what I believe it will weigh on the banking and/or landing, and that would tell me the spring rate I would need to keep the car from bottoming out. That is why I asked about car weight and stock spring rates.

I asked about the forces that will be trying to push the car into bottoming out mode for the same reason.

As for a street driven car, I would go with spring rates close to stock since they were engineered/designed to support the weight of a stock car. and use heavier shocks to damp out the road bumps and depressions
to keep the tires pushed down onto the road, regardless of the minor ups and downs of the car's body while being driven on the street.

Everyone has a right to their own opinion, but I believe springs that are
too hard, cause a car to lose grip in a turn, since I believe hard springs
don't allow the tires to follow the road contours as closely.

Since I cannot figure the forces that a person will encounter on the street
in EACH turn, or even the radius of EACH turn encountered on the street,
It's pretty hard to say for the street, exactly what springs, other than stock, that a person should use.....especially in flat Florida, where the steepest bank is the X-way entrance/exit.

I suspect that life being full of compromises, most people have what they think they need instead of what they really need. They are also limited by how much they want to spend, and don't keep buying springs until they get the "feel" that they want.

With a race car, a person has several sets of springs and tunes for each
track going harder or softer.....the advantages are: 1.Race turns and radiuses won't change for a given track, so they can be measured. The street is a multitude of compromises and variables and most people won't keep buying springs until they get it right for their type of driving.
2.Driver preference and driving style remain constant/flat out on a race track but on the street, a person is not always driving at the limit of his ability.

Does anyone here care to tell us what they are using, and if they could change it, which way they would go?.......-Bob

 

K dosnt mean thousand, it means kilograms. The springs are rated in kilogram/millimeter, or inch/pounds.

So that should solve that problem.

And stiffer springs will do nothing unless matched properly to the correctly dampened shock. Everything has to be balanced.

The reason coil-overs are so popular and in fact give you amazing mechanical grip over springs and shocks is they are:
1 have stiffer springs rates so the car dosnt have as much lateral motion giving you more control
2 the shock portion is alot shorter stroke
3 you can adjust them to your liking if you bought a decent set through spring preload, dampening, rebound, ride height ect ect.
4 you can buy multiple springs with different rates and have fun playing around.

Some of these people just need to read a damn book, to atleast get a general Idea on how this stuff works and stop asking internet forums and getting wrong answers.

 

lol nice

 

Amen

 

Good point, Longfellow. tell us what the 6K and 8K translates over to in pounds..........since the Skunk2 website lists pounds instead of Kilograms.

Also, since you are the first to reply who actually has used those springs, if you had it to do again, now that you have driven a few miles, would you go harder or softer? Would you go harder on both ends, softer on both ends, or the same on both ends? and by how much?

Since different people have different driving styles, and harder/softer on one end will affect oversteer/understeer, what do you recommend?-Bob

 

1 kilograms = 2.2 pounds

http://www.metric-conversions.org/co...sion-chart.pdf

or

converting kilograms and pounds

 

found this on another forum.... this is what it converts to.

Skunk2 Adjustable Coilover Sleeves:

Street:
Front - 8k (448 in/lb)
Rear - 6k (336 in/lb)