Needs some input from other sources.

I have the meagan racing coilovers which are good enough right now since the engine is not suped up yet.
but the spring rate for the front is 10kg and rear is 8kg

i would like to get it stiffer

i've heard that preloading gets the same effect as buying
stifffer springs
but i've also heard that there are dangers to preloading

can anyone elaborate on this?

 

Preloading does nothing of the sort. If you want stiffer rates you need to change the spring either by cutting its length or buying a spring of the same length with a stiffer rate. There is no other way.

 

how does cutting the spring make it stiffer?
i would rather not cut the springs but i thought all that did was drop the height
i mean its the same spring only shorter right?

atleast with the preloading it somewhat made sense since

the more you compress the spring the harder it gets to compress
and the only danger i could think of is premature failure due to stress
of always holding the compressed force

thanks for the info

if nobody can give anymore information i guess all i can do is contact meagnracing and get a stiffer set of springs.

Thanks sin advance for everyones help
thanks lobuxracer for some insight

 

A spring is a torsion bar wound into a coil. If you shorten a torsion bar, it gets stiffer, that's why cutting a spring increases the spring's rate. Adding preload to a spring only increases the minimum amount of force you need to overcome to compress the spring. Once you overcome that amount, the rate at which the spring compresses is the same as it was before. Since you couldn't possible put so much preload in the spring that the suspension would not move when you put the car down on the ground, adding preload really only changes ride height (well, not exactly, but for the most part).

Springs are sold based on the amount of force they produce for a given measurement of compression. They're usually lbs/inch or kg/mm (or both if the company deals with imports and domestics). To get a stiffer spring, you just need to order what you want.

AFA cutting springs - yes, it changes the ride height, but that's because you're changing the physical length of the coils. If you measure the spring's resistance to movement (lbs/inch or kg/mm) before and after cutting, you'll see after the cut the numbers go higher. I know it sounds wrong, and I argued with the guy who first told me this, but the reality is, that's how it works. It's just counter-intuitive.

 

dayum...that's great info

i'm always down for more knowledge and
so far i've learned most of my shiete from my friends back in japan
in which it was kinda hard with the communications barried but i still learned
a few things just from physically looking and small description.

and sure to say i've learned a lot thru the forums as well
thanks for the info

i'll be putting my order thru once i hide enough money from the wife for em =)
hahahahaz