Comfortable coilover spring rates

[digger]

cant see a 100 or so (20%) off the springs dramatically affecting ride quality, i think the shocks will have a larger effect. im curious to read in the first post that you are towards the stiff end of the shock adjustment. i would have thought you would be at the "softer" end?

[butters]

i cant see a 100 or so (20%) off the springs dramatically affecting ride quality, i think the shocks will have a larger effect. im curious to read in the first post that you are towards the stiff end of the shock adjustment. i would have thought you would be at the "softer" end?

Shocks effect speed of suspension travel, and how quickly the car will settle out of a bump/dip. By settle, I mean return to steady state (which is perfectly smooth if the road is flat and even). Springs absorb the bump force from the road surface. Basically, a heavy spring transmits force into the chassis, a soft spring allows the wheel to travel and absorb more of the force & motion.

The tendency is to think of "soft/hard" shock adjustment as correlating to ride feeling, but this isn't necessarily the case.

The Koni SA is adjustable in rebound. Compression damping is fixed. "Soft" on the adjustment scale means less damping of the droop motion, "Firm" means greater damping. Less damping means less force to resist the extension of the spring and thus faster motion, while greater damping means slower motion. Remember that damping force is a function of velocity, i.e. speed of the suspension bump/droop.

With a soft setting and less resistance to droop there might be more bounce. Think of the extreme case of having no damper at all. This is why I've remained on the firm half of the adjustment spectrum (but I'll probably play with this in earnest before buying springs).

Here's a good visual and summary, though the E30 M3 shock maybe specific to that car vs. non-M: http://www.e30m3project.com/e30m3per...rear_shock.htm

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Running 450/650 rates, I don't find them that bad for what they are.

I actually find the front of the car feels better than the H&R race I had before, rear feels pretty similar.

How stiff does your car ride? I'm gonna be gettin some ground controls for my Koni's and I'm one of those weird people that prefer the stiff ride.