Mugen Mojo,
thank you for gathering that info. Rep points! It made me throw it in Excel and add Kg/mm brand as well.
CAN YOU ALL VERIFY DATA FOR ACCURACY AND ADD ANY OTHER BRANDS/ MODELS NOT LISTED, PLEASE?!
I added front to rear ratio calculation based on stiffness. That ratio clearly shows which springs create more oversteer based on stiffer rear spring ratio in relationship to the front on front wheel drive vehicle. Results are very interesting as well as educational.
Keep in mind that Progress rear sway bar adds to rear end stiffness ratio beside balancing/reducing body roll. That is why Progress springs have drastically smallest front to rear ratio (softest rear springs) and therefore least oversteer gain. I am guessing that bar adds about 50-80 lb/in to the rear end.
Based on the spread sheet in Excel and common sense, IMO, here are the conclusions:
#1 First choose amount of drop based on your driveway and local roads you drive on.
#2 If you are looking for comfort, but can't stand body roll, go with Progress! They are the least expensive of the bunch. They have the softest ratios and least alteration to balance (understeer to overtsteer). They are good for novice drivers or somebody getting their feet wet on track. Most already have done it, but once you get comfortable add Progress rear sway bar.
#3 Tanabe GF210 have stiffest front end, but one of the softest rear ends thus making for very much understeering set up. NOT GOOD FOR ROAD RACING!
#4 Best track balance (oversteer) and stiffest set up appears to be a toss up between Skunk2 and T1R.
#5 If you are daily driving your car and plan to hit a track at some point, pick the stiffest set up you can live with on a daily basis.
We all praise our own individual picks we purchased, but do we all know how they stack against others? Did we indeed make the right choice for our intender purpose (daily comfort, height, overall balance, track use,....)?
Comfort is a relative thing and tolerance level varies among drivers.
Basically what works great for some might be exactly opposite for others and we can't offer or accept opinions without driving comparison between springs!
DOES ANYBODY KNOW A PLACE ON THE WEB THAT WOULD MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR ME TO UPLOAD EXCEL SHEET WITH DATA FOR EVERYBODY TO MANIPULATE ON THEIR OWN? PLEASE LET ME KNOW OR PM ME YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS AND I WILL REPLY FROM MY EMAIL (ISABAN234@YAHOO.COM) WITH A SUBJECT LINE "FIT SPRING COMPARISON SPREADSHEET".
FYI: SF Bay Area FitFreak members (myself included) are gearing up for a meet on 1/26 with a back up date on 2/2 for the sole purpose of evaluating different springs!
We won't track them since most of us will never race our cars anyway, but we are determined to find out how each brand and model stacks against each other in comfort, height and drive-ability on concrete FWY, asphalt, not so perfect street surface and canyons. We will drive each other's cars back to back through the same route and evaluate them in each category on point based system. All cars will be on OEM wheels and tires, shocks,... Only difference will be lack of Progress bar on some cars. Among ourselves we have everything from youngsters with a permit to a retired engineer and everything in between. We will post our ages and preferences based on intended Fit use, so everybody will be able to identify with one of us and find what springs best suits their driving style, use and actual needs.
We do not intend to rub it in on anybody or hurt any body's feelings. We would just like to get to the bottom of the spring choice mystery for ourselves and offer our findings to fellow FitFreak members for whatever it is worth. We are just hoping that our findings will help turn a guessing game into up to a point educated choice.
Ivan