Spring Rates - Explanation?

[prossett]

I'm not sure how spring rate works - if I'm comparing lowering springs from two different manufacturers:

Springs A say they give 160 lbs front and 200 lbs rear of spring rate.

Springs B say they give 175 lbs front and 350 lbs rear.

What's the difference in actual feeling when driving?

[kenchan]

depends if progressive rate or not, but in a nutshell you can
expect SpringB to be more performance oriented (nimble) than
your SpringA.

SpringA would be much softer in ride (probably too soft for the rear
with 200lbs/in) making the car roll too much unless you run larger
swaybars. it will make your car feel heavier to turn.

hope this helps

[quangalang]

Originally Posted by prossett

I'm not sure how spring rate works - if I'm comparing lowering springs from two different manufacturers:

Springs A say they give 160 lbs front and 200 lbs rear of spring rate.

Springs B say they give 175 lbs front and 350 lbs rear.

What's the difference in actual feeling when driving?

im pretty sure spring rate means how much force it would take to compress the spring by one inch

eg. 200lb spring rate... it would take 400 pounds to compress it 2 inches 600 pounds to compress it 3 inches

350lb spring rate... 700pounds to compress it 2 inches 1050 pounds to compress it 3 inches

[prossett]

Cool - thanks guys.

Curious about another thing now Why would the front springs not be set up to carry the most weight, that's where the engine is... that's where the braking force goes...