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So..I wanted to see how a 'stiffer' spring felt, so I stuffed a pair of those spring helpers in between a coil on each rear spring, and re-lowered the car to the previous height today.
It -dramatically- resolved much of my off-throttle oversteer.
So..with I think..one coil..not in service any more, what spring rate do I roughly have?
2-blue stripe rear S4 shocks (actually mid 84-95) have the following dimensions and spring rate:
Spring rate in lbf/in, 170-174
Free length: 412 mm (16.22")
Wire diameter: 13 mm (0.511")
# Coils: 9.5
ID = 92 mm (3.622")
OD = 92+26 = 118 mm
So if you cut exactly one coil, you drop to 8.5 coils, length 368.6 mm. Not sure how to calculate the change in spring rate. Some of the formulae require knowing the number of 'free coils' (it's less than 8.5, you subtract out the coil that's touching the spring perches), and some ask for Young's modulus. I have no idea.
Don't worry about Young's Modulus - it doesn't change. It's a function of the material. Therefore it is a constant and for comparison purposes cancels out when determining overall change.
Doing a quick calculation using the numbers supplied above, removing a coil would increase the spring rate ~14% to ~197 lb/in. Surprised to read increasing the rear stiffness reduced oversteer.
Doing a quick calculation using the numbers supplied above, removing a coil would increase the spring rate ~14% to ~197 lb/in. Surprised to read increasing the rear stiffness reduced oversteer.
2-blue stripe rear S4 shocks (actually mid 84-95) have the following dimensions and spring rate:
Spring rate in lbf/in, 170-174
Free length: 412 mm (16.22")
Wire diameter: 13 mm (0.511")
# Coils: 9.5
ID = 92 mm (3.622")
OD = 92+26 = 118 mm
So if you cut exactly one coil, you drop to 8.5 coils, length 368.6 mm. Not sure how to calculate the change in spring rate. Some of the formulae require knowing the number of 'free coils' (it's less than 8.5, you subtract out the coil that's touching the spring perches), and some ask for Young's modulus. I have no idea.
We have FULL coils, not shaved coils, so every coil counts in the rate. ??
No, subtract 1.5 from the number of coils to determine # free coils. Subtract 2 if spring has ground ends.
Assuming flat perches. I have not seen my perches yet, but usually if you have full coils the perches will be shaped to fully contact the lowest/highest full coil on the ends and therefore make them act like ground/flat ends.
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