fejjj

I switched from the Bilstein escort cup to the KW's due to the ride harshness.

The ride harshness is MUCH improved but I am noticing some rear squat from these that I didn't have with the Bilsteins.

It doesn't take a whole lot of pressure to move the car down by pushing down on the rear bumper.

I have the stock 340 front 285 rear springs with the recommended damper adjustments.

Do I need to go to stiffer rear springs or can I get what I need from the clicker adjustment?

I have about 330 RWHP

333pg333

When you say you have 285lb rear is that with or without a torsion bar? If without then you need to increase rear spring. If with, what TBar is it?

fejjj

Patrick,

It is with a T bar and I have an 89 so it would be the stock T bar which I am not sure as to size.

blade7

Are the rear KW springs supporting the weight of the car ? if they aren't you will only be on the torsion bars initially.

fejjj

As far as I can tell, yes.

When I pull down on the bumper I see the helper spring compress.

blade7

When I fitted mine I had the car on the ground and wound up the spring adjusters until the shell just started to lift.

fejjj

Ok. The helper springs should start to compress with a little pressure.

Do people not worry about that?

333pg333

I don't have a list in front of me about the T-bar equivalent spring rates but I'm sure someone will have it or even via search. I had a 25.5mm T bar on my old car which is 177lb/in. I also had the same 285lb rear springs. To get your total spring rate it's not just a matter of adding the two together. You add them and then divide by .42 which should give you your equivalent spring rate.
Which is 706lb/in. So you shouldn't be getting noticeable sag or squat?

However I wonder if your previous Escort Cups weren't quite stiff/harsh and it's just that the KW's feel much more compliant by comparison?

fejjj

Patrick,

I am getting some squat under hard acceleration.

Hoping you can tell me the best way to tune that out.

Thanks

PorscheG96

Why don't you just try stiffening the compression setting to see if you like the feel? It takes 5 seconds from the bottom with a ball-end allen and won't change the travel of the rear suspension but it will slow it down. How much of the tender spring remains uncompressed at static ride height? The KW rear tender is rated at only 10 Nm * 5.588 = 55.88#

Since the tender is stacked with the main spring, the initial rate is 56+285 / 56*285 = 47# + the torsion bar rate of 175#. You can block out the tender spring as someone else mentioned above by raising the lower spring collar to see if the 285# coil + 175# TB reduces the rear suspension travel to your liking.

fejjj

Are you asking me what the length of the tender spring is at rest?

If so then you are suggesting raising the lower collar to compress it more?

Will this change the ride height?

That would make the street ride a little harsher but decrease squat, correct?

Will just adjusting the compression setting improve the squat issue?

Van

Another thing to keep in mind is that the "helper" springs you have are linear. This means, it takes 285 lbs of force to compress them 1 inch; it takes 570 lbs to compress them 2 inches; it takes 855 lbs to compress them 3 inches; and so on.

It sounds like your helper springs are really doing very little and the rear of the car is undersprung for the springs you have in the front. You should probably re-index your torsion bars so, at ride height, the rear springs are compressed at least 1 inch.

Of course, if you're going to re-index the torsion bars, it is actually less work to just remove the torsion bars and get much stiffer rear springs. Probably in the 550 to 650 range - but I'll let other people make the exact recommendation. I'm a torsion bar guy (I'd have you remove the rear springs and use only 30mm torsion bars).

fejjj

How long does it take to remove the T bars?

zeusrotty

Fejjj you may be over thinking this. Try compression first, if it's not enough or it feels unbalanced try another 100-200 pounds of spring.

fejjj

I think the issue is that there is little to no preload on the spring.

According to what I have read, you can increase spring rate up to 200lbs over stock setup of 285lbs.

So that would mean 485 in the rear.

I beleive you had your T Bars removed and 685lb springs, correct?

How did you justify this with KW's recommendation?