Anyone happen to know the stock spring rate for the springs in our cars? I have inspection tags for my Comptech springs and they read 261 lbs/in front and 183 lbs/in, just curious what the stock rates are.

 

Off hand, I don't know.

An additional item to consider: the Comptech Springs are progressive and the spring rate is not going to be "constant" (it will not increase in a linear fashion compressed_length * spring_rate = restoring_force. The spring rate is soft during the first inch or two of travel (not sure of the exact amount) and increases as the spring is compressed.

This additional data might be something to include in your "findings." The effective spring rate with the car empty or with just the driver and xxx gals. of gas might be more meaningful for comparison purposes.

 

What are you saying? Compare the difference between stock and CompTech's springs. People say that there's not a whole lot of difference in the ride.

 

AS to not that much difference in ride -- that depends on what "ride" means to you. (that's not my point).

If a spring is non-progressive, it's properties will be completely described by the spring rate marked on the spring. If a non-progressive spring says 60lb/inch, it will increase its restoring force as follows:

1in 60lb, 2in 120lb, 3in 180lb, ... (linear)

If a spring has a progressive wind, the rate of change in resistance changes with the amount of compression.

It could be:

1in 60lb, 2in 150lb, 3in 230lb, ... (non-linear)

If you look at a "static" spring rate, it can be rather misleading for a progressive wind. The Comptech is a progressive wind...

I could elaborate further but...