i installed Spohns rear coil-over setup on my 92 because of another project. I went with the QA1 130/250 rate variable springs for this one since i have linear rates on my 86 and wanter to try the variable ones out.

I have a serious problem, when i put the weight of the car on the coil-overs, the lower rate section went completely into coil-bind and the shock is pretty much bottomed out. This is at sock height with the adjusters about 1.5" from the lowest point on the shocks. So i can raise the adjusters to get the shock travel, but then the car will sit a lot higher.

It would seem that the 130lb coils of the spring needs to be longer and further spaced, they are pretty close together at rest.

anybody else run into this issue with the variable springs?

I called Spohn, but they are closed for the day, so i will ahve to call tomorrow or e-mail them.

 

130 is a good bit lower than stock. And if the 130s they sent are real short, that combined with a low rate, seems like the coils could get pressed pretty close together.

 

stock iroc rates are 107lb, 130s are heavier than stock, and heavier that prokit rears for that matter

 

I coulda swore they were 150.....

 

In any case.....Maybe they sent you the wrong rate/height?

 

they are marked correctly, ont he springs and on the box, and the height is right.

I think its just bogus info on spohns site that he either doesn't know about, or hasn't corrected. That or a poorly designed spring by QA1, which wouldn't surprise me either.

 

My car is considerably lighter than stock. When I first bought my coil overs, I had 150 pound springs. They were far too stiff to allow the shocks to do their job. I now have 130 pound springs and they are much better and I've considered going to 110 pound.

The springs hold up the car. The shocks control the extension and compression required for better traction. The shock needs to be long enough so that when the weight of the car compresses the spring, the shock is roughly half way through it's travel. Ride height is not adjusted with the adjuster under the spring. That's only for adjusting the preload which changes the spring tension. You can compress the passenger side spring which will make it even harder to compress when a car launches. It would be like putting an air bag inside a factory spring on the right side. Coil over ride height is changed by moving the shock mount to an upper or lower hole in the mount. If you don't have multiple adjustment holes then you can't properly change the ride height.

 

i can accomplish an adjustable mounting point for the lower end of the coil-overs, not a huge deal, but there has to be something wrong with the springs. I cant imagine what the weight of whatever car would have to be for these springs to work, they literally have 2" or so of compression before the 130lb coils coil-bind, its frigging ridiculous. Its like they are built for a motorcycle!?

and the car is at stock ride height

 

Progressive coils always work that way where a closely wound coil will compress before a wide wound coil however they should never bind.

Do you have the part number for the springs? I wouldn't trust paperwork. There should be a number somewhere on the spring.

I have no idea why you would need a variable rate spring. Maybe on a pickup truck but not on an F-body. It's not like you're every going to be carrying a load unless you can get two fat chicks in the back seat.

 

the springs are clearly marked 130-250-12, so they are 12" 130/250 lb springs. I just dont understand why the 130 rate side is completely in coilbind with just the rear weight of the car on it. And the shock bodies have to be way too long. I think i either recieved the wring shocks or Spohn speced them wrong. I have to measure my other car and see what shocks it has because this is crazy.

 

pics are worth a thousand words.
the way variable rate springs work is by getting varying amounts of coil bind.
the 130 rate part is the same diameter wire as the 250 rate part, but the 130 will coil bind first.
as the spring compresses, more of the spring goes into bind, and the higher rate is achieved.

unless we are using different terminology or looking at different springs, there is no way for the rate to change without coils binding, so i dont know what you are talking about AlkyIroc

 

The qa1's have all the 130 rate coils spaced the same, they all go into bind at the same time, then when they are done, you get into the 250 rate.

at this point, im not concerned about the springs, whats pissing me off now is that these shocks are way too long and are almost bottomed out at ride height. I have contacted Spohn and so far have gotten no useful infor from him, so i will see what he says later tonight or tomorrow.

I'll see if i can get a good pic of the springs in the car

 

do you have more than one hole to mount the shock?
if it were me, id put the shock body on the lowest hole (to extend the shock as far as possible) and wind the spring up as far as you need to to get your ride height back.

edit:
just looked at the spohn website.
that sucks that you cant mount the shock body lower down. at least not that i can tell.
still, you only really need about 3" of compression anyway

 

yeah, no height adjustment. But even if there was, with this shock, the mount would be only a couple inches off the ground for them to work.

Plain and simple, Spohn is using the wrong shocks. I figured out the ones i need, and hopefully Steve Spohn will stand behind his products and help me out here or there will be hell to pay.

 

you can always raise the upper shock mounts to gain more shock travel

 

how? then im cutting the car all apart. Not going there.

 

yeah i was just mentioning that if you have to.... but sounds like you can get parts that will work withought having to fabricate anything.

 

ok, as for the springs, they are either going back, if Spohn will take them, or they are going in the scrap pile. Im kinda pissed since these are a optional reccomended size on their website yet they dont work with the weight of our cars.