Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio Enthusiast
IIRC first gen Yellows were 250 lbs/in and 20mm drop, no? Why the move to stiffer and lower for the second gen?
Also, with the slightly different motion ratio in the rear in the second gen, wouldn't a slightly staggered spring rate would have been more appropriate? (not to say anything about the growing community preference for stiffer rear springs, or maybe that's just my perception bias, especially in the gr86 forum).
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We went a little bit stiffer than before because the dampers can take it.
The stiffer chassis structure is also a motivation (less flex from body means more displacement in dampers/springs).
And we do like the 2nd gen dampers a lot more than the 1st gen dampers, which were basically too stiff where you
didn't want them to be and yet still didn't have enough damping where you
did want it. They got better over the years but that was the general idea.
For the 2nd question, the rear is the limiting factor in terms of the overall stiffness of the springs. By that I mean the front dampers could handle an even stiffer spring, but the rear dampers couldn't go much stiffer in our opinion. So that sets a limit for the front too in effect because we do want the car to be balanced. And going softer in the front (say 250 front and 280 rear) would absolutely be slower around a track than 280/280.
The rear motion ratio for the 2nd gen is slightly higher than first gen, so wheel rate for a 280 lbs/in spring is slightly higher on the 2nd gen (meaning a tiny bit more rear spring bias).
Designing springs with the factory dampers in mind is such a different exercise than essentially starting from scratch with coilovers.
- Andrew