Coilover Springs

[MicroMachinery]

Hey, I was going through my stuff and found a set of coilovers on some stock 510 struts.

I'm not sure what brand they are; in fact, I don't know much of anything about them. So I took them down to the parts store and asked the guy in the machine shop if he could put it in his press and see how much spring tension it has. Well, at 1" of travel, his gauge said around 270lbs.

What I'm wondering is, is this gonna be a shitty idea to run these in my car? Are these even good for anything? I don't know if it makes any difference, but they have a set of the smaller, lighter duty coils that mount above em. The rate on those is really low.

I've read in some places that 175-225 is good for a nice ride, and then I've also read to try between 225-300. These are going on my car that's gonna be a daily, street driven car w/ a Turbo'd KA24DE. I may auto-x it once in a while, and perhaps take it to the track once or twice.

All in all, I'd like to have a good solid setup. I've been told to steer away from sway bars in favor of having properly setup springs.. point me in the right direction, if you'd please. Thanks

[MicroMachinery]

Here's some pics of the spring(s)

 

Here's the 2 together:

 

The helper spring:

 

The main spring:

 

6".2.5.006

These numbers.. is there any special way to read them? I assume the 6" is the length of the spring, the 2.5 is the diameter.. I'm havin' a hard time deciphering the "006", however. Also, does anybody have any clue what kind of springs these are? I'm assuming just some generic ones..

The main spring is 6" long, and the helper is about 3". Overall it's 9".

Edited December 16, 2009 by MicroMachinery

[sssr20det510]

the helper spring will help with street driving and spring tension should be fine for a street car, the helper springs should be about 100 pounds

[benzo]

those look like Eibach ERS springs like used on Ground controls. they are 2.5" diameter and 6" in height. if they are 270 lbs. I would say they would be fine for use in the front. I would use those tender springs also. good for keeping the springs inline and from floating around. I myself had the 200 and 225 lbs for my car and ended up going to 250 lbs before settling and I still could use 300 lbs. I live in san francisco and roads are crap here but the rates i have work good and the ride is not bad. on the freeway it is smooth and stable even at high speeds. as for others saying to steer clear of sway bars I would not always agree with that, you have to see what you are doing with your car to get the right components. I personally don't like how people use high rates on a street car to compensate for roll. I rather use a sane rate for the street and use sway bars to minimalize the roll. rate and good shock match help for ride comfort as well as handling but sway bars help keep the wheels on the ground by keeping the chassis from making the wheels lift off. I saw your post on the ST bar and I personally would use that bar as it was not a lot of money spent and I bet you will notice a good feel from it

[LeX]

I personally have 250lb rate springs on the front, and would be happy with 300 for sure, 250 rides really nice. I have koni inserts (NOS) which are much nicer than kyb or tokico inserts. I would say definitely go with a sway bars they can only help. ST ones like benzo said

[WagDatto]

For a comfortable daily driver with performance on the weekends, you'll be fine with the springs/helpers you have. I'd run them!

[fo0manchu]

those look generic. Eibach has their name stamped on them and the spring rating on the eibachs would be the last digits(i believe). Try them out and see if you like them, then you can compare for yourself if they are better than the setup you have on it.