Spring Rates ???

[bluesr20]

Does anyone know what the factory U13 Attesa's spring rates are?

For those who have lowered their Attessa, what rates are you using?  Are you satisfied?

I've been in contact with http://www.hotbits.com.au/ and they believe that they can make up a coil over set up to suit.  No idea about costs at this stage.  I'll post the details of the quote once I can get over to see them.

[Budgie]

Not sure mate, but they would be similar to the GTiR up front... but not out the back.

Maybe they have made coil-overs to suit a GTiR before?

[phreeky]

at a stab in the dark i think around 5kg up front and 3.5kg rear sounds good, but like i say pure stab in the dark. might be best to email whiteline and ask what the spring rates of their upgrade springs are.

i'm just running whiteline springs on stock shocks, the shocks aren't ideal but damn it did well at the sprints i raced at on the weekend! whiteline springs, whiteline rear swaybar (adjustable, on stiffest setting), caster kit, and new bushes here and there. new front strut tops actually made a reasonable difference too believe it or not, just changes the stance of the car a bit i guess.

driving around on the street and taking round abouts it feels the car could take springs just a little stiffer than the whiteline ones, the whiteline ones could easily pass as standard springs on a sporty-ish car (very comfortable), however on the track there was no point at all where body roll concerned me.

this pic (http://www.clubpoint.net/sprints/sprints2.jpg) is probably a good shot of the most body roll i get, that's a 1st gear full throttle corner (at that point probably exiting at around 6000rpm, tiny bit of wheelspin). note that most of the body roll is actually from tyre roll now, given i'm on the stock rims and 60 profile tyres at the moment.

[fez200]

im not sure what the spring rate is on my mine but the ride comfort is shocking sometimes. it handles great

ive got the lovells lowered springs and whiteline swaybar and mine sits quite good. scrapes a bit over some speed bumps though.

the problem ive having is a real thump when i hit a corrugation or pothole it feels like the strut is going to go through the roof of the bonnet.

anyone had this problem. wasnt sure if it was the spring rate or my struts were stuffed. ive had problems with those damn strut tops too cant tell whether there stuffed or not.

may have to start a new thread.

[phreeky]

you should be able to tell when you change the springs. you drop it all out like normal, and try wiggling the strut top around (to check for play in the bearing) and rotating it (to ensure it still turns easily) - you don't really need to even drop it out to do that, but it makes it easier.

clunks i guess would normally either be that (my f*cked strut top make a click/clunk noise when taking off from the lights), or the shocks themselves. check all bushes and ball joints as well i suppose, mounts too.

[Marty]

http://home.amnet.net.au/~orion/attesa/bluey_afarc_day.jpg
full whiteline kit with kyb shocks, shocking oh yeh. can nearly hit the ground

[phreeky]

wtf mate what speed and what sort of tyres to get that much body roll??? crazy, does it feel ok still?

[Jono]

Whoa that looks almost as bad as my car with its standard springs/shocks/everything else/etc.

If I throw my car around hard enough I occasionally get the front mudflaps scraping.

[Counterpunch]

I have a set of King Springs on mine and she sits quite comfortably, not too low but occasionally scrapes on driveways and speed bumps head on.  This is with the front lip though.  As for their spring rates I'm not sure.  I am still using the shocks that came with the car and handling wise is pretty good.

As for that thump you are getting when hitting a big hole or bump, I had that same problem when I lowered my Attesa.  It is the bump stops that sit inside the strut that are causing this.  Since the spring rate has changed from lowering the car, the shock now has less travel time for compressing and hence bottoms out.  This is the really bad thump you are hearing.  When changing to different springs, bump stops should be changed aswell to compensate the spring rate and shock's travel.  Legally you are allowed to change the bump stops by 1/3 of the originally height.  Mine were cut from 76mm down to 51mm.  You can buy bump stops prefabricated at the height you want but why spend another $20 when a hacksaw can provide the same results.  After cutting the 2 front bump stops down to size, the problem went away and no more bottoming out.

Now for anyone wanting to lower their car, make sure you change the bump stops then.  Otherwise you will have to take the strut out again and remove the spring so you can have access to the bump stop.  After the amount of times I've disassembled and reassembled my struts I can now change struts within 30 minutes a corner.  It was good practice. 

[fez200]

it wasnt my springs or shock bearings that were giving the thud/thump it was the engine mounts were totally stuffed. nothing left in them

if anyone gets this problem check your engine mounts too.