[Mk2] [NA] BC Racing Coilovers (BR series) - spring rate question

[RobPhoboS]

Hey guys,

I just wondered if anyone out there has the BR series on their car with the softer spring rates ?
Front Spring Rate : 4kg/mm
Rear Spring Rate : 6kg/mm

How are you finding them on the cruddy roads ?

I think I have the harder springs rated at:
Front Spring Rate : 5kg/mm (224lbs/in)
Rear Spring Rate : 8kg/mm (336lbs/in)

I'm finding it aggravating on our bashed up roads. So I just wanted to gauge what you guys think of the softer springs.

The cars geo was set up by the excellent guys at wheels in motion, and I've set the damping to it's softest settings, in case you think it could be user set-up error.

[ashley]

I started with lower spring rates on my BC coilovers, tbh it was pretty horrible bouncing about over all the bumps unless I ramped the damper rates up which just made it super hard and crashy.

I've swapped to the standard spring rates they supply them with now and have found it much better on the roads, although as you would expect- still a pretty hard ride.

I'll dig out the spring rates I've played with later for you, I've got the softer springs on the shelf in the garage somewhere

[RobPhoboS]

Many thanks for replying, I'll be hugely interested in what your using at the moment

Perhaps if you aren't too far away from me, I could head up to you at some point and see what the difference is like.

[ashley]

I originally ran on Front 4kg / Rear 6kg, but have switched to Front 5kg / Rear 8kg

I'm based near Gloucester, so a bit of a drive for you!

[RobPhoboS]

Double doh.
So you actually prefer the harder springs ?
Perhaps it's the rebound which we can't control that is causing the problem.

Do you know what settings you are using now for the dampers ?
0 = hard
30 = soft

Both of my ones are set to 30 but I find on bumpy dual carriageway, as my speed increases it feels quite bouncy and unstable. On smooth roads it feels nice, and perhaps could do with a harder damping setting.

I'm on standard 15" wheels, with whiteline ARB's.

hmm, perhaps time to go to KW's

[ashley]

Yeah- prefer the harder springs, with the softer springs the back end was bouncing about a lot which meant I had to ramp up the damping to the point where the dampers were doing all the work and it got proper hard and crashy over bumps.

With the harder springs the car still feels firm, but the springs are doing the work (as they should), I had my dampers set to 16 at the rear but have now increased this to 24 as it feels more stable when giving it some boost. For comfort (ie when the other half is in the car with me) I drop them back down again

[ashley]

Both of my ones are set to 30 but I find on bumpy dual carriageway, as my speed increases it feels quite bouncy and unstable.

Makes sense- you've got your dampers set too hard which is not letting the springs do their job absorbing bumps at high speed.

I've found the best way to set them up has been to start with lower damper rates and gradually increase until you have the ride you are looking for

[Baker]

Having had the same problem, albeit on different dampers, i found having the rears on the hardest setting, and fronts at 2/3 hardest really helped.
No more bouncing along the road.

[RobPhoboS]

Makes sense- you've got your dampers set too hard which is not letting the springs do their job absorbing bumps at high speed.

Front and Rear is set to the dampers softest setting, not the hardest.

Having had the same problem, albeit on different dampers, i found having the rears on the hardest setting, and fronts at 2/3 hardest really helped.
No more bouncing along the road.

I definitely need to tweak it a lot more.
Hmm

[ashley]

Front and Rear is set to the dampers softest setting, not the hardest.

Oops..sorry, misread your post- when I described how mine were set I was talking 1 = softest , 30 = hardest

[RobPhoboS]

Would you consider selling the softer springs ?

[ashley]

I'd like to keep em on the shelf to keep my options open in the future, but that said they aren't that pricey from BC so yeah- you could try them if you like

Drop me a pm and we can talk £'s