suspension travel

[carl]

Has anyone here taken coilovers designed for street use and modified them for use offroad? I have bc racing br's and was wondering if switching out the 8/6 kg springs for something more in the 5/4 range would work well enough for playing in the dirt or if I would still run into issues because the coilover dampers don't have enough travel? I don't think using longer springs would help because the dampers wouldn't extend any farther than they do now. I can raise the height quite a bit but I'm just not sure if the actual travel of the bc's will be enough.

suggestions or thoughts?

[sebhockey]

You're fine for offroad as long as the car isn't too low. Just keep it to rallyx though, don't go out in a stage rally with those things.

[carl]

that was kind of my thought - raise the ride height up to stock and put 5/4 kg springs on and try it. if anything, it doesn't work very well and I switch to something else

[UP2MTNS]

that was kind of my thought - raise the ride height up to stock and put 5/4 kg springs on and try it. if anything, it doesn't work very well and I switch to something else

that's what I did, but you still have to get longer springs. or you wont' be able to get the ride height you want.

[carl]

that's what I did, but you still have to get longer springs. or you wont' be able to get the ride height you want.
I don't see how the longer springs will help if the strut is already basically extended completely with the current springs (unless it isn't - but from what I can tell it is because I can preload the springs. if the strut still had more travel moving the perch up should increase height instead of just compressing the spring).

[sebhockey]

The taller springs just give you less preload if the shock is already fully extended, so really the gain is less chance of your spring bottoming out on itself.

[carl]

The taller springs just give you less preload if the shock is already fully extended, so really the gain is less chance of your spring bottoming out on itself.
ok, now that makes sense.

[noisycricket]

That was the biggest problem with my other car. Ended up relocating the spring seats so I could go to 14" springs so I could make sure they never went into coil bind. If you have anything like the 7-8" or travel that my junk did then you'll want the longest springs you can get and still maintain your ride height.

[carl]

ok, what length springs and rates is everyone running? I realized if I go from 8/6k to something like 5/4k the length will have to be significantly longer to avoid the spring reaching solid state before the shock bottoms out. this weekend I'll do some calculations and make some measurements (I'll have to break out the old Mechanical Engineering Design text book lol) but I'm curious to hear what lengths and rates everyone has

[04caliwrx]

I have the Cusco 02r coilovers on my car and they work great in the dirt and on nasty bumps

[snicker]

anyone used the bilstien coilovers? what is good good setup for struts/springs? should buy each seperatly or get a coilover setup?