High End coilovers with same f/b rates for the FD
 

a good friend of mine bought some zeal coilovers .

THey seem to be great 30 way adjustable no complaints

BUT What I DONT understand is the springrates .. THey came with 15k front , 15k Rear

from everything i've heard from howard coleman's suspension guide , and my experience with my miata . said that rear should be softer ?

whats going on ?

is this a viable spring rate because of the wide range of adjust ability of the shocks?

and this isnt the first time I've seen various higher end coilovers with smae f/r rates

I use 12k f/ 9k R on my car

maybe someone can explain the logic behind this decision from zeal and other coilovers

spring rate isn't the only thing that dictates the ride of a coilover. I have some CST Coilovers with a 10/10 but I've yet to install them. I'll report the ride when they're on.

The Yamaguchi book claims the stock FD has the same 1.9K spring rate front and rear.

I went with Ohlins Road&Track with 11k front and rear.

Awesome ride, much much softer ride than the stock springs on GAB Super Rs with the Ohlins recommended damping setting.

It is easier to get the rear out with throttle exiting a turn, you have to drive smoother to be faster. A softer rear spring rate would be more forgiving here as long as it didn't squat you onto the bumpstops.

15k front and rear sounds great for a larger wheel/tire package.

The 11k F/R Ohlins is designed for stock wheel/tire size.

Since I have heavy, somewhat sticky 18x10.5 w/ 265/35-18 I have to crank up the damping above their recommended settings to keep body roll and bumpstop bottoming in check when I am auto-xing or even spirited driving on the street on rough country roads.

I am looking to stickier tires too, so I will likely up my spring rate instead of the hack of upping damping I am doing now so I don't jack down the suspension.

I'm not nearly as experienced with performance driving .. but I've read and expereienced that , being able to mash the gas a little harder on corner exit is a good thing LOL on my miata , I removed the rear swaybar completely and it improved my times by alot. on the FD , my front shocks even with my offset springrates are twice as stiff as rear shocks because when they were even the car felt loose not only on corner exit , but entry aswell

I have hankook RS-3's But only 255's

What is going to be fastest depends on the rest of the car set up, the driver and the course design.

When I was auto-xing my 380rwhp FC I set it up as you say with softer rear spring/damping, no sway bar, 255/40-17 front and 275/40-17 rear tires and pretty much tried to drive it like a drag race between corners. I got it set up to where it would slightly understeer on throttle and oversteer off throttle to rotate.

Trying to maintain speed through the turns was pretty hopeless because of the low chassis limits/feedback/experience of driver and the high entry speeds.

Course design became more and more dictated by Miata drivers to the point it was all sweepers and transitions with no variation in speed. I started to get double digit fuel mileage even on tanks with 2 race days and my best times by putting around in 3rd gear.

I could have set up my TII for a more balanced set up to maintain speed in the sweepers/transitions, though it was already pretty balanced with neutral throttle, hence my driving in 3rd gear to maintain that.

Instead I started driving my stock class FD as it is pretty much a big Miata with better brakes and a bit more power. I could maintain higher cornering speeds and since that is all there was I was going faster.

When I switched from stock FD (V710 slicks) to the Ohlins on big street tires it was really like driving on ice at first, but once I settled down with my inputs it was actually faster with good feedback and my inputs affected the car much sooner so I could balance it on the edge of traction easier.

I do miss the days when there was somewhere to accelerate to and some braking to be done.

Pretty lucky in that aspect here in miami , alot of the courses have atleast 1 big straight , I've gone to 8k rpm's in second with a near stock car only boosting 7 psi .