Ideal spring rate?

[johnunit]

QA1 bought out Carrera years ago think there might be 2 or 3 different valvings. Also length should be determined by static ride height. Stiffness will depend on spring rates. Stiffer springs stifer shocks

Yeah that's why I asked about QA1.

I'm more trying to figure out how stiff they are compared to stock or police shocks. Obviously stiffer, but would the softest QA1 be twice as stiff as a police shock? 4-5 times? They don't seem to be measured like springs are with the spring rate and installed height being published.

Better yet, do they make an adjustable one? Being able to go from police firmness to teeth rattling in a couple minutes under the car would be a dream.

[sly]

The reason for it is the road at that particular turn is inclined to the right. It's called "gravity."

darn that gravity thing... always working and stuff.

[turbo2256b]

QA1 makes single and dual adjustable shocks. Many of their shocks are rebuildable. yOU HAVE TO MEASURE YOUR SHOCK LENGTHS / distance between mounting points on a level surface. Info on extended and compressed lengths for just about any shock can be found. Then find mid travel of the shock using compressed lenght and add half the shock travel to find ones close to your measururement between shock mtg points. Also can use extended length and sbtract half the stroke or subtact extended from compressed to find stroke and do the afore mentioned math. Some aftermarket shocks will give a recomended mid lengths usally about + or - a inch or so.

The adjust able QA1s on he rear are easy to adjust as fronts are a bit of a pain. Fronts, one has to drop the bottom of the shocks and pull the body carefully downward far enough to be able to get to the adjustment knobs. Think the double adjustables are around 250 or so now through summit. Remember though they are rebuildable. Rebuilds cost depends on what needs replaced could run between 40 to 250 to rebuild a pair.
Soon it will be time for my big brake swap and will be going to coilovers in the front at which point will be able to adjust the fronts about as easly as the rears.

[P72Ford]

I haven't read the entire thread here...

But severeal people have been talking about shock upgrades to accompany spring upgrades. This is essential.

If folks are doing the 900+/ 175+ spring rate swa, a shock upgrade is required, otherwise the suspension will be entirely undamped. Utilizing a stock replacement shock with the new springs is not sufficient. Using police spec shocks is techically not suffcient, as police cars did not use springs with anywhere near a 900 lb/in spring rate.

I ran AFCO 1020s on the front of my red police car for a while. With the stock springs, the suspension was grossly overdamped.

I think my white car had the 900/225 spring rate combo, with GR-2 shocks, or something like that. It was not right. The springs were way stiffer than the shock, and as such the shock is unable to effectively damp the spring (this is known as underdamped). As a result, you have excessive suspension osciallation under loading, and we all know thats just like driving around with whipped out shocks, albeit not as noticeable because of the extreme spring rate.

If you really want to do the spring upgrade the right way, you need to find some quality shocks that are made for the job. If you're swapping springs and using stock style replacement shocks, you are making a mistake.

[johnunit]

QA1 makes single and dual adjustable shocks. Many of their shocks are rebuildable. yOU HAVE TO MEASURE YOUR SHOCK LENGTHS / distance between mounting points on a level surface. Info on extended and compressed lengths for just about any shock can be found. Then find mid travel of the shock using compressed lenght and add half the shock travel to find ones close to your measururement between shock mtg points. Also can use extended length and sbtract half the stroke or subtact extended from compressed to find stroke and do the afore mentioned math. Some aftermarket shocks will give a recomended mid lengths usally about + or - a inch or so.

The adjust able QA1s on he rear are easy to adjust as fronts are a bit of a pain. Fronts, one has to drop the bottom of the shocks and pull the body carefully downward far enough to be able to get to the adjustment knobs. Think the double adjustables are around 250 or so now through summit. Remember though they are rebuildable. Rebuilds cost depends on what needs replaced could run between 40 to 250 to rebuild a pair.
Soon it will be time for my big brake swap and will be going to coilovers in the front at which point will be able to adjust the fronts about as easly as the rears.

Good info, but I'm more concerned about what range of stiffness is available. In other words, I know there's a range and that at least some forms of the Qa1 stuff is ultra stiff, but I want to know how soft you can get them. Are they all racecar stiff all the time, or can you get ones that are at least adjustable to more like a police spec?

[turbo2256b]

tHE ADJUSTABL ONES can go from soft to quite stiff. Un adjustabe shocks are usally listed as soft , firm, medium, heavy.
They have an online catalog. http://www.qa1.net/ think this still works. They also have a adapter I USE ON MY REAR SHOCKS UPPER MOUNT SO i dont have to cut the shocks off.

[slack]

But...there it is. I grabbed it and yanked it around, it's in there solid as can be. Looks exactly like the one you've got, which means it isn't even stock. The bushings are still good too, which means they were replaced, so I was probably right about the collision thing.

I greatly appreciate the offer, and I would've gladly taken you up on it, had I not been an absolute moron to begin with.

Glad to hear there's a sway bar there! You're welcome. I guess I'll hold on to it a little longer before getting rid of it.

Btw, the sway bar in my pic is in fact the stock one. That picture is from before I put in the police front sway bar.

[pantera77]

But severeal people have been talking about shock upgrades to accompany spring upgrades. This is essential.

If you really want to do the spring upgrade the right way, you need to find some quality shocks that are made for the job. If you're swapping springs and using stock style replacement shocks, you are making a mistake.

Completely agree. I ran PI spec KYB gas-a-just with my 925/200 combo and it was ok, but certainly not ideal. Like everything else components need to be matched to work right.

[turbo2256b]

The 1020 Afco's worked well when I WAS RUNNING 1000# springs on the front and variable rate wagon over loads in the rear. I didnt care much with the overload springs though unless there was extra weight in the rear like 60 to 100# to take up the softer part of the rate a bit. Part of the issue with the varible springs in the rear was body roll in the rear with the springs unloaded. Noticing factory shocks were not long enough on the rear think I went with QA1s double adjustable shocks on the rear and dialed them in wasnt too bad. Sure made a lot of sports cars look realy bad .Actualy saw in the rear view mirror from time to time sporty cars loosing control following me around a corner when I WASSNT EVEN trying to drive fast.

[ootdega]

Glad to hear there's a sway bar there! You're welcome. I guess I'll hold on to it a little longer before getting rid of it.

Btw, the sway bar in my pic is in fact the stock one. That picture is from before I put in the police front sway bar.

...Huh.

That...looks like more than 1 inch though.

Well whatever. I'll put the 415 springs in when I do the brake swap, since you need to replace the upper control arms anyway. Might as well do that while I'm up in there.

[Brown_Muscle]

I don't think you'll regret it, my police suspension easily out-handles the tires...i have 225/70 15, which is stock police size- way too much sidewall. With 17's and some wider tires...that's a different story.

[ootdega]

I don't think you'll regret it, my police suspension easily out-handles the tires...i have 225/70 15, which is stock police size- way too much sidewall. With 17's and some wider tires...that's a different story.

It's too much sidewall for regular old street tires, but that's why I have badass all-terrain Grabbers. All-season truck tires never looked so right on a sedan.

[turbo2256b]

Tire width has the most to do with handling but load rating is also a factor. A 225/70 tire with a load rating of 1300 lbs isnt going to out handle the same size tire with a load rating of 1800 lbs especally on a heavy vehicle.

[ootdega]

Tire width has the most to do with handling but load rating is also a factor. A 225/70 tire with a load rating of 1300 lbs isnt going to out handle the same size tire with a load rating of 1800 lbs especally on a heavy vehicle.

These are 1764, but that's good to know. Any wider than these and I'll be rubbing on the wheel wells when I turn, though. 245/70/r16 would probably be okay when I do the brakes. That's only 10mm each side.