Coilovers & suspension travel

[Scott Williams <sfwilliams@home.com>]

Jonas Karlsson wrote:

> yes and no, Correct, for any coilover setup, the spring travel is
> constant. BUT, when compared to standard lowering springs, travel is
> much greater.
>
> With coilovers, the springs themselves are a fixed length (probably close
> to
> stock length, but not necessarily), and it is the spring perches that
> are adjustable. By placing the perch lower on the strut/shock, the car
> will sit lower. Spring travel is this way much greater than with
> standard lowering springs.

Moving the spring perches lower on the strut or shock will still effectively
reduce the amount of travel so long as you use a stock length spring. You're
still moving the piston lower into unit's body and are moving everything
closer to the bumpstops! Now, if you run a longer than stock spring on a
lowered perch and matched it to a dampener with a longer shaft and kept it
at the same ride height, I could see where there'd be a longer travel. Or,
if you raised the car with a longer spring and longer shaft, it'd do the
same.

I maintain that lowering the car without reducing travel requires mounting
the strut or shock *higher* in the chassis. Will anyone else refute or
support what I'm saying?
--
Scott F. Williams
NJ Scirocco nut
SCCA ProRally driver
Hotrod Rabbit GTi


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