Lots of spring questions.

[Cannoball888]

I'm going to do some major suspension upgrades soon and I have a few questions:

Why do people prefer springs with more leafs? I wonder this because Calvert Racing proves that mono leafs are better for drag racing.

What's the practical difference performancewise between standard, mid-eye, and reverse-eye leaf springs?


I always read that 620lb front springs are good for racing. Is that drag or circle track racing, and why are they good?

 

[AdamInChains]

I was told the more leafs help prevent spring wrap-up under a heavy load.

I'm not sure of any performance difference between the mid, reverse, and standard springs i just know they can lower your rear a couple inches.

I'm no expert but ive been told people use 6 cylinder front springs for drag, which are not as stiff to create more body roll to the rear in turn adding more traction to the back.

 

[67topless]

The more springs, the tighter the rear (less wrap like mentioned above). In addition, the more springs, the rougher the ride.

 

[dodgestang]

I'm going to do some major suspension upgrades soon and I have a few questions:

Why do people prefer springs with more leafs? I wonder this because Calvert Racing proves that mono leafs are better for drag racing.

What's the practical difference performancewise between standard, mid-eye, and reverse-eye leaf springs?


I always read that 620lb front springs are good for racing. Is that drag or circle track racing, and why are they good?

You have multile topics all rolled up into one here.

First:
Standard, mid, and reverse eye have nothing to do with spring rates or spring packs, they have everything to do with height of the car with springs installed because the manufacture has altered where the spring eye is in relation to the pack

Second:
Mono-leaf - great for drag racing, not for a street car (IMO). In drag racing a soft spring is desired because it doesn't hinder the transfer of weight from the front of the vehicle to the rear of the vehicle at time of launch. However you will also notice that people who run monoleafs also run signifcant traction adders.

Third: When someone says 'they prefer 620s for racing' just ignore them. However, it is important to note some people subscribe to the stiff spring soft shock, others like a soft spring stiff shock, and still others like a stiff spring and a stiff shock. But in essense what someone is attempting to communicate to you is that when they hit a turn at speed they like the stiffer nature of the 620s. I run 620 drop springs because they are popular and I could buy them and have a relatively decent understanding of where my ride height was going to be and the performance they would give me with my setup. They provide an acceptable trade of (for me) between performance and comfort and since I added my IAS shocks, I like them a hell of a lot better than I used to. IF you want to drag race and not spend alot of money, you put 6 cylinder springs in the car, at least that's what appears to be the rule of thumb I hear most often.

 

[muddslide]

Mono's are excellant for drag racing. I also went with ranch0 9000's from calvert racing, there are gods in my book. I drive my car on the street and it handles fine but it was built for the strip. The mono spring are just a softer rear leaf spring that allows weight transfer.

 

[rbohm]

what are your plans for the car? like others said, mono-leaf good for drag racing due to lighter weight, but you will need some stout traction bars of some kind to prevent spring wrap. more leafs in the rear means less spring wrap, and usually a stiffer spring as well, not only in the vertical but in the horizontal plane as well. it does help improve axle location when cornering. in front 620's are a good compromise between a street and track car.

becareful when selecting spring rates though, as dodgestang stated some like stiff springs, soft shocks, and moderate swaybars, other like stiff springs, stiff shocks, and small swaybars, and then there are those like me who prefer a softer spring, medium rate shocks, and larger swaybars. my reasoning is that when the road gets rough, the softer springs and shocks allow the tire to follow the road better, while the larger swaybar eliminates body roll.