Quote:
Originally Posted by lowside67
What you are saying does not make sense. He has a 6" spring - if it does not bind with helper springs, it will not bind without helper springs - once the car is on the ground, the helper springs are irrelevant. The helper will add droop travel but makes no difference whatsoever to binding.
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With a lowered spring perch, and a helper spring to keep the main spring taught, the strut will have less available travel upon bump. He will get into the bump stop sooner; therefore, the spring will never bind. That's one of the main reasons to use the helper spring and lower the spring perch (redistribute strut travel)... If he were to remove the helper spring, and move the spring perch up, he would have very little static compression. Almost his entire strut stroke would be available in bump (Over 3.5"). A Swift 65mm 6" spring at 610lb/in only has 2.8" of usable travel. It will begin to bind before he ever gets into the bump stop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lowside67
Also, you are not really using the terms rebound and compression correctly - rebound is not a type of travel, droop is; rebound is an adjustment that controls how droop travel behaves.
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I am using the terms correctly for what I am referring to. The strut rebounds when the suspension is in a state of droop. There is more than one "correct" context in which the terms can be used. In fact, the "proper" term for mechanical limits of travel are REBOUND and JOUNCE. So not sure where you are getting your definitions from or the idea that a strut "droops" and doesn't "rebound." Never heard that before.
I agree with you though that the helper spring is not intended to add to the effective spring rate but it does by a marginal amount depending on how stiff it is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lowside67
Regardless, a shock does not care whether you have helpers or not, it behaves the same either way given the same range of motion.
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I disagree with you on this from a "technically speaking" standpoint. Again, the helper spring DOES have a spring rate and DOES have a marginal impact on the strut. Keep in mind I am saying MARGINAL. I completely understand that a helper spring is there for no reason other than to keep the main spring taught in droop. But, it does have a rate of it's own...
Quote:
Originally Posted by lowside67
The only thing that affects the amount of bump to droop travel is ride height - whether it is accomplished by changing the main spring length, rate, adding or deleting a helper makes no difference.
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As stated above, the part you're missing is that lowering the lower spring perch also changes the bump/droop distribution. Dropping the lower spring perch results in less bump travel and more droop travel. It's called setting the spring for "sag" rather than "preload." The helper spring just takes up the sag to keep the spring seated. There are valid reasons for running sag.