Spring rates

[Rob. Smith]

I had a nice chat with King Springs and they admitted that they couldn't calculate a correct spring rate. They said that they just shortened their springs for production vehicles to lower them and used a thicker wire to make them stiffer. NO science, just hit and miss. As the calculation of a correct spring rate is pretty complicated the main decider is the actual spring frequency. This decides whether the car rides like a limo or a formula 1. I can't find a correct reference / comparison for a spring frequency. This crucial element is related to vehicle weight, size, performance requirement and ride comfort. How do you determine ride comfort ? I calculated my springs at 120 cycles per minute. 2 hertz, 12.556 Radians per second. This gave me a ride like a normal car but handling like a sports car....this is still in experimental and I have yet to incorporate the sway bars....I bought King springs to suit the 'rate' but had to add spacers to make up the travel...the rate was a ball park figure as King springs couldn't match what I asked for. cheap and nasty.