Live axle spring rates

[jp7]

Afternoon all,

Can I ask anyone that has an Caterham live axle car what suspension spring rates are you using front and rear please?

I think mine are a bit soft at 92lbs front and 65lbs rear.

Many thanks in advance

Andy

 

 

[rkeywood]

 I run 265lb front and 90lb rear on a track biased car but it's OK on the road. Generally you can increase the fronts a lot but less so on the rear without losing traction, it really depends what you're looking for and how far you want to go. The older Caterham springs (as yours I think) are too soft and the original dampers were awful. The springs were, I think, stiffer on the replacement (Bilstien?) dampers and the rear springs progressive rate. Something like 125 to 150 front and 75 rear might be a decent starting point if you just want to firm it up a bit for the road.

A change in springs probably needs to go hand in hand with a look at the dampers, unless already running later ones. Also the additional top link on the front suspension really needs adding, if not already fitted, with stiffer fronts. Worth having a chat with Matt at ProComp Motorsport, either just about springs or spring/damper options. Whilst they mainly do track work they're a real help on live axle road cars.

[jp7]

Hi rkeywood,

That's great info. It has new Spax adjustables with adjustable platforms but no extra link added to the top.

I found an old article from LF in 1998 talking about live axle spring rates and that reckoned the front should be 3 times the rear, which is exactly what yours is👍. 

I'll definitely up the poundage front and back to around the 150/75 as you suggested.

Many thanks again

cheers

Andy