What effects does springrate have on the ride?

[TheChosenOne]

When I am ignorant of something, I try and educate myself on it, so I figured there were some qualified individuals in this vast e-land we call IA, who could learn me up on "springrate" and it's affects.

Now, compared to a stock spring, would a lowering spring or coilover sleeve have a higher or lower spring rate?

More specifically, I am in the market for a full coilover, and more than anuthing else, I am looking for the lowest riding setup. Should I look for a specific spring rate to ensure that I have the best ride quality as possible when being "slammed"?

If someone could answer any, if not all, of these queries of mine, they would be considered E-Gods and be rep'd! :goodjob:

[Batlground]

it all really depends on what you want.

Spring rates are NORMALLY stiffer than stock , but other things such as piston size, shock rebound, alignment, etc all contribute to ride quality.

IF you are just trying to slam it, it really doesnt matter, id go with Omnipower, you can shorten the strut without sacrificing too much ride quality.

[TheChosenOne]

Man, you swear by OmniPower, huh? lol.

This application will be for a 92' Accord, so would much rather have a stiff ride, then botton that boat out everytime I hit a bump in the road.

So then, with this knowledge added, in combination with a stiff spring rate, what shock rebound should I look for? I am assuming the shortest rebound would work best for a slammed car?

[DinanM3atl]

Get something that is adjustable in as many ways as you can afford. Bound/Rebound are a plus. The Spring Rate itself does have some effect on ride quality. The issue comes in if you are slammed you need a higher spring rate or as you said you will bottom out or be bouncing all over the place.

Now in all reality slammed is not the answer, slammed handles bad in a lot of cases. Sure it looks good sometimes but in reality you probably lost handling. The car does not need to be on the ground to handle. You want to match spring rates to your shocks and set a ride height. Testing and tuning is going to be necessary to make the car handle how you want it to.

Omnipower seems to be more of a Japanese Tuner setup so I have no opinion on it. I would personally look into something different but that is just me.

Cliff Notes - There is no "right answer" to suspension tuning.