Performance information, please!
06-29-2010, 10:42 PM
#21
Le Mans Master
i can only guess, but I assume that the wheel rates were some GM calculation. My guess is they include swaybar rates. In which case a two wheel bump would be different because the swaybar has no effect when both wheels move together. But I suspect the rates are per wheel.
In your example, I would guess each wheel would move more than an inch, but the spring would deflect an inch.
I never quite understood the wheel rates listed in that chart...
In your example, I would guess each wheel would move more than an inch, but the spring would deflect an inch.
I never quite understood the wheel rates listed in that chart...
Last edited by Aurora40; 06-29-2010 at 10:48 PM.
06-29-2010, 11:33 PM
#22
Tech Contributor
Thread Starter
Aurora,
I am really asking about the SPRING rates, and exactly how they were ascertained. Ordinarily, with a coil spring (or a torsion bar, for that matter), the spring rate pertains to only the corner where that piece is located. A 580 pound coil spring will compress (or extend) one inch for each 580 pounds of pressure applied.
So, I am wondering how far these 1984 Z51 leaf springs will deflect when that same 580 pounds of pressure is applied to a single corner. And then what happens when various pressures are applied to both corners simultaneously. Obviously, these cars handle very well. I am just attempting to understand the dynamics a little better.
Wheel rate is a seperate measurement, that depends upon spring rate and that corner's motion ratio. We could get into this here, but I am afraid it would take the thread off to never-never land. Send me a PM if you would like the formulae, and a little discussion about wheel rate calculations.
Thanks again for all your insight.
Ed
I am really asking about the SPRING rates, and exactly how they were ascertained. Ordinarily, with a coil spring (or a torsion bar, for that matter), the spring rate pertains to only the corner where that piece is located. A 580 pound coil spring will compress (or extend) one inch for each 580 pounds of pressure applied.
So, I am wondering how far these 1984 Z51 leaf springs will deflect when that same 580 pounds of pressure is applied to a single corner. And then what happens when various pressures are applied to both corners simultaneously. Obviously, these cars handle very well. I am just attempting to understand the dynamics a little better.
Wheel rate is a seperate measurement, that depends upon spring rate and that corner's motion ratio. We could get into this here, but I am afraid it would take the thread off to never-never land. Send me a PM if you would like the formulae, and a little discussion about wheel rate calculations.
Thanks again for all your insight.
Ed
Last edited by RacePro Engineering; 06-29-2010 at 11:38 PM.
06-30-2010, 07:38 AM
#23
Le Mans Master
I see what you are saying.
If I were to guess, and it's only a guess, I'd think it would be rated like coil springs, which is to say independent of the car. I'd think that is the rate from the center of the spring out to the end. Otherwise it seems like it would be pretty complicated to come up with a rating.
If I were to guess, and it's only a guess, I'd think it would be rated like coil springs, which is to say independent of the car. I'd think that is the rate from the center of the spring out to the end. Otherwise it seems like it would be pretty complicated to come up with a rating.
