I ran in my first autocross this past weekend. I ran in the SM class. My 91 RS has the factory springs with 220K miles so they are beyond worn out. I ran on crappy tires 275/40/17's Kumho's. My back end was loose all the time, especially when I would brake hard into corners. I think since my front springs were too soft I was having too much weight transfer to the front which was causing the back end to get loose. Can anyone reccomend some good springs or what spring rates to run?

 

id fix the tire issue first. if the tires are as bad as you say, a spring swap will not help much. As for springs , call globalwest www.globalwest.net ask for Doug, he will help with the springs.

 

I disagree with doing tires first. RS springs are so soft it isn't even funny for running autox.

Good a good Street/AutoX mix, I'd start with minimum 650s front/175s rear. For more AutoX, move up in the front weight closer to 880. But keep the rears under 220 regardless of use.

 

Do they make stiffer springs that don't lower the car

 

You could get the Ground Control Weight Jacks w/Eibach & dial in exactly where you want it to set at, lowered or stock.

If you buy "lowering springs" you have no choice in the spring rate or ride height.

Weight Jacks are not the cheapest ($459) but you get to choose everything yourself & they can help you choose if your not certain what you want. And if you ever decide to go with stiffer or softer springs, new Eibach springs are only $59.
http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/search.php

 

Have you ever heard of Blue Coil Spring (Suspension Spring Specialist, Inc)? They have front springs at different rates front and rear for fairly cheap. Is the front spring a 5.5" OD 8" free length for the front spring?

 

fronts are 5.5, but the free length is somewhere around 12-14".

SSS makes top quality stuff

 

Does anyone know the factory spring rate for the front on an RS? I called Strano and he was telling me that factory cars were around 600lbs or close to that.

 

i believe the factory spring rates for the front depending on model is 575 or right about there.

As for spring rates its hard to tell someone what to run. I asked the same question a while back. The reason its hard for someone to tell you what to run is because not all cars or drivers are the same. Some cars may have the ws6 package some might not. Some may have roll cages or subframe connectors making the chassis stiffer. Or you might just be one of those peeps that likes to drive with the *** end hanging out.

With all that said I will tell you that we run 700lbs front and 250lbs rear on our cp autocross car with stock sway bars for the moment. If you want more info on it check my post on here. I like the setup at this point but I do believe we will probably be going to stiffer front springs before to long but we have to be careful because the lot we run on is very very bumpy and unforgiving so if we dont want to spring it to high and have problems there. Hopefully my little 2 cents helps a little..good luck.

 

Oh one other tid bit i just thought about..If you go to stiff on the springs right away dont forget that those stock shocks are not going to handle them worth a damn. We run the bilstein hd's and we still think we need better shocks for our spring setup

 

run 800+ linear rate springs in the front and 150 in the rear. Ground control weight jacks and adjustable camber plates .Koni double adjustable sport struts/shocks front and rear. factory WS6 sway bars work well, sub frame connectors, adjustable panhard rod that has been lowered 2 inches to soften up the rear and help put the power down on corner exit. (It lowers the rear roll center) front end alignment 1/8 inch toe out, 2-3* negative camber, and max the caster out equaly on both sides. A good set of hoosier autocross tires.

 

Just cut a half coil. It will drop less than an inch and be much stiffer. Problem solved. Remove the rear spring isolator and put some heater hose around the top coil.

If you're gonna just pay for new springs anyway it's worth a try at least.

 

i had a similar issue with my camaro. i had worn 250k stock springs and worn hard tires it was all over the place. i swaped out the springs in the front for some moog 5662 with one coil cut off and the 5665's in the rear and it was a much firmer ride but now it was even worse my tires couldnt handle anything lol. found out later though that my rear tires are stick much better with a higher pressure than id expect. i say your first few runs run the car as it is se what it does a few diff times play with tire presures and go from there. i jumped the gun on mine.