I just read the 40 low buck speed secrets section and I was curious about the spring inserts used on the Starion. I have never heard of these things, but they seem like they would be a good cheap way to temporarily increase the spring rate. Anyone have experience with these, or where I could find some?
P.S. I recently subscribed and absolutely love the magazine! I will start exploring the discussion boards more in the next few weeks. Thanks!
Just as an aside - in the sidebar on stuff NOT to do there was a recommendation "not to use 2 part epoxy" for structural connections. The example was a composite sunroof insert bonded to a steel roof panel.
It's possible the composite laminate was polyester resin based - not an epoxy layup - and epoxy would not be the right adhesive for the application. It could be poor or incorrect surface preparation, the wrong adhesive, mix ratio or curing condition. There are too many variables to dismiss epoxies summarily on the basis of this failure.
Lots of things are epoxied together that tend not to break. Like F1 cars and jet airplanes, boats and skis and snowboards, that sort of thing.
If you're keen on gluing stuff together (and in my career in R&D in the biotech and renewable energy sectors it happens often) I'd counsel that the nice people at Henkel-Loctite, Sika and 3M have lods of info online and Loctite has a printed guide book series that's excellent. Also the McMaster-Carr online catalog has good adhesives info.
Find a website that sells racing stuff for the oval track crowd and you'll find those spring rubbers. The ones in the magazine article looked to be short sections of a rubber. The ones I used in the past were long enough to cover the full length of one coil in my springs. They're easy to put in and out.
summit sells the full donut shaped ones like Deadskunk used for about 20 to 30 bucks a piece depending on thickness, materials, and make.
motomoron wrote: Just as an aside - in the sidebar on stuff NOT to do there was a recommendation "not to use 2 part epoxy" for structural connections. The example was a composite sunroof insert bonded to a steel roof panel. It's possible the composite laminate was polyester resin based - not an epoxy layup - and epoxy would not be the right adhesive for the application. It could be poor or incorrect surface preparation, the wrong adhesive, mix ratio or curing condition. There are too many variables to dismiss epoxies summarily on the basis of this failure. Lots of things are epoxied together that tend not to break. Like F1 cars and jet airplanes, boats and skis and snowboards, that sort of thing. If you're keen on gluing stuff together (and in my career in R&D in the biotech and renewable energy sectors it happens often) I'd counsel that the nice people at Henkel-Loctite, Sika and 3M have lods of info online and Loctite has a printed guide book series that's excellent. Also the McMaster-Carr online catalog has good adhesives info.
For the record it was the right stuff and it did hold up for a while but decided to come off on the way down.
DeadSkunk wrote: The ones I used in the past were long enough to cover the full length of one coil in my springs. They're easy to put in and out.
As described, used on the $2004 Challenge Saturn SL2. One in each corner, on Eibach Pro-Kit springs. They're progressive street springs (the car came with them and we had no budget to upgrade, nor were there really any more suitable springs on the aftermarket anyway), so it would lean a bit before the stiffer performance coils kicked in. These spacers filled in the softer coils, reduced roll, and put the stiffer coils to work quicker. As the team's autocross crash test dummy, I can say that the handling was still quite similar to other Eibach equipped Saturns I've driven, but there was definitely a bit less body roll.
I've found these on the shelf at auto parts stores. Usually they carry one or two in stock, as a "repair" to help worn out sagging springs. You may have to hit multiple stores to get four, or more if you really want to go crazy.
I seriously just put some on earlier today!! Old news
, at least to someone who's got 2 of the 40 secrets in the article 
White_and_Nerdy wrote: I've found these on the shelf at auto parts stores. Usually they carry one or two in stock, as a "repair" to help worn out sagging springs. You may have to hit multiple stores to get four, or more if you really want to go crazy.
I've... heard... of somebody cutting springs to get the rate up, and then sticking those things on top of them. But he had to wrap them with duct tape to keep them from bowing out.
I've... heard... of somebody cutting springs to get the rate up, and then sticking those things on top of them. But he had to wrap them with duct tape to keep them from bowing out.
That's exactly what i just did..but i have no idea what you mean by bowing out. And this duct tape thing sounds ridiculous....ly in need of pictures
Vigo wrote:I've... heard... of somebody cutting springs to get the rate up, and then sticking those things on top of them. But he had to wrap them with duct tape to keep them from bowing out.That's exactly what i just did..but i have no idea what you mean by bowing out. And this duct tape thing sounds ridiculous....ly in need of pictures
Most springs are created to actually fit their mounts at the top & bottom. When it's cut, it no longer fits. They wiggle out of their mounting points (even under so little strain of holding the car up on the street) because the end that was supposed to fit in the hole for it is gone.
IMO, cut springs are not really the right way to go about changing your spring rates, especially if you're driving a car "popular" enough that you can find used real springs on eBay or Craigslist.
especially if you're driving a car "popular" enough that you can find used real springs on eBay or Craigslist.
Im not...Good to know there's a caveat that covers every car i own 
Well, what I meany by bowing out, is if the spring rests against something not bucket-shaped that will contain the spacer, it can and will open up at the seam. So a little duct tape to load it in tension solves that problem handily.
Did I say duct tape? I meant adhesive-backed monolayer fiber weave.
For the truly budget-oriented, you could probably find spring rubbers at a typical circle track swap meet. Or rig something up using thick chunks of rubber and safety wire.
Didn't Guido use the little individual pieces? Like these:
They used to be in the "HELP!" brand section of Pep Zone with all the other spring helper options. They're like, $5. Looks like Mr. Gasket sells them now along w/ the full coil type you guys are talking about:
Hmm i could really use some of those bottom ones to jam up the progressive coils of my $59 cargo-coils
I used to have four of those in each rear spring of my old Mitsubishi Mirage. The coil spacing was small enough that it they actually held the springs extended (and raised the rear maybe 1/4" total), which meant the increased spring rate was always there. I didn't notice that dramatic of a difference though.
Ive been driving on spring spacers of different varieties for many years. Ive never noticed a dramatic difference, just as Jay said. However, ive also never regretted installing them.
The hold the coils they touch in constant tension so there's no sudden impact or change of any kind at all such as the bumpstop analogy suggests.
Yup. 5 bucks at vato zone, though I don't buy that they actually do anything other than fall out. I've used them when I've hacked a little too much off a spring to raise the ride-height slightly. They worked okay for that.
Loved this issue. Hated the "40 tips" section. "Put a fire extinguisher next to the driver. Have vinyl cut to read 'torque the lugnuts'. Put a bag over your nitrous bottle." Really? I've seen some seriously cool E36 M3 at the Challenge. Seems weird that this was the best they could come up with.
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