How To Choose Coilover Spring Rates

Background on Coilover Springs

Choosing the right spring is essential for your suspension’s performance. Springs support your vehicle, help resist cornering roll, and ensure the suspension droops correctly. Below are some general guidelines to assist with selecting spring rates, though specific applications—such as those with significant down travel—may require deviations from these rules.

AccuTune Recommendations

Preload

The preload on the coilover should be set between ½” and 6” to prevent the springs from loosening and to maintain proper droop, wheel rate, and bottoming control. A lower preload improves handling and minimizes sag when adding weight but can reduce the suspension’s ability to droop effectively over bumps. Common setups typically use 1-2″ of preload in the front and 2-3″ in the rear.

When unsure, it’s better to err on the side of more preload than less. If your suspension isn’t drooping properly over bumps and rebound is set correctly, try increasing the preload while using softer spring rates.

Coilover Dual Rate Nuts

With a dual rate coilover setup, the softer spring should not be less than 70% of the stiffer rate. Example: Do not exceed 70/100

Longer Lower Springs

Lower springs can encounter two issues that can be addressed by choosing longer springs. The first issue is that, on many shocks, the springs may not be long enough, and the shock body isn’t threaded far enough for the coilover spring slider to engage the dual-rate nuts early enough in the travel. When the dual-rate nuts engage correctly, the lower spring compresses much more than the upper spring, and it can become solid before the shock reaches full compression. To avoid these issues, we recommend using a longer lower spring on coilovers.

Check out our Shock Tuning 101 article for more information on how to use dual rate nuts.

Coilovers with springs ordered from AccuTune Offroad will receive a highly accurate spring rate calculation including 5 point performance check. Our expert sales team help calculate spring rates for customers daily.

If you already have springs, and want to make adjustments to your rates, see our article How to calculate new preload and springs by using existing springs.

If you’re in the market to buy coilovers for your custom build, AccuTune Offroad is truly the best place buy. FREE spring rate calculations, FREE custom tuning in the shocks and you will benefit from the FREE spring swap program.

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