Progressive Coils
I love it when Redneck gets on a rant.
Man, you picked a great nickname.
JK Super Freak
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,623
Likes: 5
From: Lawrenceville, NJ
The entire mass produced suspension modification issue is tough.
In addition to the progressive coils needing to be engineered for the actual loads that YOU will run (Stripped down to cut weight, or armored up and carrying a dead moose on the roof, etc...), the shocks need to control the forces imposed by the coils in addition to all of the weight range as well...so they are ALSO in need of one off calibrations to really "get it right".
Now, if the coil is soft at the beginning of their compression cycle to help soften the ride harshness, and they get progressively stiffer as they compress, in of itself, that's fine.
The devil is in how soft is too soft, and how firm is too firm, and is the RATE its ramping up at appropriate for the terrain and the load, etc.
On the flip side, the constant rate coil is pretty much as right as a stopped clock...sitting at ride height....and pretty much wrong the rest of the time....too stiff at initial compression, and too soft at full stuffage range.
....and for the exact same reasons that the progressive is wrong too...the damn coil left the factory w/o knowing what the hell you were going to mount it on or the terrain you were going to drive it on.
So, a lot comes down to how wrong still works for you....if its close enough for you, its OK, if not, its not, et.
My butt might be OK with a stiffer ride, your butt might want a softer ride...so even what is right for ME, might STILL be wrong FOR YOU, and so forth.
I thought the stock JK rode like a freeakin Limo after my older jeeps....
Some passengers complained their teeth were rattling and their kidneys were turning to pudding.
So - Maybe we need tunable coil springs to address this, the way to can tune your shocks.
In addition to the progressive coils needing to be engineered for the actual loads that YOU will run (Stripped down to cut weight, or armored up and carrying a dead moose on the roof, etc...), the shocks need to control the forces imposed by the coils in addition to all of the weight range as well...so they are ALSO in need of one off calibrations to really "get it right".
Now, if the coil is soft at the beginning of their compression cycle to help soften the ride harshness, and they get progressively stiffer as they compress, in of itself, that's fine.
The devil is in how soft is too soft, and how firm is too firm, and is the RATE its ramping up at appropriate for the terrain and the load, etc.
On the flip side, the constant rate coil is pretty much as right as a stopped clock...sitting at ride height....and pretty much wrong the rest of the time....too stiff at initial compression, and too soft at full stuffage range.
....and for the exact same reasons that the progressive is wrong too...the damn coil left the factory w/o knowing what the hell you were going to mount it on or the terrain you were going to drive it on.
So, a lot comes down to how wrong still works for you....if its close enough for you, its OK, if not, its not, et.
My butt might be OK with a stiffer ride, your butt might want a softer ride...so even what is right for ME, might STILL be wrong FOR YOU, and so forth.
I thought the stock JK rode like a freeakin Limo after my older jeeps....
Some passengers complained their teeth were rattling and their kidneys were turning to pudding.
So - Maybe we need tunable coil springs to address this, the way to can tune your shocks.
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 148
Likes: 0
From: Surrey, BC
In the real world, a progressive rate spring can be beneficial for ride comfort as it allows you to use a spring rate that can be very light for the first couple inches of upward suspension travel, and then it PROGRESSIVLEY gets heavier.