linear vs. progressive springs

A

Airman Jack

Member
:
Orange 3 Sport
what's the difference between a linear and a progressive spring? what are the advantages/disadvantages of each design?
 
corect me someone if i'm wrong, i always tend to get things backwards.

but i believe linear is basically the same amount of pressure all the way down. where as progressive means the more you push down on the spring the harder it will get. i believe progressive will give you a nicer ride. linear will tend to be more bouncy. but please get anothers opinoin, i could be way off here.
 
that's about right, there are a couple of other factors but generally progressive will give you a nicer ride and improve the handling.
 
how about sprint springs. They claim to lower your ride 1.75 inches. how long until i have to change my struts/shocks?
 
So let me get this right, if I don't mind all the bumps and jolts going down the road and I want the best handling I can get, I should go with linear springs instead of progressive?
 
ok so if I only wanted like a 1" drop than maybe the linear goldline springs would work well and the ride would be similar to what we have now? do I understand that correctly?
 
Airman Jack said:
ok so if I only wanted like a 1" drop than maybe the linear goldline springs would work well and the ride would be similar to what we have now? do I understand that correctly?
Click to expand...

No.

If you have a shorter linear spring, then it is going to be a lot stiffer and the ride quality will suffer.
With any spring, a 1" drop is pretty big and the spring would have to make up for the loss of travel by restricting compression. With a progressive spring, that restriction can come with heavier compression "top coils" while leaving the "bottom coils" softer for better damping of expansion cracks in the pavement and small surface imperfections in the road.
With a linear spring, it's just stiffer all around. That makes it better for performance and cornering but crappy for the daily commute.
 
I can heartily recommend Progress Group Lowering Springs combined with their rear anti-sway bar.....what an unbelievable improvement in handling! And--as a great bonus-- the car looks like it should have in the first place (1.3" drop all 'round). Sorry no digicam, no pics (yet!)

See them/buy them here:

Springs: http:/http://www.ptuning.com/html/Item-Desc.cfm?PartNo=PT40%2E1125&MakeCode=mazda&ModelCode=3&ModelYear=2004%20All&ModelDesc=3/

Sway Bar: http://www.ptuning.com/html/search-result.cfm?cmbPriceRange=&cmbCategory=suspen&cmbSubCategory=swayba&cmbMakeModel=3&cmbBrand=pro&cmbYear=2004
 
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