[Ricardo]

Does anybody know what the spring rates are on TRD Rallye springs??

I am trying to figure out the percentage of stiffness increase from OEM springs on an '85 Toyota Corolla GTS. I can't seem to find any TRD Rallye springs in Canada (can't afford US $ exchange) so will have to go with some other brand BUT don't know what rates I should run.

I ran the OEM springs with Euro Bilstein Rallye Shocks for snow and ice events but need to stiffen up for the upcoming gravel events. Might even try some tarmac racing later on in the year which would require even stiffer springs than the gravel ones.

Anyone got any suggestions??

Richard Michaluk
Day Trippers Pro Rally Team

 

[Rvl]

I would go with the TRD Rally springs.

I changed springs so many times in the last couple of years and my new TRD`s are the best so far. My past springs have been either too long , too short or too short of a stroke.

I paid 14,000yen for mine (fronts only) + shipping.

Give me a call and I can probably order a set.

For my car , the Rally springs come in 3 different rates. For tarmac also 3 different rates , but a shorter stroke and lower down.

Robert VanLane
TakeTomboRacing
Aomori Japan

 

[Ricardo]

Sounds great...IF...I was in Japan?
Where can I get them in Canada? with Cdn $$

Richard Michaluk
Day Trippers Pro Rally Team

 

[Tmachnik]

Try Contemporary Motorsports in Edmonton. They are in the Mayfield Toyota stealership and they are a distributor of TRD products. I don't think they are listed as a seperate entity in the phone book, you have to call reception at Mayfield Toyota and ask to speak to someone at Contemporary. They are not known for low prices, by the way.

 

[John Vanlandingham]

>
>For my car , the Rally springs come in 3 different rates.
>For tarmac also 3 different rates , but a shorter stroke and
>lower down.
>
>Robert VanLane
>TakeTomboRacing
>Aomori Japan

John Vanlandingham

Hey Robert, the poor b¤¤¤¤d asked if anybody knew the spring rates.
Have you any catalogs over there that list the spring rates?
There is no mystery or special science to springs, the guy just wants to know the rates so he can go out and go some springs from a local supplier of like circle track stuff for $55 each. Nice offer, but theres no point in the expense of shipping etc.

Hey Richard, your Corrolla aint much bigger or heavier than the nice Ford Escort rwd, and the used like around 145 in/lb around 12 inch long. That doesn't sound too hard but the stock things are no doubt aroud 95 in/lb.
Ask RVL to send you the spec, then call your local roundy round place.

 

[Ricardo]

John...you've hit the nail right on the head. That's precisely what I intend to do if I can't get a set of TRDs.

I have a set of Euro Bilstein rallye shocks ready to go in when I figure out what I need for springs.

Would it be a safe assumption that a set of good gravel springs would be...oh...say...about 25%- 30% stiffer than stock OEM springs?? and for tarmac road racing maybe around 30%-40% stiffer...thicker and shorter thus lowering the car an inch or two??

I have a roundy round buddy who has a "thingama-jig" that measures your spring rates. I'll probably take out the old springs...measure them...check out the rates for front and rear and try to replace them with an appropriate aftermarket springs like Eibachs or something like that.

Right now, I have OEM springs and a set of crappy adjustable Tokico shocks,front and rear, set to the maximum stiffness.

I just finished the Rally of the Ranchlands at Cochrane, Alberta (just North and West of Calgary) last weekend using this combination for a snow/ice with some wet slushy mud and dry gravel sections thrown in for good measure,and faired quite well....1st in Production Class and a 4th overall (14 cars entry list).

We ran Hakka 1 tires with 28lbs of air all round. The car felt quite solid cornering at high speeds of 140-160 KPH and around slower 2nd gear hairpin turns on hard packed snow with some dry gravel sections with a minimum amount of body lean.

I know it will be a different story on dry/maybe wet gravel/dirt roads a little later on next month for the very fast Bighorn Rally(Edson Alberta) and a week later at the Rocky Mountain Rally (south of Calgary in the Porcupine Hills).

What do you think? make sense? or should I just keep the stock OEM springs and just install the Bilsteins? OR go with stiffer springs and the Bilsteins?

I appreciate and respect your opinions and those of other experienced competitors with way more "ass-time" than me.

Richard Michaluk
Day Trippers Pro Rally Team

 

[Rvl]

http://www.toyota-trd.com/en/index.html

Robert VanLane

 

[John Vanlandingham]

John Vanlandingham
years ago I sat down with a big table of standard, and gravel. It was pretty close across the board that cars between 1600 and 2000cc with strut front suspension had springs with rates of around 95 to 100 lb/in and the gravel rates pretty consistant at around 145 or so that's around 45%. Tarmac I can't say for those cars.
For Ford Sierra Cosworth 2wd,the figures are around 105lb/in stock, and 450 lb/in for front on the 87 RAC for GpN. length was 13.4" free length.
Tarmac in '87 for Ulster/Manx/SanRemo was 500lb/in and 280mm free length. This is a whole lot stiffer than 45% idddn' it?

This puts a dent in old calculations a bit.
But one thing for certain, you don't really want to have dampers which are really too stiff for the springs, you'll end up with a condition we call spring packing. Your dampers are always stiffer on extention, so say you hit the first bump , suspension goes in but your soft spring can't push out against the stiff dampening, you hit the next bump, they go in more and again don't extend , another bump and maybe you don't have any suspension movement left.

My old rule of thumb was first you choose the spring then you choose the damper, but you already have some dampers, so do this, look up the part numbers for your Bilsteins and we can see what the compression/extension figures are and make a safe bet from there.

Do you have any threaded sleeves slid over your strut bodies for fiddling the height?

Also, think about getting springs from Suspension Spring Specialists, cost about $48.50 each, and you'll never know the difference. gotta remember to get springs sufficiently long, seems like a lot of cars I see have have waaaaaay too short springs. i have seen some that when in static unladen position have less than 2" travel left before they are stacked solid. Bad news.

Well post you Billie's PartNumber.

 

[Ricardo]

First of all...thanks for the explanation on spring packing. Sounds like that would be a mistake to put the Bilsteins on with the stock OEM springs.

>>Do you have any threaded sleeves slid over your strut bodies
>for fiddling the height?

No...I don't have threaded sleeves for fiddling with the height.

I have noticed that the front end might need a little "lift" as it is relatively low compared to the rear. Those '85 Toyota Corolla GTS's always seem to look like they are running downhill

Would it be a good idea to raise the front end slightly and HOW? I suppose with the stiffer springs and Bilsteins installed it might improve the front ride height to some extent.

A friend mentioned that I should go with coil-overs. Pardon my stupidity but what the hell is a coil-over and how does it work? Would I be able to put coil-overs on my Bilsteins?

I don't have the Bilsteins part numbers handy right now...as I'm not close to the shop where I get work done. I can get them later.

Finally...I am assuming that Billie has something to do with Suspension Spring Specialists??? Would they have any idea what springs to use in my Toyota....hmmm... guess I should contact them and find out.

Richard Michaluk
Day Trippers Pro Rally Team

 

[Ricardo]

RVL....could you translate what the specs of the TRD spring equates to in imperial measure? I sure would appreciate it.

In the TRD spring specs sheets for my car it just has part numbers and in the remarks column it has this.... " K=23.5N/mm (2.4kgf/mm)"

What the hell does that mean?

Richard Michaluk
Day Trippers Pro Rally Team

 

[Dave Kean]

>RVL....could you translate what the specs of the TRD spring
>equates to in imperial measure? I sure would appreciate it.
>
>In the TRD spring specs sheets for my car it just has part
>numbers and in the remarks column it has this.... "
>K=23.5N/mm (2.4kgf/mm)"
>
>What the hell does that mean?
>
>Richard Michaluk
>Day Trippers Pro Rally Team

In round numbers the rate works out to about 125 Lb/in.

2.2 Lb per Kg
25.4 mm per in

Dave
[email protected]