suspension springs

[71bmr02]

I've been robbing parts from a malaga 02 i recently purchased including the korman 22/19 sway bars, distribtor, twm manifold and 32/36 etc. and on a hunch the car may have after market springs i removed the fronts and depending how i measure free length, they come up about 12.75 inches. on one end of each spring is stamped R 170. could these be 02 stock springs, is R 170 the spring rate in pounds. they have blue and white paint stripes. they were no problem to remove but not sure i want to go to the trouble of experimenting on my running 02 if the springs are actually a bmw 02 spring, e.g. no gain for the effort.

thanks

G

[nbcbird]

Factory springs were coded blue for front and orange for rear. White was used for the mid spring rate of 279-289kp (other colors were red and green) but had a spring length of 13.118". Perhaps you have original springs that were cut?

[nbcbird]

Factory springs were coded blue for front and orange for rear. White was used for the mid spring rate of 279-289kp (other colors were red and green) but had a spring length of 13.118". Perhaps you have original springs that were cut?

[TobyB]

If there's a number stamped on them, they're not stock springs.

170 lbs/inch would be a reasonable 'sporty' road spring rate...

and your free length sounds about right for that too.

Is there a number on the rears?

t

[71bmr02]

Thanks for the replies. appears a if the numbers are related to the year the car was mfg. The R170 were pulled off the 1970 parts car. i pulled spring from my 71 this afternoon and the number stamped on it is R171. the 171s are coded blue (but no white paint on the 71 springs) . it appears both sets are stock springs. i was hoping the 70 car had shorter springs since someone had installed korman 21/19 sway bars. back to the drawing board. I need to drop some front height, too much oversteer from excess weight transfer with the 21/19 mm bars (this on a wet road, havn't tried to approach the limit on a dry road the new bars)

[TobyB]

I've never seen a stamped spring on a stock 2002.

And I've seen quite a few. Almost all roundies.

Could you post up a pic of the stamping?

As to wet oversteer... well, there are a lot of causes, but

most tend to be relative spring rate (as you've implied) or

excessively stiff or excessively lowered rear ends...

t

[71bmr02]

I'mnot that familiar with sping id on an 02. i thought the springs would be stock since the 70 springs were stamped r170 and the 71 springs stamped r171. if i can find my camera i'll post pics

re handling i did cut 1/2 coil out of the rears (i like that slightly lower rear look) but don't belive that is enough to cause the oversteer problem. i replaced the poly bushings on the end link (rear) with stock rubber bushings and moved the link to the outermost holes to soften the bars rate. that did help a lot, i'm now thinking of replacing the cut rear spring with a stock rear spring and replacing the front end link poly bushings with rubber. that will soften the from bar and raise the rear back to stock height which shoud help damp weight transfer tendancy under acceleration.

[71bmr02]

just a test

[NickVyse]

but don't belive that is enough to cause the oversteer problem..

Obvious, but I presume your shocks are in good condition? A knackered rear shock will provide all sorts of uncontrollable oversteer.

[c.d.iesel]

FATT anti sway bars and poor tire compound (read Hard old rubber)

is a sure formula for lousy wet slippy road grip and tail happy behavior

STOCK anti sway bars with fresh NEW rubber

give good grip in the rain

you could adjust your fatt bars to their full 'soft' setting

for some improvement - but it's still not optimum formula

when the road surface turns loose and wet

[jgerock]

Interesting thread.

I pulled these springs from my 73tii and still wonder if they are stock or aftermarket ones (since they have stampings and paint marks).

[71bmr02]

shocks are new, tires have low miles and plenty of tread (don't drive the car in winter lots of salt used here on roads) could be some compound that is harder (firestones) for longer life. I'll try a to lower the front or install stock spring in rear and rubber end link bushings for front bar.

BTW the reply with pictures of springs with numbers, the numbers are in same location on these springs as on the ones I have. these are likely stock springs.

G

[TobyB]

Ha- I have a boxful of stock springs sitting out back- I'll look for numbers when

it gets light out. Joke's on me if they do, huh?

t

[TobyB]

Oh, for crying out loud-

you're right.

I got a flashlight, and there are all sorts of numbers stamped

into the tails of the stock springs.

Phaw. You learn something every day. I bet the numbers even mean something, huh?

t

[71bmr02]

I think the color code(paint stripes, although the R preceding the number may mean something) means more than the stamp. it appears the stamp is just the year mfg. I think there may be info on the net maybe even on faq on the various color codes on springs.

G