Ti Coil springs...anyone?

Hi boys & girls,
Just doing some research on Titanium coil springs...I note that they use less coils and thus have longer travel comparative to a steel spring...and weigh less offcourse.

Has anyone here got any experience with Ti springs - no, am not interested in what they cost... - am interested in the following;
1) Handling feel
2) ease of install
3) Durability...if you had them long enough
4) Negatives (again, not interested in costs)...I know about the obvious positives
5) Progressive trait...

The reason for asking is simple really...am struggling to find the right load, length & travel combination for my fronts as the steel springs are just not right...the option is to get something made and we are just waiting for figures to come back.

I just thought if am going to get bespoke made I might as well look in to Ti hence asking.

Any 1st hand experiences would be much appreciated.

 

The CS has Ti springs - I'm sure a few owners can chime in with their comments.

 

I worked for Eibach in the late '80s and early '90s here in the US. We were producing titanium coil springs for all of the Nissan GTP IMSA race cars. Your profile is blank, so I have no idea what kind of car (and road, or racing?) are you working on.

1) Handling feel? Don't know. Someone would have to ask Johnny O'Connell, Steve Millen, Geoff Brabham or one of the other team drivers from that era.
2) Ease of installation? No different than our standard CrSi coilover springs.
3) Durability? Excellent, provided that the material is not overstressed due to poor design, i.e. not enough wire used for the given load capacity.
4) Negatives - none.
5) Progressive trait is a function of design, not material. The progressive trait can be achieved by varying the coil pitch, the O.D., or the material thickness.

Good luck on your project!

 

I forgot the name of one of the guys who used to race those cars. IIRC he was a guest instructor for a raceshool I attended. He told nice stories about those days.

What are the advantages of Ti over steel? Is it just weight vs. cubic dollars?

Do you have a feel for typical eibach or hyperco spring life under SCCA amateur race conditions. No one ever talks about replacing them like they do about rebuilding shocks on a regular basis.

 

We ran them in 1976 on the Surtees, BIG $$$. They were a tapered wire then wound progressively, along with a rising rate rocker system. no wonder we never got that car going......LOL.

Wish I had one for a paperweight now though.

 

One of the ex-Brabham/Ralt then Surtees guys here in Australia, from when the unsprung weight thing was all consuming in F1 does have a set as paperweights, quite trick! I think there was some mention of them coming via Porsche - faltering memory perhaps?

Be absolutely amazed if a suitable steel spring wasn't available though.

 

Hi Carl,

ANSWER #1: Advantages: First, spring travel, second weight, with the spring typically being counted as 50% unsprung weight/50% sprung weight. The reduced weight of the Ti spring is also thought to improve suspension damping response as it factors into the KE = 1/2 MV^2 equation.

ANSWER #2: Regarding service life of a typical Eibach or Hyperco spring, both are made from Chrome Silicon spring steel (for wire sizes less than 16mm-17mm in diameter.) Both companies religiously ensure that the yield strength of the spring is greater than the maximum applied load. Finally, at least with Eibach, every spring initially produced slightly longer than the nominal length, then pre-set twice under several metric tons, which essentially overstresses the spring and brings it down to its nominal length. Eibach always said this gave the spring "memory" so that any load < the initial preset load would not affect the free height or installed height of the spring.

-Greg

 

We used titanium springs on the rear Ohlins shock for the Superbike.

Here is a pic.
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