I'm shopping for some QA-1's or Varishocks with stiffer springs. Anyone know what the stock ratings are for the 308 GTB/GTS? And the GT4?? Anyone know the travel of the stock shock"s? This, combined with some threads in the tech Q&A section would give me a ballpark idea of the ratings to search for. Thanks Hans
For the "regular" 308's I show stock front springs are 180lbs/in and rears are 220 lbs/in... soft by performance standards...
Mike on the spring chart that I have it shows GT4 Front:175 Rear :186 GTB Front:200 Rear :200 GTS Front:175 Rear :186
Funny how everybody who is doing uprated springs seems to get about 50# more on the front than on the back. And yet stock is equal or more to the back. Doesn't going with stiffer at the front promote understeer (less grip at the front) ??
That's what I was taught and why I kept the stock rate on the front and increased the rear rate slightly with adjustable shocks to carefully dial out the understeer.
Yours is probably more correct. I just have notes I'd copied down from an fchat post, not an actually chart/spec.
I think it's primarily to give less nose-dive in hard-braking conditions. Your car is functionally faster if you can brake "more late".
I believe that the stiffer spring is used up front because of the suspension/spring geometry. Because of the granter angle on the front shock and its attachment point on the a arm, it has less effectiveness than the rear spring, which is more upright. To compensate for the mechanical disadvantage, Ferrari uses a stiffer front spring. my best guess?
I received these from another fchatter (Gleggy) who researched until he found these (one from the factory) thanks Gleggy Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
So, in order not to go overboard too much on spring rates, how does 300# front and 250# rear sound on a GT4? Street use only, no track days. (or should I go with 350/300??)
Hans, I am doing this right now, I have springs on order. They are from Hypercoil at $65 each. I went with 14" long and 175 front 200 rear. When they arrive and are installed I can let you know how it works out.
