[MTR]

Here is the coil bind on my GF210s on my 05. I didn't ever notice them binding so it might not be as apparent as Myles is making it out to be.

[lackskill]

Originally Posted by MTR

Here is the coil bind on my GF210s on my 05. I didn't ever notice them binding so it might not be as apparent as Myles is making it out to be.

I only see wear on the lowermost coil. If I am understanding correctly you would see it on every coil. Maybe I am missing something.

[MTR]

Originally Posted by lackskill

I only see wear on the lowermost coil. If I am understanding correctly you would see it on every coil. Maybe I am missing something.

Hmmm I thought any touching between coils is bind, but maybe I misunderstood. Also thats not the lowest coil either, there is some wear on the next lower coil as well.

[stretch]

The copper-colored prototypes wouldn't have had this problem because they were a different design, 5 winds of coil instead of 6.


Compared to the final design:


Not only do the coils look thicker, but there's an extra wind.

I don't think it does happen on the track or in autocrossing. I'm sure it would if you're rallycrossing though. It's obvious and it's even audible when it happens but it takes a BIG bump before you experience it.

I think the bump stops cushion the blow quite a bit. There's probably only 7/8" of bump travel (not much) in the strut when lowered on RCE springs. The RCE springs appear to coil bind after 1/2 an inch, 3/8 inch too early. But at that point, it's already taking extreme pressures to compress the bump stop so far, as it's approaching its terminal amount of compression. Perhaps that cushions the impact enough that it can be attributed to other forms of harshness, and the noise is sufficiently masked by other rattles in the car.

Hitting a raised manhole or a pothole at speed can be much rougher on your suspension than going airborn, as anyone who has broken a wheel will tell you.

Nevertheless, I'm glad RCE recognized the problem and has changed their design already.

They recognized the problem, but aren't changing their current design.

[lackskill]

Originally Posted by stretch

Coil bind happens when all the coils of a spring are stacked on top of one another and the spring cannot compress any further.

Maybe yours do and I just cant tell from the pic.

[MTR]

Ok I stand corrected. Thanks for the clarification Stretch.

[RaceComp Engineering]

They recognized the problem, but aren't changing their current design.

READ........yes we did. We changed the current design. All the new( current springs use a different design with 1 less coil.

Myles

[lackskill]

Originally Posted by RaceComp Engineering

And to clarify, ALL of our springs, YELLOW, REGULAR GUY and WAGON all use our newer design with 1 less coil and the same rates that we have mentioned for each already. These are due in within a WEEK.

Myles Williams
Owner RCE/ GTWORX

In case this was missed

[stretch]

Ah, gotchya. Well, that's good then. I thought you were referring to the "Blacks" as the revision(s). I'll edit the first post.

MTR, I see no evidence of binding on your springs. evilSTi7, you sure yours were binding? In a progressive spring, the "soft" coils are supposed to bind- that's how the soft progression terminates and the firm progression starts.

[RaceComp Engineering]

Originally Posted by stretch

Ah, gotchya. Well, that's good then. I thought you were referring to the "Blacks" as the revision(s). I'll edit the first post.

.

NOPE...the "Regular Guy" springs are NEW and for a different market that needs ground clearance AND above average lowering spring performance.

The 2nd Gen Yellows will offer more all around performance and NOT give up anything that it already has in terms of performance.

Myles

[RaceComp Engineering]

.................WAGON springs will be the underdog of them all with its ride height and rear stance when fitted to a sedan, but more on that later.....wlel a week or 2.

Myles

[Turninconcepts.com]

I can confirm, with the recent removal of a set of swifts that they did not show signs of coil bind. I have seen a couple other sets of springs that have had very clearly visible signs (think rust on the top and bottom of each coil with paint only on the sides of the coils) of coil bind.

Tony

[Mykl]

I have coilovers, and Eibach lists all the information I need to know on their site. However....

Has anybody considered taking some measurements on some of the more popular OEM replacement springs? Such as spring free length, total block length, and length under static compression (installed, car at rest).

This will give potential customers enough information to make something resembling an educated decision and weed out the crap products from the ones worth purchasing.

[stretch]

That's basically the conclusion I arrived at too, Mykl.

We still don't know how much (if any) travel the Ohlins add, but now my concern would be the springs not allowing any extra travel regardless. It looks like the stock springs would facilitate about half an inch of extra travel, no more.

I hate making uninformed decisions which is exactly the reason I create these threads. Vendors keep their spring/shock/whatever specs secret like it's some great engineering feat, when actually they're just withholding the only useful information I'd want to know. In this case, older RCE springs were binding and this would have been discovered prior to market if the specs were just published as they should be. It astounds me how many people make such large purchases totally blind.

Ultimately, I went with a Ground Control setup because with GC, I basically got to design my own suspension! Like you said, if I experience coil bind it's my own damn fault for screwing up with the tape measure. I find it pretty incredible that RCE released springs capable of coil binding, whether it's seen in use or not. Again, you just need a tape measure! I was close to ordering those things prior to doing my own research and measuring things like bump travel, which no spring manufacturer will publish.

Faulty products are all over every facet of the automotive market because customers don't demand real data. I mean look at the tornado fuel savers and how many people still genuinely believe they work.

[RaceComp Engineering]

Originally Posted by stretch

That's basically the conclusion I arrived at too, Mykl.

We still don't know how much (if any) travel the Ohlins add, but now my concern would be the springs not allowing any extra travel regardless. It looks like the stock springs would facilitate about half an inch of extra travel, no more.

I hate making uninformed decisions which is exactly the reason I create these threads. Vendors keep their spring/shock/whatever specs secret like it's some great engineering feat, when actually they're just withholding the only useful information I'd want to know. In this case, older RCE springs were binding and this would have been discovered prior to market if the specs were just published as they should be. It astounds me how many people make such large purchases totally blind.

Ultimately, I went with a Ground Control setup because with GC, I basically got to design my own suspension! Like you said, if I experience coil bind it's my own damn fault for screwing up with the tape measure. I find it pretty incredible that RCE released springs capable of coil binding, whether it's seen in use or not. Again, you just need a tape measure! I was close to ordering those things prior to doing my own research and measuring things like bump travel, which no spring manufacturer will publish.

Faulty products are all over every facet of the automotive market because customers don't demand real data. I mean look at the tornado fuel savers and how many people still genuinely believe they work.

The only "specs" that anyone ever asked for were rates, in which we gave close rates, but not exact, as many companies dont. We also informed buyers of the drop etc and showed pics. We have been involved in this process all along. We have showed and others have showed pictures of them on the car loaded and unloaded.

Truth is MANY brands may come close to binding and some do under some rare circumstances. Its been stated before that it is difficult to make a single all around lowering spring. Yes the most functional trend would be no lowering, but we all know why we want to lower to begin with.

We as always will continue to improve our products, and I am just involved now as ever with our products. Our springs are far from FAULTY. We designed them for what we thought was a small niche market of track day and autocross end users and to our surprise has turned into a large group of primarily happy buyers, who some drive on the worse roads in America. I dont think any of our customers would consider our products to be a "tornado fuel saver" by far. Again, taking feedback and doing something with it is what we have done already, prior to this thread, with the worst roads in the America being taken into consideration also.

Myles