Originally Posted by
Kidspeed
A little confused on why you would go softer on your springs? is so you tire isn't being "pushed" into the carpet as hard?
No.
I won't go into a full, detailed engineering explanation but a spring's rate simply controls the amount the suspension deflects under cornering and longitudinal acceleration, and thus the body roll angle. The load on the wheel/tire is a function of static load, lateral g-force, wheel track, and CG. The lower the spring rate, the more the suspension deflects and the chassis rolls more. The higher the spring rate the less the suspension deflects and the chassis rolls less. The actual loads on the wheel/tire are virtually unchanged (for a comparable lateral g-force).
If you want the details, check out the book by Milliken & Milliken on Race Car Vehicle Dynamics. It is the bible of race car chassis engineering and analysis. It's only about 800 pages and chock full of complex mathematics...
