Rear Springs; Pros And Cons Of Leaf Springs Vs Coil Springs

[ke71-rolla]

Hey there, just wondering what the difference is, what advantages does each offer??

[19914afc]

coil is better, axle tramp can come with leaf springs from what I know too.

[ke71-rolla]

must be some advantage of leaf springs, apart from cost of manufacturing possibly

[coln72]

leaf springs need no links to stop the diff moving forward or back like coils do, so are less complex. Axle tramp can be minimised if you know what you are doing.......

[Evan G]

leaf springs are stronger

[oh what a nissan feeling!]

Leaf springs are perfect for straight line traction, drag racing. If you had to chose between a factory coil or leaf spring,

 

leaf is far easier to create a seriously simple and effective setup for traction.

 

 

Also, much better for load carrying- the only reason leafs are still on all the utes.

 

 

Tramp is a factory problem, easy fixed.

[altezzaclub]

For better handling coils are superior.

 

Leaves distort and wind up under acceleration and braking, which moves the axle around relative to the car body fowards and backwards, and sideways as well.

 

The arms in a coil setup hold the axle in place much better.

 

However leaves are great on a donkey cart.

[SLO-030]

Also, much better for load carrying- the only reason leafs are still on all the utes.

 

VE utes have a coil sprung IRS rear end now.

[Hiro Protagonist]

VE utes have a coil sprung IRS rear end now.

 

Holden utes have had a coil-sprung rear-end since 1990, with the VN-based VG. The IRS coil-sprung rear-end was introduced with the VX-based VU in 2001.

[LukeAE71]

VE Utes are also very awesome :)

 

Buy one and keep me in a job :lolcry:

[SLO-030]

Holden utes have had a coil-sprung rear-end since 1990, with the VN-based VG. The IRS coil-sprung rear-end was introduced with the VX-based VU in 2001.

 

Oh ok. Well goes to show how much i like to work on commodore utes.

 

Just suprised me when i saw one at work with an IRS rear end. But I suppose they've either engineered it to take the loads or decreased the payloads.

 

Just thinking back now, i have seen the IRS on earlier utes :)

[Hiro Protagonist]

Just suprised me when i saw one at work with an IRS rear end. But I suppose they've either engineered it to take the loads or decreased the payloads.

 

Decreased payloads. And the sportier versions (ie SS, Maloo etc) have even smaller payloads, to the extent that they are practically useless at actually carrying anything substantial (and the standard hard tonneau means things like motorbikes etc are out). For quite a while the Ford vs Holden ute war has been a battle about style (Holden) vs substance (Ford), and the Holden has almost always come out on top (despite the Falcon probably being the better overall ute).

[chappo12]

falcon utes have leafs

[KeelzaMate]

Z06 Corvettes have a transverse leaf springs rear end

[Hiro Protagonist]

Z06 Corvettes have a transverse leaf springs rear end

 

All Corvettes have had some kind of leaf spring in their suspension design (not just Z06, which is silly anyway since the Z06 is just a spec, not a particular model or generation), however ever since the C2 (the C1 had a live rear end with leaves) they have been fully independent front and rear. The transverse set-up has many distinct advantages and is also almost completely different to a traditional longitudinal setup. The transverse leaf has also been single-leaf fibreglass since the C4.

Edited March 21, 2010 by Hiro Protagonist