Quote:
Originally Posted by Hotchkis
Tom,
Composite leaf springs are great for Corvette front suspensions (where it’s transverse mounted) since they only need to spring up and down. As a rear leaf spring in a car like your Camaro, the spring is subjected to lateral forces where it is not as strong. The worst possible force for a composite leaf spring is to twist it into an S-shape, which is what would happen if you have a high-output engine and moderate traction. Adding a lowering block to any rear leaf spring moves the centerline of the drive axle away from the leaf spring, which greatly increases the leverage of forces that attempt to turn the spring into the shape of an S. Adding a lowering block to a composite leaf spring is not suggested.
Leaf springs like the ones we offer are extremely effective for handling. Mary Pozzi and Carl Casanova have been wiping up the competition with Hotchkis leaf springs on their Camaros.
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With respect, Carl ran Flex-a-Form composite leaf springs with swivel bushings for (I think) at least five years before he recently swapped over to the Hotchkis springs and was pretty sucessful with that setup as well.
Most of us who run composite leafs have found that we can run higher springs rates with less relative degradation of ride when compared to steel springs.