[fordem]

Does anyone have access to OEM spring specifications for the 98~05 Vitara/Grand Vitaras?

I'm interested in knowing the spring rate & free length for the 2.5 V6 engined Grand Vitara (with 4WD) - both front & rear - and also the 2.0 engined Grand Vitara (with 4WD).

If you have the same details for any of the others, feel free to include those. The springs and in some cases the struts & shocks are different 2.0, 2dr, 2wd; 2.0, 2dr, 4wd; 2.0, 4dr, 2wd; 2.0, 4dr, 4wd; 2.5 4dr, 2wd; 2.5 4dr, 4wd.

[gregdixon]

I can measure the standard length springs for mine they are in the shed. Not sure how to get spring rate? Do I just count the coils?

[fordem]

No - spring rate would require you to load the spring and measure how much force it takes to compress it by one inch - and I think you're looking at around 400~450 pounds - so not really an easy task.

ARB lists the OEM spring rate as 440, in the documentation for their OME replacements but, they don't specify wether that's for the 2.0 four cylinder, the 2.5 V6 or the diesel, and I'm willing to bet that those three applications have different OEM spring rates.

If you could measure the freelength, the diameter of the "wire" and count the number of turns that would put me one step further than I am now, so it would be much appreciated.

[ash_mz21]

Sorry to drag this up from a decade ago haha, but did you ever find out what the factory SQ625 spring rates are? A few years back I set up this silly rig to measure the spring rate of some unknown coils.. Results were actually pretty close to measuring thickness, coils, height and chucking it in a calculator. I'd rather not pull the springs out of the zook just to measure them though.

[fordem]

No I didn't, but, as you might have guessed, after all this time, it's no longer important - I'd be hesitant to use the calculation approach - when you measure the wire thickness, you're also getting the thickness of any protective powder coat, unless you scratch it off, which will then become an entry point for rust causing moisture, so you're essentially damaging the spring.

Assuming you've done it, you probably know that a very small change on the wire thickness causes a significant change in the calculated spring rate, so any measurement errors caused by coatings and you calculated numbers are way off.

Some years after the question here, I found myself looking for the same data for a different vehicle and I put together a spreadsheet listing the various after-market options along with a rate calculator - the lack of accurate information, even when I contacted the spring manufacturer directly was scary.

Nice rig by the way - I wouldn't have thought of that, one reason being I didn't have access to the springs I was asking about, so I couldn't measure them

[ash_mz21]

fordem wrote:

Some years after the question here, I found myself looking for the same data for a different vehicle and I put together a spreadsheet listing the various after-market options along with a rate calculator - the lack of accurate information, even when I contacted the spring manufacturer directly was scary.

That's pretty much what I'm trying to collate now, only relying on manufacturers numbers but it's better than nothing. Disappointingly the "Black Raptor" brand doesn’t supply
spring rate information so that row will be remaining blank. As a note, in the past I have found King springs to be only slightly higher rated than the OEM stuff. So I'm guess the Suzuki springs will be somewhere around 6.5kg and 3kg

[fordem]

Very similar to what I had done - I was able to get a little more detail of out of the manufacturer - like wire size and free length.

OME lists the front OE spring rate at 440 lb/in (7.85Kg/mm) and the rear at 150 (2.68 Kg/mm)

[Gwagensteve]

I'd tend to trust OME's published data.

Interesting, based on a 2:1 ratio on the front (which is probably near enough) the GV runs exactly the same spring rates as a Sierra.