spring rates..

[tireboy]

did the search to no avail... all it gives me is mostly coilovers. here goes.. what im looking for is the spring rates on the following cars . 323,egt,protege. what im doing is replacing 4 struts springs and so on . the stock 323 struts are way too soft for what i do with my 323. which is gravel roads and forestry roads. and i certainly cant afford the big buck coilovers for the off road stuff . any ideas???? what id like to accomplish is for the 323 not to hit bottom when i go off road. thanks in advance...

[Mazda_Powered]

the only thing i can really suggest is to go with the mx3 V6 coil springs, they're a much heavier rate and will probably raise your car depending on the current condition of your springs...

for oem struts, the zx2 tokico s/rs would normally be ok...but they're shorter lol. So i'd recommend either KYB or Tokicos...

This setup obviously won't break the bank, and should do ok over your stock setup.

JACK.

[tireboy]

thanks for the advice. ill check some pricing tomorrow at work ... so im guessing the mx3 v6 spring will fit the 323 strut ???or should i use the whole mx strut?

[Mazda_Powered]

yep the springs will swap right in

[me109]

the only thing i can really suggest is to go with the mx3 V6 coil springs, they're a much heavier rate and will probably raise your car depending on the current condition of your springs...

for oem struts, the zx2 tokico s/rs would normally be ok...but they're shorter lol. So i'd recommend either KYB or Tokicos...

This setup obviously won't break the bank, and should do ok over your stock setup.

JACK.

You mean front, rear or all?

I've been looking for stiffer stock height sptings for a while too. I have zx/2 s/rs with some manner of lowering springs right now. The rear is just too low and weak. The front seems ok though.

[Mazda_Powered]

the fronts are definitely a higher spring rate, double check mazdas part numbers to see if there's any different #s for the rear springs tho...i'd believe they would be heavier though.

[me109]

Thanks.

Also wondered if Escort wagons might have stiffer rear springs. Maybe.........

[Mazda_Powered]

true! i know escort gts have stiffer front and rear springs, they're the same as the "sport" protege LX springs you guys get in the US...might be the same as the mx-3 ones or the wagon...haha who knows!

we need someone with the proper equiptment to find out!

[me109]

What equipment does it take to measure spring rates?

[tireboy]

ive been doing some digging to no avail. i called some parts stores and when i asked what the spring rates were i got a big ????????. so its gonna be a pain to find what hey are...

[MADMIKE]

June '06 Moog Coil Spring catalog

Applications
Front CC882 91-96 Protege/Escort/Tracer 2/4/wgn (ex GT).
Rear CC853 91-96 Protege/Escort/Tracer 2/4dr (ex GT).
Rear CC855 91-96 Escort wagon

Front CC890 97-01 Escort/Tracer 2/4/wgn 2.0
Rear CC869 97-01 Escort 4dr 2.0
Rear CC867 97-99 Escort wgn 2.0
Rear CC871 98-01 Escort, (incl ZX2, ex ZX2 S/R) 2.0

Front
CC882 Load 466lbs Rate 162lbs/in Install height 9" Free height 11.88"
CC890 Load 690lbs Rate 156lbs/in Install height 7" Free height 11.25"
Rear
CC853 Load 274lbs Rate 113lbs/in Install height 11"
CC855 Load 324lbs Rate 113lbs/in Install height 11"
CC869 Load 394lbs Rate _85lbs/in Install height 10"
CC867 Load 426lbs Rate _85lbs/in Install height 10"
CC871 Load 342lbs Rate _90lbs/in Install height 10"

CC are Cargo Coils, which are a variable rate spring, the rates are averaged

Other applications of similiar size/type with greater load, spring rate.
7504 Front springs on '98-02 Chyrsler 300M, Concorde, LHS, Dodge Intrepid
7506 Front springs on '02 300M Special w/Sport Suspension.

7504 Load 1087lbs Rate 182lbs/in Install height 6.99" Free height 13"
7506 Load 1090lbs Rate 174lbs/in Install height 6.52" Free height 12.8"

There was only the above mentioned Protege listings. As far as Mazda listings there were only two cars listed, the other being '83-'87 626. And there wasnt a

Ask the parts store if they have paper coil spring catalogs and if so do they carry TRW, MOOG, Raybestos, Delco or Husky.
A newer MOOG catalog may just have the other models listed, although I doubt it if they didn't have them listed in '06 for a '90s car.

Replacement coils are not cheap either. CC882 coils list in the $70.00 US price range.

[SgtRauksauff]

The Eibach ZX2 S/R coils I've got on my wagon are like 297 front. However, they're also lowering springs, so may not be what you want, if you also want to keep ground clearance.

For gravel, driving with vigor, 300F/200R is a good setup to have.

--sarge

[therieldeal]

a set of AWD protege springs will definitely jack things up a bit

i had a set but they are sitting in a junkyard somewhere now