AR’s vs Allison’s Progressive Springs

[TheBender]

About to pick up progressive springs (will also update to Koni) and wanted to see if there are any significant differences between what Autoricambi and Mark Allison sell.

[MattVAS]

As someone who sells progressive springs and have seen all of them...

They are all virtually the same. The real difference at this point in time is color.

Mine are red.

[sofia72]

I put new shocks and springs (red) on my 1972 124 when I restored it 10 years ago that I bought from IAP's. However the springs raised the back of the car by about 1.5 inches. I lived with it for the past 10 years, because I thought I did something wrong, because they were advertised as replacement springs by IAP's. This summer I finally got around to looking into this problem and found other's with the same issue, as NOT being directly replaceable on early years of the 124. The recommended fix is to cut a coil out of the spring to lower it. I didn't want to do this, so instead I used $15 worth of spring clamps to lower the height. Looks and drives much better and we'll have to see how the clamps hold up over time.

[MattVAS]

However the springs raised the back of the car by about 1.5 inches.

Please read to the very bottom before you yell at me.

As someone who has been in the Fiat parts game for 11 years now (but been in Fiats for 21 years) I can shed some sad light on the spring issue.

First the springs on the cars all got superseeded up to the 2.0 liter springs by Fiat. Sadly this wasn't made common knowledge. Then 35+ years ago companies (VAS, IAP, etc) started offering replacement springs outside of Fiat's manufacture. Well as everyone knows the 2.0 have the beefiest springs, so cars started to go up. Now the other issue is that people in the game back then didn't double check a few issue and also they didn't exactly have to, as the cars had not naturally squished down due to gravity. Fastforward to the last 10 years..... Cars are now squishing pretty good due to age, gravity, abuse, etc and now we have an issue. The springs were STILL being made as a "show room floor" replacement "lowering performance" spring. But now we all couldn't remember the actual height of the cars from the show room floor and regardless the fact was these springs usually raised the rear end.

Now lets talk about the last 5 years. People don't like the rear end looking like a dump truck. People prefer (mostly) the cars sit pre-1974 with a "flat" look (front and back same height). Easiest way to achieve this is to modify the rear springs. And presto we see "progressive" springs enter the game. Now I put "progressive" in quotes as I personally do not consider them to be progressive rate (and I even sell them). I prefer to call them "crush-zone springs" as this is really what they do when installed. Think of them like our coil overs for the X1/9, we have a small light weight spring that rides with the main spring to avoid bouncing and on coil overs they are called "helper springs".



If we're being honest companies around the year 2000 probably should have been looking at this issue, but they were all fairly set in their ways. And I might say possible had their heads in the sand to the issue.

To wrap up, "progressive" springs offer what 90% of people are looking for on their normally driven cars. And at this point EVERYONE carries them and they are all virtually the same.

https://www.vickauto.com/FIAT-PARTS/FIA ... 62-5330-RD

Me calling Fiat "progressive" springs as "crush zone" is MY personal opinion. Please don't hold it against me it is just the way my brain things of them. This is because years and years ago before I knew of Fiat ones I was taught "progressive" meant "variable rate". I'm NOT saying you're wrong if you call them progressive its just a personal thing I can't get over.

[chrisg]

Nice write up! thanks.

I put a set of the old (circa late 1990s?) IAP red springs on a '71 Coupe about 20 years ago and at first it had a noticeable rake. On that car I ended up running it without the upper perches in the rear and it was level and ideal. I did not want to get into cutting springs (& thus changing the characteristics) and figured effectively raising the top spring was an ideal way to properly lower it anyway.

Springs are one of the Fiat items on the market today where there is a really nice counter to what the parts world was 15-20 years ago.

[greenspider]

What should the ride height settle-in at with VAS hydraulic shocks and red progressive springs, measured from the fender lip to the ground? My car is an 80 with bumpers removed, 185/70-14 tires. AR says 24"+/- with their progressive springs. Thanks