alright, i've edited this post totally to reflect updated information.
again, the purpose of doing these compression tests was to see how much of a difference the red, green and yellow Kyosho brand springs have when compared to the stock springs.
i used a digital kitchen scale which measures in grams, ounces and pounds. the limit of the scale being up to 5 lbs. Each of the springs were measured several times and averaged. I then adjusted each result to the nearest whole number (or at least a number divisible by five) without getting too far from the original number obtained.
Remember that One pound of Weight = 500 Grams. All measurements below are in grams this time.
the % readings in parentheses are the difference in strength (+ or -) of the individual spring in relation to the stock spring. i only showed the % diff at half compression since we'll never see full compression while on track. Here are the results of what i found:
FRONT SPRINGS:
Full Compression
stock...............180
Red (soft)........220
Green (med)....162
Yellow (hard)...280
as noted before there is a drop with the medium strength green spring (less compressive force) than the softer reds as well as the stock spring. this was repeated several times for confirmation and each time the green spring was always softer.
REAR SPRINGS:
Full Compression
stock............... 530
red (soft)......... 590
green (med).... 705
yellow (hard)... 1060
with the rear springs the color coding better matches the changes in compression strength. note the yellows are literaly DOUBLE that of stock at full compression and was close to double even at half compression ( 94% increase).
there you have it. Interesting what you find when you measure. we now have a better understanding of the color codes provided by Kyosho when dealing with spring compression/rates. i welcome any second opinions and thoughts.
West.F1, thanks for yet another cool review. I wonder if it would be possible to do a test at half compression (more likely in real world use) to see if the surprising results are still the same?
It's looks like West.F1 haven't much els to do over in Ohio!
But it's good work that he posts here, what about Mini-Zracer.com giving him some sponsor?
If he had 2 sets of front springs he could tell us more likley if they all are the same or it's a quality mistake?
well, fortunately i'm not too terribly bored. lets just say it's a welcomed get away when you have two small children and several home improvement projects going on. In fact today i'm going boating. My wife is starting to think i need to get out and enjoy the sunshine
i'll see how much half compression and maybe even quarter compression looks like later this evening. I thought about half compression tests but didn't want to overburden with lots of numbers. i just wanted to get some initial numbers together to get a better idea how much of a difference these springs made.
say, for my next project i think i'll do aerodynamic testing with each body set. i can use my wife's hair dryer and maybe some dry ice..
just kidding folks. i'm not quite that bad. but close
good point LB. it was a little awkward using the kitchen scale (especially to the wife) but this was the quickest most convenient way to get the measurements without spending on anything extra. i definately learned from it but all in all, it was only meant to be a temporary study.
i'll keep you all posted on the half compression results when i can get around to it. for now, i'm off to the lake.
there's definately several ideas i have lined up. It's just a matter of getting time to get them done. Strangely it takes longer to write it up than actually collecting the data
[03/22/17] MZR was on vacation, didn't... : All kidding aside, the host experienced a bit of a server meltdown last week and efforts to restore the site to a new server took longer than anticipated.
The current server is temporary until - more»
[11/25/15] Did You Hear? Our Black... : Hey Racers,
We're getting started a bit early with our Black Friday sale this year. Generally we're not supporters of retailers opening early on Thanksgiving, but in our case, we're - more»
[06/30/15] shop.tinyrc.com: Have You... : Hey All!
Just a quick reminder to everyone that we post all of our shop.tinyrc.com Newletters here on the MZR Forum. If for some reason you miss them in your email inbox, you can always see the - more»