Automotive suspension performance spring and system
AssigneeVIS Racing Sports, Inc.
InventorChung Chan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An after-market automotive performance suspension spring and spring system includes a tapered helical coil suspension spring that tapers from a larger diameter upper end to a smaller diameter lower end, and has a substantially linear spring rate. The spring is used in conjunction with a height-adjustable adapter that adapts the lower spring end, which is smaller than the lower end of the stock automobile spring which it replaces, to the stock automobile lower spring seat. The larger diameter upper end of the spring is large enough to fit the stock upper spring seat of the automobile without requiring any modification to the pillar upper mount.
Claims28
An automotive suspension performance enhancement system comprising:
- a tapered helical coil spring, said spring having:
- a first spring end and a second spring end, said first spring end having a diameter that is greater than a diameter of said second spring end;
- and
- a spring body which tapers in diameter from said first spring end to said second spring end;
- and
- an adapter for mechanically interfacing one of said first spring end and said second spring end to a stock automobile suspension spring lower seat, said adapter having an adjustment for adjusting a distance between said spring lower seat and one end of said tapered helical coil spring end.
An automotive suspension performance spring comprising:
- a helical coil spring having a larger diameter first end, a smaller diameter second end, and a spring body therebetween, the spring body tapering substantially uniformly from the first end to the second end, wherein successive turns of said helical coil are substantially uniformly spaced across the spring body.
A method of obtaining increased suspension performance of an automobile comprising the steps of:
- removing from an automobile an existing first automobile suspension spring;
- replacing said first spring with:
- a second spring having a generally uniform taper from a wider upper end to a narrower lower end, and
- an adapter for adapting said spring lower end to a spring lower seat of said automobile.
A method of serving a market for automobile suspension performance comprising the steps of:
- offering for sale an automotive suspension coil spring having a larger diameter first end and a smaller diameter second end;
- and
- offering for sale an adapter for interfacing one end of said spring to an automobile suspension spring mount.
An automobile suspension spring system comprising:
- a tapered helical coil automobile suspension spring;
- and
- means for adapting said tapered helical coil suspension spring to be mechanically compatible with an existing automobile suspension system incorporating in its stock configuration a non-tapered helical coil suspension spring.
A method of serving the automotive after-market suspension performance parts market comprising the steps of:
- stocking a plurality of different tapered helical coil suspension springs, each of said springs respectively having a smaller diameter end and a larger diameter end, said smaller diameter ends having substantially identical diameters, said plurality of springs including springs having a variety of larger diameters to fit standard suspension components in a respective variety of automobiles;
- stocking adapters for adapting the smaller diameter ends of each of said plurality of different springs to a variety of automobiles, said adapters being substantially identical;
- selecting at least one of said springs according to requirements for a customer's automobile;
- and
- selling said selected spring and said adapter to said customer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.