Stupid spring question

I think this may be a stupid question, but hey, I'm learning.

Can you always tell if a spring is progressive vs. linear just by looking? I know a lot of progressive springs are really obvious. But do windings that are closer at one end always mean a progressive spring?

These are the springs I have on the rear of the Celica right now. Actually that's the same vendor I bought them from, but I didn't get them on ebay and didn't actually see them until I opened the box. As soon as I saw them I said "crap".

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Swift-6-5KG-Rear-Springs-AE86-Corolla-gts-TRD-HKS-TODA-/360428622192?_trkparms=algo=LVI&itu=UCI&otn=2&po=LVI&ps=63&clkid=6582895213299420598&_trksid=p4506.m7&item=360428622192&vxp=mtr

But I have seen it said several places that Swift springs for the 86 are linear. I thought they were exactly what I needed. The ride hight is pretty close to perfect and the 86 springs fit the factory perches on my Celica. But they sure look progressive to me.

Thanks.

Based off that picture, they are not really progressive. The progressive part comes in when the coils are close enough together to sit down on each other during compression, shortening the effective length of the torsion bar.

Yeah, that's kinda what I thought when I looked at a load of pics. They're kinda in between looking. I can't find anything solid, but I've seen a lot of posts on various forums that say they're linear. Dunno. Either way they're staying on the car for now. Just be nice to know what the heck I'm running right now before I try to start tuning things.

Streetwiseguy wrote: Based off that picture, they are not really progressive.

They may not be progressive at all. Many drop-springs look like this and the 2 close coils are touching with just the weight of the car on them. They are basically just tender coils to keep it from rattling or coming loose under droop travel.

ProDarwin wrote: They may not be progressive at all. Many drop-springs look like this and the 2 close coils are touching with just the weight of the car on them. They are basically just tender coils to keep it from rattling or coming loose under droop travel.

That's what I was hoping to hear. They aren't necessarily progressive just because of that. Combined with everyone saying they're linear- I'm going to guess that I was wrong when I assumed that they were progressive just based on looking at them. That would be very good.

In reply to fast_eddie_72: So how can you tell apart a progressive spring from a linear style swift spring? Like the one on the link for ae86, are the coils suppose to be separate for the springs to be considered progressive? I'm really interested too if anyone has an idea how to tell them apart.

Are the coils on progressive springs apart all the way through and linear coils closer towards the top as far as the fronts go in the pic from the eBay link?

Looking at the title, I figured this post would have some sort of question about March 20th to June 19th.

LOL. well i was wondering if theres a way to tell these swift springs front and rear.

In reply to superG:

The ones on the right look like rears. They also look like what I expected mine to look like. Rates should be printed on them somewhere. That will give you a good idea too.

They say 060 and 045. So I'm assuming 6k front and 4.5k for the rear, but I still don't know of they're progressive or linear. I've heard people say progressive look different like in coil size like the ones in your eBay link and linear springs have the same length between coils.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure yours are linear. They look linear, and everyone says Swift springs are linear. That's why I was confused with mine.

Swift makes progressive and linear and they offer/offered both for the ae86 so my guess would be as good as yours. So swift springs that have the coils with the same gap in between are linear and the coils with the shorter and then longer gaps are progressive then. Maybe try asking the person that you bought them from and see if they have any info just to be %100.

It is sometimes hard to tell,looking at an unloaded spring. With the installed weight on the spring, if some of the coils are closed then I gues it could be called progressive.