Leaf spring question

[jaybee]

My understanding of springs and shocks is built on what I learned from dirt bikes, so the philosophy for a fast road car could easily be different. In that arena the target spring would be just strong enough to keep the suspension from bottoming on the largest bumps the bike is going to encounter. Shocks are soft on compression to let the springs work and stronger on rebound to keep from overshooting ride height. Too much rebound damping is to be avoided as the suspension will pack down over washboard or repeated bumps. Shock valving has to be sophisticated enough to provide correct response on large wheel motions while at the same time remaining supple on stutter bumps, without which the machine will get skittish as the wheels lose adhesion.



First of all, does ANY of this relate at all to a hot street car, second, it tells me absolutely nothing about the correct specs and construction of a leaf spring suspension.