Originally Posted by
Muley Hunter
I understand that, but a leaf spring has much more strength at the end of travel. That's why a car with coil springs has a softer ride than leaf springs.
Pete - That's not correct. Think about it. The leaf and/or flat springs are under load. If you took a flat spring without tension and started to apply pressure it would be very easy at first (depending on the size of the spring of course). But the more it is compressed the more load is required. It is the same as a coil spring. Now what I will agree on is that flat springs do not require as much compression as a coil spring to serve the same purpose because there is more mass in a flat spring as opposed to the "wire" of the coil spring. Also if both were under equal pressure the flat spring would be quicker because of the mass.