Torsion bars

Posts 11 and 13 are dead wrong. Dead wrong.

Evidently they have never scaled a torsion bar car, use preload or understand spring rates.

The lighter the spring rate, the more compressed height (think coil spring since it's easier to visualize) there has to be to hold the car at the same height.

Let's consider an example that is easy math.

You have two springs. Spring one has a rate of 100 pounds per inch, and spring two is 500 pounds per inch. Extreme numbers but it makes easy math.

The 100 pound spring will be to be compressed down to a length of 10 inches to get 1000 pounds of spring load and hold the car at ride height. Let's say the spring has a free height 20 inches. That means it has an installed height of 10 inches.

The 500 pound spring will need to get the same 1000 pounds of spring load. To do that the spring is only 15 inches long in free height, and installs at 13 inches as it takes only 2 inches of spring compression to get the same ride height as the 100 pound spring.

No matter what you do, considering shock settings are the same, the 100 pound spring will have more stored energy. So...that means when you mash the throttle and weight transfer begins, for every inch of front end travel in the extension direction will only require removing 100 pounds for every inch of spring travel. The 500 pound spring will require removing 500 pounds to make the spring extend just one inch.

It's simple math.