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It really matters on the car. On some the placement of the spring and shock is not anywhere near optimal and a coilover can make a big difference since the physically smaller coilover can be relocated to an place with a better leverage ratio to make shock dampening changes more sensitve. This allows you to dial in the car better. Also some cars use a really long small diameter spring - this can give weird harmonics under certain conditions which are difficult for the shock to control. Large diameter springs are better in this respect. Their natural harmonic frequency is lower and can be more easily controlled.
This is why most stock cars use a large 5.5" diameter spring. THe larger diamerter allows less dampening to be used which makes the shocks cheaper.
Lighter cars can use smaller springs because of less inertia of the car means less dampening needed for a given spring rate.
On a strut car, there really isn't any difference other than weight and the fact that most coilovers are adjustable dampening and have a wider range. The adjustability is desirable under many conditions...like lowering your car and bringing it
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