What I was told was with the shock at recommended ride height the correct spring should be compressed 3/4" to 1". That means the spring platform should have 3/4" to 1" preload on the free shock then when the weight of the car is on the shocks they should compress to the recommended ride height of the shock. Obviously you can run a lighter spring with more preload for better pitch rotation but a heavy spring gets too close to being loose on the shock. The spring platform really should not be used to correct ride height.