The way I do it is, I want my ride height in the center of the travel of the shock. So I start off withe a piece of tubing and drill two holes in it representing the ride height. Set the car at the ride height I want, then do my shock mounts. Then spring it to that height. My roadster weighs 2440# and I use 180# Springs and sits in the middle of the shock stroke. In my opinion that is the correct end result.