If your interested in the best ride and handling, then you want your preload set to have 30 to 40% droop at ride height. I would give up ground clearance for a better ride and handling any day of the week. As already stated the more preload you have the stiffer the ride will be. IE; lets say you have a 300# single rate springs and your spring preload is at 2". That means you need to overcome 600#s before the spring continues to compress, and that's on each corner.