Originally Posted by AZmike
A spring that is preloaded is not allowed to reach it free length--something is constraining it. The preload value is the amount of force that it would take to compress the spring from its free length to whatever length it is limited to. For example, let's say you have a 150 lbf/in spring with a free length of 10 inches and you put it in a sleeve 8 inches long. To get the spring to fit you had to compress it 2 inches which corresponds to a preload of 300 lbf. Now if you were to apply a load to the top of the sleeve it wold not compress until you apply more that 300 pounds of force since the spring is already compressed.
I picked most of my suspension knowledge when I was doing steering and suspension design on my university's formula SAE car, but my mechanical engineering classes, while not car-specific, also taught me a lot. If you're interested in learning more there are a few books I could recommend.