Re: [VW-TECH] Coilovers & suspension travel

[Jonas Karlsson <jkarlsso@metabolex.com>]

Iain Mannix wrote:
>
>

First of all, let me just say; WOW, I conjured the gods out of the 
woodwork with my ramblings, musta said something right (or wrong) :-)

Now, I also agree with everything that Scott and Iain (as well as others) 
are saying. Mostly I agree with Iain's observation that I believed that 
travel was largely dependant on the length of the spring, and I forgot 
about the shock piston bottoming out. 

So, if one is still using a shock/strut of stock dimensions, and want to 
lower ones car, then travel will be reduced UNLESS the mounting points 
are adjusted. The top of the shock shaft would need to be raised, or the 
bottom of the shock body would need to be mounted lower. 

HOWEVER, a complete coilover package does not use shockt/struts with 
stock dimensions. Granted, they are of a fixed length, so when adjusted 
so your car is "slammed" the travel will be less than when adjusted at a 
more "reasonable" height. But I'm sure the engineers took this into 
consideration when designing the dimensions of the shock/strut. There is 
a limit on how low the adjustments are (recommended) to be made. 

I believe furthermore that the original post was concerned with ride 
quality. 

And here is seems logical that coilovers offer an advantage. Mostly 
because they lower the car by adjusting the spring perches, and not the 
spring length. True, spring rates are spring rates, but when you have a 
longer spring, 1" of compression is a lower percentage of the total 
spring length, and this offers a more uniform and "comfortable" 
suspension action. . 

correct me if I'm wrong, 

Jonas
85 Scirocco 2.0


--
Email problems to: scirocco-l-probs@scirocco.org  To unsubscibe send
"unsubscribe scirocco-l" in the message to majordomo@scirocco.org