got shocks?

[jdbubb at ix.netcom.com (Dan Bubb)]

If your inner rear tire is in the air then putting a bigger rear bar on the car will only lift the
rear tire higher in the air!
Once you've got a tire in the air adding roll stiffness to that end will do no good.
Putting a bigger front bar on would reduce overall roll. It may seem counterintuitive but a bigger
front bar will probably increase your cornering speed.
Normally a bigger front bar will increase understeer, but in the autocross environment where you've
already got a rear tire in the air putting a larger front bar will reduce overall roll and as a
result the front tires are more perpendicular to the road and will grip better. (at least that's
some of the consensus of the VWautocross yahoo group)
Normally I wouldn't consider poly bushings, but again, in this environment the stiffer bushings
would probably make a big contribution to limiting unwanted positive camber due to bushing
deflection.
Getting back to the shocks. I have Koni's (and damned old ones at that!) on my 84 with Eibach
springs and new Gabriels (which are supposed to be equivalent to Boge's) on my 87 with H & R
springs. There is absolutely no comparison in terms of stability and control between the two cars.
Where the 87 bobs and weaves and floats thru turns the 84 is just totally buttoned down.
I think in the autocross environment Konis or Bilstiens would make a huge difference although it
hasn't been my experience that they will necessarily keep your back tires on the ground.
http://www.funksoulkitty.org/miscpics/autocross2_t.jpg

Dan


----- Original Message -----
From: "tomc" <tomc@satx.rr.com>
To: "Allyn" <amalventano@sc.rr.com>
Cc: "Scirocco list" <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2004 9:11 AM
Subject: Re: got shocks?


> Hi Al,
>
> Thanks for the response. So, a bigger beefier rear sway bar might make
> my car look less scarier on the course? And maybe get a few more tens
> off my times too? Heck, that's would be cheaper than new Koni's. Has
> anyone tried the rear sway bars from BSI racing or Shine racing?
>
> The spectators will be disappointed if I fix the rear wheel lift thing,
> seems they think it's neat.
>
> Thanks again,
> Tom C
>
>
>
> On Mon, 2004-07-19 at 17:25, Allyn wrote:
> > Tom,
> > keep in mind that struts/shocks will not change steady state cornering roll.
> > the only way to correct that is with stiffer roll bushings (poly), stiffer
> > roll bars, and higher spring rates.
> > hth
> > Al
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "tomc" <tomc@satx.rr.com>
> > To: "Scirocco list" <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
> > Sent: Monday, July 19, 2004 9:55 AM
> > Subject: got shocks?
> >
> >
> > > Hey all,
> > >
> > > I did my July autoX yesterday and one of the members took some action
> > > shots of my car. I posted the best one on my index page called got
> > > shocks. The rest are in the photo album under autoX. It looks a lot
> > > scarier than it felt. I guess I need to save up for some Koni's now.
> > >
> > > Unfortunately the photo album I use does not work well with Netscape
> > > stuff, so Mozilla and Firefox won't view the autoX pictures. I'm looking
> > > for a new/better and free photo album.
> > >
> > > TomC
> > > '79 "The Project" Scirocco
> > > http://www.tom-c.com
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Scirocco-l mailing list
> > > Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> > > http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l
> > >
> >
>
>
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