Re: Help me suspension gurus!

[Riley McDowall <mcm@intergate.bc.ca>]

>Spax don't have a lifetime warranty?

No, and Spax UK has never offered one, which surprised me too.  Ron offered
a lifetime warrantee of his own on the 24-ways, which he lived to regret
pretty quick. :)

>the failure rate is lower in Honda than VW.  I'd not heard that they'd
>fixed their failure problem.  Those I know with Tokicos like them when they

Here's the story I got from Shawn Van Neer (ex-RPI): Last month this Tokico
rep calls him long distance and spends an hour trying to convince him to
carry Tokico products.  Shawn sez "why should I carry a shock that fails
all the time and can't be warranteed without a hassle?".  Rep explains taht
they got a lot of weird failures on hydraulics they made for some heavy
machinery, and that the sub-contractor who did the chroming on these units
ALSO did the chroming on Illumina shocks.  2+2=subcontractor is fired,
problem is now fixed.  I dunno..

>If you are in a stock class, buy Konis.  If you are in a class which allows
>modifications, buy Konis.  Sorry:).  IMHO, Bilsteins (at least the ones I
>had) don't work that well with big spring rates (300ish front) - with a
>stock or Neuspeed lowering spring (read "soft"), they're pretty damned

You like-a di Konis, yes?  For starters I'll be using Neuspeed Lowering or
equivalent springs, because this will be a daily driver.  A litle relevant
background on the car might help - 16v 'rocco, custom 6-pt welded in
rollbar, no swaybars yet.

>good, but I like the ride of my Konis much better.  IMHO, avoid Tokicos -

So the Konis both handle and ride better (with a stiff spring only?)?  BTW
what does your car weigh?  Do you think that has any relevance in terms of
ride characteristics?

>great but time consuming.  Tell us the class/spring you're racing with,
>that could give me a better idea of what you are doing and need!

Here's the thing.  I've already made modifications that will no doubt force
me into a class way over my head, so at this point (and for the next couple
years maybe) I'm not even going to worry about it.  All I'll do with this
car is a few sessions a year of hotlapping at the local track (it's a
fairly twisty circuit), so I want the best handling I can get - parking my
daily driver in the tire wall would be undesirable.

One more Q: does the Bilstein have any advantage over the Koni, other than
price?

many, many thanks!

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