Re: :Suspension advice wanted plz:

[Shawn C Meze <skerocdriver@juno.com>]

On Wed, 2 May 2001 10:17:07 -0500 "dale witt" <dwitt1@satx.rr.com>
writes:
>Mike, There is a reason that the Bilsteins have a good warranty, they 
>are about as good a shock as you will find.  


I agree, you get exactly what you pay for in the shock world. 


>Many autoX folks opt for the Koni because 
>they are adjustable..Bilstein states their shocks do not need to be 
>adjustable.  


Lets go deeper as to WHY they say this. 
Bilsteins are self adjusting. They're set to adjust at a certain spec set
by the factory. Lets say a stock MK-II weighs 2500lbs. So Bilstein makes
a shock that will work with this weight in mind for optimum performance.
plus or minus 50-100lbs wont effect the performance of the shock so there
is good leeway on what the manufactures have to come up with. The self
adjusting mechanism is set at the factory as well. You get what you get. 

For most people, this is perfectly ok and works great! Those who go do an
autox for fun will feel that the car was working good. No problem there.
If That s all you want out of your car then by all means, buy the
Bilsteins. (ill put a set of these on my 84 actually.) There's no point
in spending the money on an adjustable shock that you will set once and
leave it there forever. 

Now, if you want to get more competitive you will need to be able to TUNE
the chassis to the weather conditions, track conditions as well as the
condition of your own cars suspension. (Chassis, Springs, Swaybars,
Stressbars ect.) As ive said a bazillion times, no 2 cars are created
equally and of those non 2 similar cars, (humor, ignore) they also don't
age the same from the time they came off the assembly line to now so the
chassis will all work a little differently which is why you will want or
need to be able to TUNE the chassis. (WOW! Rum makes me write long run-on
sentences... COOL!) 

Also remember that the koni's are a small part of the equation. You will
need the right spring rates, (read: coilovers) ride height, Modified to
be double adjustable Koni's, corner balancing and a bazillion other
things to make a Wenzel-like autocross killer car. Its just a matter of
what it is you want in the long term grand scheme of things. Do yourself
a favor and plan out SOME of what you want, it will save you money in the
long run. 

 



>You will find that there are many on this list that presently use the
>HR/Bilstein setup or they plan to do so.  I autoX my daily driver with 
>this set up and am completely satisfied.


Nuff said. Works for Dale for what he uses it for. Its good enough for
me!


Shawn Méze
86' Jetta GLi 8V       84' Scirocco 8V           88' Corvette -SS 30-
82' Scirocco GTi -FSP 54-     79' "Project FSP Scirocco"
The Fastest, Quickest, Cleanest and best looking Scirocco in all of San
Diego!
http://www.Geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/1308/index.htm

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