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New rear stress bar

  I have to disagree with you here, Larry (much to my peril).  While I can
only offer my reasoning and my experience, I do stand by both.

  My reasoning is, that these cars are light, and therefore they are
f-l-e-x-I-b-l-e.  The guage steel used in them is thinner than any other
car, especially lighter than one made with a subframe.  Anyone here that has
owned or at least driven a MkII Golf or later version, will attest that
although the structure of the car and the design of the suspension is very
similar, there is a huge difference between a MkI and a MkII in the way that
they drive.  The difference can be explained by the addition of the subframe
itself.  The subframe is very stout, with a gauge of steel much thicker than
the rest of the car.  That subframe is in effect a large stressbar.  Now
although the subframes do double duty, having both the engine and suspension
mounted to them, those cars in stock form handle more flatly than a Mk1.
However, they also lose the most endearing feature of the Mk1, the feedback
from the road...

  My experience is, that stressbars help.  I have driven cars with and
without stressbars, and I can feel the difference, easily.  So much so, if I
did not inspect a car before driving it, I could tell you whether it had
them on the car or not, front and/or rear.  I have experimented at length
with the Neuspeed rear triangulated bar in my GTI.  I could feel the
difference between just having it installed at the strut towers, just
fastened at the floor, just mounted at the R/R bumper mount, or any
combination.  I did finally give up the Neuspeed design though, as the space
I lost was to valuable.  I will in the future get an Autotech rear bar, as I
can handle that loss.  It should be noted that that bar uses Poly rear
mounts instead of rubber (on the uppers at least)...

  Larry, I really think you ought to try a bar, just for shits and
giggles...  I would bet you that you will feel the difference, if you like
hard, crisp cornering anyways.  After all, if these cars did not bend in
tight turns, the Rabbit would have been named something else altogether.
The reason it got its name is because of it's tendency to lift the inside
rear wheel in hard tight turns...

David Utley

-----Original Message-----
From: scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org
[mailto:scirocco-l-bounces@scirocco.org]On Behalf Of L F
Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 8:42 PM
To: Jeff Toomasson; ATS - Patrick Bureau; scirocco-l@scirocco.org
Subject: Re: New rear stress bar

Since the rear stress bar bolts to the top of the rear shock, it does
nothing to keep the chassis from flexing.  The rear towers could still move
around the rubber-mounted suspension units.
 In effect, the stress bar is rubber-mounted.....and a whole heck of a lot
of good THAT does.    This is a situation duplicated with all the rear
stress bars I've seen.

In addition, lateral cornering loads are all absorbed by the rear axle
mounting points....none of the loads go up through the two flexible shock
mountings (lower and upper) into the body. It's possible that vertical
stresses in that area can cause the towers to move side-to-side slightly,
put that wouldn't affect handling to any degree.

Realistically, rear stress bars serve no mechanical function.
(looking at the designs of all the front stress bars and the way the A1's
are built, I have my doubts that any of the commercially-available fronts do
a heck of a lot either....)

Ergo; Scirocco suspension design doesn't result in rear shock towers moving
AND the normal bar wouldn't stop the movement even if it did occur.
Save yer money.

Larry

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Jeff Toomasson
  To: ATS - Patrick Bureau ; scirocco-l@scirocco.org
  Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 11:41 AM
  Subject: Re: New rear stress bar


  he'd better come up with a better description than that if he wants to try
  to sell a supposed high performance part that no one/few have ever seen...
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: <ATS - Patrick Bureau>
  To: <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
  Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 6:33 AM
  Subject: New rear stress bar


  > Anyone seen these on the web, they look interesting considering the
shape
  > (looks to be triangular bar) and the price.
  >
  >
<http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2462969376>
  > --
  > ---
  > ATS - Patrick Bureau - Web site : http://ats.longcoeur.com
  > AIM: texasscirocco - Yahoo: atsgtx - ICQ: 32918816 - MSN:
  atsgtx@hotmail.com
  > See what I am selling today on ebay: http://tinyurl.com/22e5b
  >
  > ________________________________________________
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  >
  >
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