Aldan Coil-overs?

[lazylongboarder]

I spoke to aldan suspensions today and they have a shock that seems to be what i want except that the spring they use is 3.25" OD. I'm not sure if that will clear everything out back of my 74' irs std beetle. The specs. I think i'm looking for are 10" compressed, 15" extended, with a 1.9" spring? They have a model (655) which is 10.2" compressed and 15.5" extended but i'm just not sure about the springs.
If anyone has any expirience with this coilover, please let me know what kind of quality Aldan is. I'm looking at their "ultimate shock" with compression, rebound and ride height settings.
Also they want $540 (pr) for the double adjustment shocks (compression, rebound, ride height) with springs which seems very reasonable. And $399 for the single adjustment coilovers (rebound, compression with preset compression valving, and ride height).
Does anyone know the prices of the Ohlins TTX44 coil overs?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[GS guy]

LLB - I'm pretty sure their shocks take the standard 2.5" springs. That's a pretty standard coil-over spring size and refers to the spring ID (roughly). So an OD of 3.25 sounds about right.
You'll find most coil-over shocks made in the US (and elsewhere) use this spring size as standard, and there's lots of manufacturers of springs in this size and a variety of lengths and poundage.
FWIW, there are a limited number of shock manufacturers that use a 2.25" spring and also a 1.9". The 2.25" is was a popular size back in the 60's/70's and looks to have mostly been eclipsed by the 2.5" now. The 1.9" is for a small body shock, very few manufacturers offer this size (mostly European).
I'm also interested in the Aldan shocks after looking into just about everything out there. Good pricing and taylored for a variety of uses. The only thing I'm not too sure about is the finish on the shock body - they don't list any kind of surface finish or protection and bare aluminum corrodes in the elements. A powder coat or anodize would do the trick.
Another one I'm interested in is the Varishock made by Chassisworks. Looks to be a pretty nice unit but a few more $$$ - about $700 double adjustable with springs.
http://www.cachassisworks.com/vas_featured.html
Others of interest - Afco, AVO & Koni (more $$$). Not sure about QA-1, that one seems to be sort of a "fast food" shock - waiting on reports from Volkdent about how they work in his IFS makeover. QA-1 looks to be the other "inexpensive" option though, besides Aldan.
Jeff

[GS guy]

Well I just got some feedback from someone I knew was using the Aldan shocks. From what I was told these look to be very nice - especially considering the cost. The body has some sort of protective coating (not bare aluminum) and they wash up nicely - don't corrode, springs are high quality don't sag, chip and maintain their set ride height. Easy to adjust both dampening and spring settings. Excellent customer service and support. I haven't dealt personally with them yet - I need to establish some baseline corner weights and unsprung weights first - but I will be....
Not sure how the 2.5" springs will fit in a VW based application - this is primarily geared towards custom independent suspension set-ups.
Jeff

[oicdn]

Whoa....I couldn't find ANYTHING other than Maxx struts for front coil-overs....damn.....those varistruts look sick. Any pics of the Aldan set-up? Ohlins eh? I would deinitly love to hop on a set of those.....


This is what I was hoping to hear that there were other options for front coil-overs that are 80mm springs....

[lazylongboarder]

[QUOTE=oicdn]Ohlins eh? I would deinitly love to hop on a set of those.....

Yeah I would to, i contacted Jeff, the head guy for the U.S. and for the TTX40's...are you ready...(drum roll) $3099... EACH SHOCK!!!!! Yeah, $12,396 for the whole shebang. Audi uses them on their LeMans cars I.E. R8, and it seems there is no reason to try racing against audi in LeMans because they have'nt lost a race for like 10 years. Yeah the Porsche GT1 races in LeMans. I would definately love to hop on a set of those as well... If i was spending 100 freaking grand on my not so humble beetle.
I think I am Gonna make my own Red9 setup for the front with one of the companies metioned above. I like the Idea of going with bilstein because of the quality of the shock, but I spoke with a Rep in Indianapolis and he said with such a light car going with them since no bilsteins are externally adjustable, the handleing would suffer with either going with stiff valving for race, or medium valving for performance street. Either one would suffer in the opposite category. So that is why I'm toying with the thought of going with someone else.
Any expirince would be helpful and what spring rate to use front and rear would help as well. I'm at a $1000 per pair limit so no Ohlins and I dont know the quality of the red 9 setup.

[oicdn]

Where can I find info on all the set-ups listed above....IN THE US. Not a fan of getting stuff shipped overseas