The Best Possible Rear Suspension!
 

so this is my main question that has been rattling my brain for the past two days.. and seeing I find myself back in the VW world..(I've been gone for awhile).. I come to you guys..what do you guys recommend is the best possible rear suspension set up?

the rules!
1.It has to be already made and created..meaning It canbe custom but there has to be a car in the world that contains it ( in reference to the the 993,996 rear suspension swaps)..hah no theories

2. it has to fit a standard,BJ, IRS Chassis no custom tube chassis ideas.

3. you can change or adjust anything such as using a uniball, 994 trailing arms, shocks whatever!

4. Last, it has to work with a 17 inch tire setup ..cuz I already got the damn 993 calipers!
Now like the Song Goess.... HIT ME WITH YOU BEST SHOT..

this is a weekend/track car so comfort does'nt matter really i'm looking for handling!

I'll be using stock IRS arms, coil over shocks, removed torsion bars, 5 bar cup brace, a bearing cover for the spring plate attachment to the chassis, and an adjustable whiteline sway bar.

You can adjust for camber, toe-in ride height and roll resistance. Application is track car / weekend warrior ... limited daily driver.

Sandeep

Keeping it relatively simple and relatively inexpensive, Sandeeps suggestion is the best.

Jason

True dat! 944 rear sway bar is a lower cost alternative to the whiteline, but a little bit of fab work required. Bugpack rear bar isn't too shabby either, I'm happy with it in my 1302.

Lanner

running stock arms and the proposed set up would this work with 17" x 8.5" ET 50
in the rear?

It'll work well with the Porsche rear brake setup. You will need 1" or 1.5" wider fenders...

Lanner

Heres my current build up, mostly as per "the perfect suspension" in the tech articles.

IRS conversion, early 944 rear brakes complete with spacers for teledial wheels 7" rears wrapped with 215-70-15 BF Goodrich tyres, Porsche trailing arms, 25.5mm torsion bars from a 944S2, 16mm Porsche ARB with Kerscher mounting hardware (would have gone 18mm except this is going to be a daily), 1303S gearbox, trekker output flanges, 100mm CVs and Porsche drive shafts. 3 bar brace setup (thanks Lanner!) Body has 2" wider fibreglass wings at the back. Soon to have seam welded frame horns and the 2.1 WBX fitted.

Upgrades later to include a nicer 'box and rhino mounts, better shocks, perhaps 944 spring plates if some come up at a reasonable price.

At the front there is 6" wheels, early 944 brakes, 19mm ARB and a seam welded late beam (more leaves = better), super duty track rods (thanks Lanner!) currently no shocks...

http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h6...3.jpg~original

Shes coming along nicely matey :) What shocks are you going to use up front?
Nick

GSF gas shocks for the mean time, but as soon as I get some cash coming in, I suppose Bilsteins are on the cards, again as per the "perfect suspension" article.

Just worked out that I need to spend the thick end of £130 on the remaining parts just for the chassis hardware before sending it all to get zinc plated. Eek.

I would say what Sandeep mentioned, but with turbo alu trailing arms to give you the extra strength and track width for hard circuit driving circumstances (doing the curb stones and all).
The extra width is very benificial for rear roadholding in bends at speed or under acceleration.

I am still missing the proper coil-over front and rears though. For 944's there are excellent 'ideal' rear solutions, but for front the existing coli over ones on the market today are not totally to my liking as far as 'ideal' goes. A modified 944 solution could be great, but probably $$..

For 944 (from www.intrax.nl):
http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/5...3mediumsk5.jpg

wait so with 994 turbo trailing arms the coil overs listed above would work on a type 1? and if so does that apply to all 944 turbo coil overs ...im the usa guys so im trying to find the best comparison..the gaz coilover site completely confused me.

what what what!
 

ok now this is driving me insane and im back to the main reason why i posted here i just need to know exactly what i should run like if i were to get coil overs ...where should i get em what model would work on this car blahh damn u confusing suspension...damn u!..right now im at unibals, coil overs, whitelines, 5 bar kafer brace, now what trailing arms?

Your asking for the 'best' or most sophisticated set-up. That also implies that it is not that simple and 'definate' so to speak. The best set-up will always be debatable and the most sopfisticated set-up will probably not be a genral product. The above is available afaik, hence the matching website ;)
Alu arms are 1-1.5 inches wider than stock. Turbo or S2/late or 968 arms are 3 inches wider than stock PER SIDE. So this involves more mods than just suspension (like wings as was already mentioned)
The alu arms fit, but will need some mods done, like installing the beetle pivot point bushings. You will also need (longer, 944 or T3) axles and CV's with the T2 or 944 100mm CV's. Maybe I forgot some details, I dunno all by heard though..
You still want to go ahead with this? :rolleyes:

If you want to keep it more simple, and because you indicated you may have a problem with ordering all over the world if I interpret correctly, you could just stay with the steel arms and call Topline and order their entire catalog and be done with it. I have all their front suspension bushings and they are top notch. Many german tuners have bolt-on rear coil overs as well (GWD, Remmele, both also fit alu arms iirc; alu arms have 14mm metric screw for the shocks, so be aware ).

The joys of suspension :)

Well there are 2 things that don't work:
- As Wally mentioned the alu trailing arms use a 14mm bolt the alu trailing arms instead of the 12mm bolt the steel arms use.
Every decent shock producing company should be able to insert a 14mm eye (be it a rubber bushing or spherical bearing) into the shock, so that shouldn't be a problem
- Most 944 and 1303 coil-over won't work, because the upper mounting point for the shock is further inwards compared to the 944.
This makes for a collision between the spring and the trailing arm (which doesn't happen when using steel trailing arms).
Solutions to this are:
- Space the damper away from the trailing arm and upper mount (Bilstein cup dampers have eccentric mounting points, or you could use something like the racer's edge bolt (which also solves the bolt difference)
- Find a damper and spring combination that is skinny enoug to fit (This might be a pain in the behind)
I tested it with 60mm ID springs which was 200mm long and it wasn't even close. So I'd say there's room for a 140mm/120mm long spring max.
See here for example: http://www.germanlook.com/Forums/sho...0677#post60677

Little has been said about the standard front geometry of the strut suspension on the '02 and '03. IMO the track arm is too flimsy and poorly located and therefore a full A arm construction with adjustable inners to give castor and camber plus dropping the inner mounting point to lower the roll centre and maybe dial in some anti-dive (although there is a danger of increasing the squat). Using the A arm also allows the AR bar to be divorced from the axle location that then permits the AR bar to be adjustable with suitable connectors. 944 struts with standard bottom ball joints permit quicker changing over the press in types found in the '03. An internal strut brace is also a must considering that the top of the strut is mounted to the body and not the chassis - diagonal bracing down to the front chassis being a useful extra.

evilC