Newbie to Aircooled, Looking for suspension info Handling!

[Mysticle31]

not bad at all.

I'm still looking for springrate, strut info. even coilovers? The SB I'm looking at getting has 3" wider fenders front and back. I'm wondering where the point if dimishing returns are with wide tires on these. And what kind of suspension I'd need to adiquately keep a 265 (those are on the back.. that will change. I only want one or 2 sizes biger in the front) on the gound!

[NO_H2O]

A Kerscher front strut is more than likely what you are after. They use an adjustable front spring(Eibach). Other than that a Topline MaxxStrut is the other choice. If you want to talk springrate call John at topline. To spite what you may have heard, he know a 1302-1303 very well and can give you the Low-down on them.

[Chris Percival]

Go to http://www.superbeetlesonly.com/, and read the forum archives. That should yeald many answers to your questions.

[Mysticle31]

Theres some good stuff there. What do guys here have to say about springrates? Where can I find rear springs (or whatever those are called) for the car? 120lb - 150lb fronts?

Where is the point of dimishing returns in regards to tire size for these cars? (I'm looking to fill up the massive 3 in wider fenders)

[NO_H2O]

There is a tech article on the main page (germanlook.com) called The Perfect Suspension. You will find lots of info on different torsion bars, sway bars, etc.

[boygenius]

You can use the 944 rear torsion bars for some added stiffness in the rear suspension. They are cheaper than aftermarket VW ones. The VW comes with 22mm bars and the 944s bars run from 23mm to 29mm in diameter depending on model.

[Mysticle31]

That article is about regular beetles though?

I'm curious, how does a torsion bar rear end work? There is a coil spring there right?

[zen]

Originally Posted by Mysticle31

That article is about regular beetles though?

I'm curious, how does a torsion bar rear end work? There is a coil spring there right?

nope. there is a spring plate attached to the trailing arm. the inside of the spring plate tub (which slides into the torsion tube) is splined and the torsion bar is inserted into the spring plate on one side, rides through the torsion tube and slides into a splined section of the torsion tube on the inboard side. how's that for a run on sentence? the torsion bar then twists between the splined sides to provide the needed tension to push the susension down. the downward travel is limited by a stop for the spring plate on the lower edge of the shock tower. hopefully that made sense.

[boygenius]

Here is a picture of my chassis while I was setting it up for the 944 trailing arms. The bar sticking out of the chassis is the torsion bar. It is basicly a rod of spring steel with serations on either end. The large splines are on the inside and are held in place by the center of the torsion tube. The smaller splines are on the outside of the torsion bar and are held in place by the spring plates. Their resistance to twisting is what VW and porsche used for rear suspension springs.