Coil over rear suspension options

vujade · #1 May 24th 2003, 16:31

What are the diferent companies that make coil over suspensions to replace the torsion bar suspension in the rear of an IRS beetle?

Alex · #2 May 25th 2003, 10:07

Remmele and FW I believe.

Alex

SuperRSi · #3 May 30th 2003, 22:57

I have purchased a rear coil-over conversion kit from Eagle Performance (www.eagleperformance.com or (619) 445-1273) that consists of inserts that go into the torsion housing a spherical bearing rod bolt that bolts into it, and the plate that joins the torsion housing and the trailing arm. The unit is all steel with no paint or finish included. I must also warn you to fax an outline of your bolt pattern for your trailing arm. I now have purchased a set for the standard VW arm, a set for the pre-85 944 arm and now finally the alloy 944T arms that I wanted. If you are interested in the first two, yes, they are for sale... Eagle is a good company and the whole set-up is $200.00 and takes a couple of weeks to get. Hopefully I got the 944 trailing arm design worked out for you guys. They are not a nice as the alum Euro models but then again look at the US Dollar to Euro exchange rate now. I also purchased a Red9Design front and rear coil-over system for the Manx. Only problem now is the rear Spax coil-over shock top spring mount does not clear the frame mount, but that is another story...

Hope this helps, and yes, Alex I promise to send pictures when I get off this film I am now on, about 13 June...

Thanks,
Randy

Wally · #4 June 3rd 2003, 03:03

Quote:

Originally posted by Alex
Remmele and FW I believe.

Alex

Alex,
What company is FW?
Thanks,
Walter

Alex · #5 June 3rd 2003, 05:50

My mistake......

It is K.A.W.

http://www.kaw-tech.de/artikel/

Alex

Wally · #6 June 3rd 2003, 10:08

Thanks Alex!
Very interesting tech article they have there on the mounting of their rear coil over kit. Since your german is probably much better than mine, did you notice, they lower the rear torsion setting by one notch and then change the shock for a coil over unit. Plus they ad an extra stiffening beam from the shock tower bridge to one of the bolts of the springplate cover!
Only the 1278 euro costs I find extremely pricy, or did I read wrongly?
Walter

Alex · #7 June 3rd 2003, 15:47

No....you got the price right.

I was told by a German Tuner I visited that the kit is not that great quality. If you use a Cup Brace that stiffener is not needed either.

Alex

Rob · #8 June 3rd 2003, 16:14

SuperRSI,

Do you have those coilovers installed yet ?
I would be intereted in knowing how they work.

So you have a set for a standard Beetle for sale ?
How much are you looking for ?

Thanks,

Rob.

SuperRSi · #9 June 7th 2003, 00:22

Standard Beetle trailing arms IRS rear set-up for $200. shipping included, end of threaded tube TIG welded covered to prevent dirt etc in tube.

Thanks,
Randy

vwlownslo · #10 June 9th 2003, 22:25

The rear coil over kit (eagle) seems very cheesy to me... Why not just remove the torsion bars and fit new bushings, then bolt everything else back up? Seems like you'd be doing the same thing, accept you'd be saving yourself $200....

?????????

Wally · #11 June 10th 2003, 03:17

Have thought of that, but somehow I don't think you can just remove the torsionbar and still have proper wheel guidance. The only thing holding all acceleration and brake forces would be the rubber (or urathane) bushing...

ricola · #12 June 10th 2003, 03:49

I'm usign the 944 spring plate cover cut down, this has a much bigger 'rubber' for better location. Works fine without the torsion bars...
Or, if you are worried about that, you could grind the splines off your torsion bar so the spring plate can turn freely around it.

Rich

SuperRSi · #13 June 10th 2003, 22:03

Does cheesy translate into cheap in English? If so, then the $200. coil-over is much cheesier than the high dollar aluminum Euro units. I just am more comfortable feeding the suspension load of a 295/18 into a heim joint than a bushing that was never designed to take the load. The $200. is real cheesy compared to the rear end failure I feel your method might develop down the road.

I will keep you all posted as I install the rears in a couple weeks.

Thanks,

Randy

Alex · #14 June 10th 2003, 22:10

I have to say that I totally agree with Wally and SuperRSI.
I would not remove just the torsion bars and use bigger bushings.

200$ is not a bad price.......much better than 700-800$ for the Uniball setup with left/right threading.....but you get less adjustability.

Even with high dollar items you might have failures....depending on how you use them.

Alex

Shad Laws · #15 June 11th 2003, 01:02

Hello-

Be careful... you may seriously screw up the handling of your car!

The torsionbar/springplate/rubberbushing/etc. setup has two functions in the suspension:
- provide springing
- maintain toe

Obviously, the first one isn't *that* much of an issue - the whole point of the coil-overs is to take over this.

But, be VERY careful when addressing the second one. Otherwise, your handling will really, really suck. Long-story short: you'll have a lot of passive rear-wheel steering and turns will become no fun :-(. You take the weak points of a semi-trailing arm rear suspension and amplify them...

Take care,

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