Just a note for those interested in springs, that I carry another option for
2 wheel drive Vanagon owners (Westy or otherwise).  I offer a set of springs
from Boge, the original supplier to VW.  These are available only from the
Bus Depot, as Boge no longer offers them in Europe (and never sold them in
the U.S. at all).  They did a production run just for us.

These springs will put your Vanagon at about the height of a later model
Wolfsburg Edition Vanagon.  That is to say, slightly lower than a stock
Vanagon or Westy, but not quite as "lowered" as with the H&R springs.  In my
opinion, it's a happy medium.  They give the Vanagon a very sharp looking,
slightly squatter stance (and let a Westy fit in just about any garage),
without altering the height by a large margin.  They also firm up the ride
and handling just slightly, but not bone-jarringly.  Think of them as a
middle ground between the stock springs and the H&R ones, which are stiffer
and lower.

Personally, I put them on my '89 Westy because they were so much cheaper
than replacing my sagging springs with Dealer ones.  I didn't specifically
want lower springs, just an improvement over my sadly worn ones for less
than $1200, and these were the closest-to-stock option that was affordable.
But I found that I like the look of the van with these springs much better
than I did with the stock springs.  Enough to make it worth buying if I
didn't already have somewhat worn springs?  Not in my opinion.  But compared
to the 100k mile old springs I had before, these are a big improvement.
They also greatly improved (but did not completely eliminate) the left-hand
"kitchen lean" that is so common to Westfalias (and was very prominant on
mine).  Before I replaced them, the left side of my van leaned by a few
inches.  After, maybe an inch if that.  After I had the Boges for a couple
of months, I added a generic spring helper on one corner, which brought the
left side the rest of the way to completely even. This wasn't really
neccessary, but at a low cost I figured I'd see if it had any negative
impact on the ride (since the difference was now so small anyway).  It
didn't.

As compared to the H&R's, personally I would not have wanted a stiffer,
lower spring such as them, compared to these Boges.  But then again, I'm not
into performance-modifying my Vanagon.  I satisfied with my stock engine,
and am willing to accept that no matter what I do my Vanagon will always be
a barn on wheels.  If I was the type who tries to eek every inch of
performance into my Vanagon (i.e. Subaru engine transplant, headers, etc.),
maybe I would have been willing to sacrifice a bit of ride comfort and more
ground clearance in exchange for the H&R's.  But personally, I couldn't see
using a lower or stiffer spring than these Boges. Any more and I'd be
sacrificing comfort more than I'm willing to.  If I wanted to drive a sports
car, I wouldn't drive a Vanagon.  Others' opinions may differ; that's why
there's chocolate and vanilla. :-)

There are user comments on the Boge springs in the list archives if you're
interested.  Mainly they say what I just said - that they are somewhere
between the stock springs and the H&R's.

Part number is 9878. Price is $360 for the set of 4 (with listmember
discount).

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  (215) 234-VWVW
  www.busdepot.com

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