In Sweden we have the same frost problem and together with the gov. cutting
down on repair money the roads soon require some kind of 4wd :-P
In addition to this we get the US cars with "Eurospec. suspension" which is
much stiffer and since the cars are originally designed for soft springs and
shocks they turn out to be weird on the road !
The sad truth is that you�ll have to live with poor cornerability in order
to have a fairly nice ride straight forward to be somewhat in shape even
after a long distance ride
This could only be accomplished the "Vanagon way ",  soft springs and shocks
with long strokes and ugly narrowsized rims with big tyres with lots of air
in them - if you don�t buy a Citro�n ;-)

Calle
-88 Vanagon
-88 Suzuki Samurai
-92 Volvo 745
Mullhyttan, Sweden

 ----- Original Message -----
 From: "David Brodbeck" <gull@GULL.US>

 > There are reasons for that, though.  In the U.S. we have a phenomenon
> > called "frost heave" that probably isn't common in Australia. ;)
> > Basically, on many of our freeways every expansion joint is like a
little
> > speed bump.  If you plan to drive one of these roads at 70 mph, you
either
> > buy a car with a soft suspension, or your kidneys turn into jelly.  Cars
> > with tight sports-car suspensions are extremely tiring to drive on rough
> > roads, and their low-profile tires do nothing to protect their soft
alloy
> > wheels from big potholes.
> >
> >
> > David Brodbeck, N8SRE
> > '86 Volvo 240DL wagon
> > '82 VW Vanagon Westfalia Diesel
> >
>