Ummm, what about ductile cast iron?

You must be thinking of white or gray iron.  Those are low
strength/ductility and give cast iron a bad rep.
I'm pretty sure VW didn't use that for the control arms.

No, I'm pretty sure they used ductile/nodular cast iron, which is plenty
tough and strong for use in a Vanagon suspension.

Regardless, cast or stamped, there is no way I would change from one or the
other, I already have enough to do without looking for more work.

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
John Reynolds
Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2008 9:02 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Magical cast iron suspension?

"So still no compelling evidence to upgrade, especially based on my driving
experience of 4 years each in an '85 and '84 Westy."

Probably cost.  Fabricating arms out of several pieces of steel and welding
them were likely more expensive than casting. That's my guess.

I'd prefer the welded steel than brittle cast iron anyway.  Steel when over
stressed will bend, the cast iron will break clean off, most grades have
have very little ductility.   Cast iron, repeat after me:  strong in
compression, weak in tension.

My $.02, your mileage may vary.

John R