

| Subject: | Re: Purple springs from H&R |
| From: | Andrew Grebneff |
| Date: | Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:26:05 +1300 |
Heavy-duty (sport) springs certainly will stiffen the ride. However in an underdamped vehicle they will cause rebound at the end of their travel ie bobbing, as will worn-out or poor new dampers such as those generally fitted to US-market cars. Adjustable dampers do not stiffen the ride, as they act mainly on rebound, slowing the UPward travel of the body AFTER a bump. They damp the oscillation (this is why thay are NOT shock-absorbers, but dampers... the springs absorb the shock). For this reason they will not affect bodyroll in cornering either. Fitting stiff dampers to softly-sprung vehicles can cause the suspension to ratchet down over stutterbumps (eg corrugations), possibly causing the suspension to compress right to the bump-stops and stay there until the bumps are passed. This is because the springs do not have sufficient resilience to force the car fully upward after each compression. Soft dampers with stiff springs can cause violent bobbing (try a 4WD Mitsubishi Delica van crosscountry at any speed to see this). Worst-case the wheels (front) can actually leave the ground due to rebound. So if you fit stiffer springs, fit stiffer dampers... and vice versa. To limit cornering roll, fit better swaybars eg Whiteline. If you can afford Konis, forget Bilstein. ------------------------------------------------------------ + To unsubscribe from the Vanagon List send an e-mail to + listserv@gerry.vanagon.com with SIGNOFF VANAGON + in the body of the message. ------------------------------------------------------------
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