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Date:         Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:47:02 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Shocks for 2WD
Comments: To: Karl Wolz <wolzphoto@q.com>
In-Reply-To:  <8D5756FC6151412AA47C385443DB2E83@KarlPC>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Yeah, well, despite what Scott says, we will never get our vans to handle like sports cars....

With their high center of gravity and their weight, it ain't gonna happen. For a light truck or a camp vehicle, they do handle remarkably well with proper suspension components, but they are still very tall and heavy. Even with a supercharged or turbo Subaru motor in one, the power to weight ratio isn't so great....and weight, that is the real killer when it comes to getting quickly somewhere with 'nimble' handling....Look at those NASCARs...they are really heavy and have really big HP.....but they are slow dogs on a road course...because changing speed and direction with all that inertia...not enough traction...even with 12" wide slicks...A Mazdia Miata will lap faster on most tracks...Our vanagons probably outweigh a NASCAR and we run on 6-7" tires.

Correctly matching of components throughout the whole suspension system ....that is the "art" that results in the best possible handling of any vehicle. Changing just one component....that often requires you adjust all the other components, which in turn 'asks' you to go back and adjust the original component that you just changed....

As you note...having one component (like your tires) really wrong....that makes it frustrating to change the other stuff hoping for good results.... The Art comes from understanding how the various components inter act and which way to "go" when a certain handling trait is wanting modification.

I've been pretty satisfied with my non-pop top semi-westie's handling without any modifications other than selecting proper tires and shocks and repairing all the stock components and shimming the rear springs to corner balance it a little better. For a vehicle with a kitchen, a bunch of sailboards and bicycles, even a sink...it handles very well indeed.

I think back when I was racing, I enjoyed learning my suspension and building a good handling car almost as much as I liked learning how to be a racer...And learning how to be a racer was a lot more involved than just learning how to drive fast laps..

Don Hanson

On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 8:34 PM, Karl Wolz <wolzphoto@q.com> wrote:

> Shocks, springs, and tires work as a system. Long time back I bought > passenger Michelin X tires for the van - obviously a poor choice in > hindsight. I tried to fix the handling issues by putting on stiffer > shocks. > Having stiff shocks and soft tires made matters noticeably worse. > > Karl Wolz > > >


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