Can Anyone Explain This?

Its been a little over a week since I returned from my Hwy 1 trip up the coast. Ever since I have been back, I've noticed that I am having a lot more trouble getting over speed bumps and into steep driveways than I ever had before. I actually think the car is sitting lower in the rear than before I left on the trip. I'll also through in the fact that I found half of one of my rear rubber bump stops on my garage floor the day after I returned, but I don't see how that would make it ride any lower. Any thoughts?
Troy

Not sure this applies to Speedsters, but when the stock oil filled shocks failed on my Spyder, the rear end dropped almost 2 and 1/2 inches and stayed there......Bump/scrape city......After replacing these with gas units, (GR-2's), I,ve had no problems at all....Just a thought....

Have you gained a lot of weight?

VW Pan based? Torsion bar broke/splines stripped --- or end piece not put on tight after lowering? Shock mounting bolt boroke or shock came off? Good excuse for putting on adjustable spring plates.

Troy:

To Mike's point, it's often the case that we get a little heavier while on Vacation.....

I'm just sayin'...

Seriously, though, is it sitting about the same height on BOTH sides? If so, I doubt that it's stripped splines on a torsion bar or spring plate. I'm also a bit surprised that someone has seen their ride height increased by using just shocks. If they had coil springs over the shocks (commonly called "coil-overs") I could see the increase, but regular VW shocks shouldn't affect ride height unless they are Gas shocks which are charged and the gas charge holds the rear up a bit.

Measure from the ground to the top of the wheel arch on both sides and let us know what they are.

Beyond that, see if there's any indication on the shock of what it is and we'll go from there.

gn

Check the back jump seat. Maybe your lady bought more shoes than you thought!

:->
Dusty

"Ever since I have been back, I've noticed that I am having a lot more trouble getting over speed bumps"


We raised 'em all about an inch or so while you were gone.

OK. Thanks for the serious responses, but some of the others were pretty funny. No, I haven't gained any weight, Thuan did not buy a bunch of shoes and yes, the speed bumps were all raised, but they are back to their normal height, because I've scraped them all down.

The shocks look fine and the car is level from side to side. I'll have to compare some of my pre trip pictures to the current height to see if it really is lower, but I'm pretty sure it is about 1/2 inch lower. By the way, I have adjustable spring plates.

I've read over and over that speedsters are so light that we should use oil filled shocks, but does that also apply to wide body speedys with super wide tires? Are any of you wide body guys using something other than the stock shocks?

Troy....Spyders usualy weigh less than standard Speedsters....in the range of 100 to 250 lbs. for std. street trim.....Some are even heavier....Then there is Corey's ultra-lite......

Troy:

I think all bets are off when you're running really big tires. I've got 7" rims all around with 225X16's in back, and I don't care what anyone says, that's a lot of weight for those little shocks to handle.

gn

So what are you using for shocks Gordon? Any other wide body, wide wheel and tire guys out there using something other than stock oil filled shocks?
Troy

It has settled in . Re ajust it back to the previous height When the care was alined at the alinment shop they set it to that height.. Get it back on spec and try to keep it there. your ties will last longer.

Barry wrote: "When the care was alined at the alinment shop they set it to that height"

What alignment shops have YOU been going to?

It's about all they can do to get both front wheels headed in the same direction without even thinking of "setting ride height".

I bet that 99% of the alignment shops in America don't even know HOW to set ride height on an early VW (or equivalent) chassis with or without adjustable rear spring plates, and I've never heard of any of them re-setting a VW's ride height, especially without adjusters on the spring plates because it simply takes too long (like, all afternoon in the shop).

While I might buy the idea of it having settled about 1/2 inch during their week-long trek down the PCH (not all that far out, actually) I doubt that it's going to re-gain it's height when there's no weight in the car for a while. Possible, sure....just not too probable.

If you really want to get it back up there (and you have adjustable rear spring plates) then crank the adjusters up and re-set it to where you want it. Just use a tape measure from the ground to the top of the wheel well arch as a reference point and have at it.

You probably have adjusters on the front, too, and if you're lucky they are the easily adjustable ones, so crank them up if you wish, too.

Good luck.....gn

Gordon.
What shocks are you using?
Troy

Hi!

I'm running KYB's all around and all stock length (I do not have drop spindles).

They're OK at best, but I wish I had a little stronger dampening rate, especially in the front - they tend to bounce just a little on hard bumps. Other than that, they ride nicely.

Is this not one of Kirt Ducans cars?

When a speedster is built the the ride height is set first then the car is alined at that ride height ifthe cars settles? AND MOST DO, settle in after that . Then the ride height has to re done back to the presettled state to corrct it .

My freind Wayne Andrews has been doing alinements for 50 years he was very fussy about that issue on my car .

I had my car sitting low, lean and mean. After a while, the old stock shocks started feeling bouncy. So I put KYB's on the back. It was a big improvement, but still have a tiny bounce. What I didn't expect is for the damn things to raise the rear all of an inch. Darn trashman made off with the old ones before I could retrieve them.
~WB

Ok. I just finished adjusting the spring plates so the car was back to its pre trip height. Then I jacked it up and replaced the rubber bump stops on both sides. After I put them on, I cut about 3/4" off the top on each side, which gave me a couple of inches of travel before they would hit. Then I put in a pair of KYB G-2 shocks and put it back on the floor. Just like Bill said in his post, the car sat about 1" higher than the height I had just set, so I reset the height and took it for a test spin. GREAT RIDE! Much better than it was before. I really think these superwide bodies with their super wide tires (especially when they are lowered) are just different than the regular Speedsters when it comes to shocks.

I spoke to Horace at Vintage today (he's Kirk's right hand man) and, all due respect, I just don't agree with what he said. He told me the KYBs would give me a stiffer ride. I'm not sure what his definition of "stiffer" is, but they gave me a "better" ride.

Also, I saw in another post about shocks, that Vintage puts KYBs on all their cars, but according to Horace, they only use stock oil filled shocks.

Anyway, I'm happy and I'm going to bed. Good night.
Troy

Sweet Dreams..........

Actually I think Horace is right. The gas filled shocks are harder. But the important thing is that they work for you. My car came from VS's shop equipped with gas KYB's.

Troy, as Leon mentioned, my car is really light. The main difference I feel between gas and oil shocks (I've got gas ones now, too) is that the car doesn't squat as hard on acceleration with the KYBs.
I've also replaced the rubber Bug stoppers with Bus ones. They're shorter, so I would get more travel out of oil shocks before they get squashed.
As stiff as the rear of the car is with the gas shocks, I rarely hit the stoppers at all unless I'm cornering hard. The Bus stoppers been there for a year and a half now, and they barely show any wear. The factory molding seam is still there on the tops of both stoppers.

My 69 pan based IM bottoms out in the rear once in a while and the rubber stoppers are fairly tall, looks like a big egg. They most likely have never been changed since 83'.

Do they get hard? When the frame hits (like when I go over a pothole) it feels rock hard.

Dave

Hi Richard.
There is no question that they are harder (and about 1" taller), but apparently that is what my car (super widebody/super wide tires) needed to provide a more comfortable ride. In fact , the more I drive it, the more I like these KYB GR-2 shocks.

Hi Cory.
How much shorter would you estimate the bus stoppers are? I cut about 1" off of mine, which, by the way, are Empi and they are red. I don't know if there is a difference between the red ones and the black one, but my old ones were black.


Hi Dave.
My Vintage is also a 69. I have a feeling I was actually riding just slightly above my old stoppers and I'm sure that is why they finally came apart. The new ones looked like an eeg that was flattened on the bottom, until I cut an inch off the top. So far, I have not found a bump or pot hole that has gave me that rock hard jolt. I'm lovin this new ride!!!
Troy

I think they're about three-quarters of an inch shorter. Could be more. They're shaped like an egg, too. The link is to a similar part, but mine have a seam that runs over top of the bulb-end, not around the middle.

http://www.airheadparts.com/viewDetail.asp?strMasterCat=4280&idproduct=6033

Funny; my VS didn't have any stoppers and or stopper bases when it came from the shop. I had to buy them from my local VW shop (lucky they had OEM parts) and install them myself.