Progressive springs, or not?

[fruitbat38]

Ok heres the deal, currently my front shocks are rooted and I'm going to replace them in the next few weeks.

While I was at it I was going to replace all the springs, and replace the upper and lower bushes that are worn (pedders $14 suspension check = good value).

Now going round corners is very twitchy. Even while driving smoothly (ie no throttle on or off midcorner or yanking steering wheel). I'm guessing that the Astina normally handles real good when its not on 11 year old springs and the front shocks actually have oil in em.

But I was wondering does the progressive springs affect handling round corners, or is it just as predictable as constant rate springs? What about replacing bushes with polyeurathene (spelling?) or would standard ones be OK.

The big thing is the Astina is my daily driver and I don't want to get a kidney bruising ride every day. So should I compromise and get rubber bushes and progressive springs as they should see me quite well for non racetrack type speeds? Or will the ride comfort still be Ok on poly bushes with constant rate springs?

Yeh, and feel free to recommend springs or shocks.

At this stage sway bars, strut braces, camber kits etc aren't getting looked into, just 4 springs and front struts (the rears were replaced ~30K km ago and are staying for now).

Thanks.

[GrimReaper]

u got it all wrong m8!
comfort is just comprimising the handling!

neh, seriously....
i would look at some ajustable coilovers, and poly-bushes....
then u can choose wether u want a bumpy ride one day, and drivin grandma the next...

depends on how much money u want to put in.

---------

grim

[mrpayner]

Mate...

Whiteline springs for the BA astina [not sure which model you have] are linear up front and progressive at the rear.. which is the way to go i think as you've obviously got the engine up front.

I have the Whiteline Flatout [-50mm] coils in my car, and also i still run standard shocks [got myself some new Koni's to go in shortly] it still rides very well..

The bushes shouldn't really make that much of a difference.. It just means that you'll be tightening up the sway bars and stuff as the rubber ones have worn.. I should do this on my front sway bar, but i'll do it when I can be f'ed..

There's more information on the whiteline website.. feel free to poke around at http://www.whiteline.com.au It's very informative and it's where i got some of my knowledge from when researching stuff for my astina.

Regards
Adam

[GrimReaper]

payner-->witch koni`s u gonna buy?? i have the red ones, and im SUPERsatisfied! only thing is, i run em with max stiffness, and together with vogtland springs(same steel as eibach), its abit too stiff to drive around on on bumpy roads... my girlfriend have to pee every time i drive a bumby section of road.... :lol:

[Cosmo Dude]

Take the Pedders report with a grain of salt. I know I’ve suggested them in the past but that was when I thought they were drumming up honest business (ask AHB11M and Red frog, two different cars with two different drivers with the same problems????????).
If your cornering is as you say then the shocks are probably in a bad way and as the springs need to be removed to do the job then good move. Progressive rate springs are a compromise but better than factory.

[mrpayner]

Originally Posted by GrimReaper

payner-->witch koni`s u gonna buy?? i have the red ones, and im SUPERsatisfied!

Hey Grim

I have the red's as well.. i'll be putting them in at around 60% stiffness to retain a good ride.. it will still be better controlled than factory. It's not the bump that is affected with the koni's, it's more the rebound. This is what the leading Koni dealer in melbourne told me anyway. :?

Regards
Adam

[GrimReaper]

hmm.....
my problem is, that when i go like 10-40 kmph, the car bounces like a frekkin rubberball!
the springs are so stiff, that at slow speeds, they compress(right word??)
so little that the konis dont work!! :lol: :lol: :lol: they just work up a foam in the dampers....

but, when i hit around 60 and up ,the **** start workin! and when i pass 100 kpmh, its a orgasmic dream to drive! hit a jump, and the car sits right down in one hard, controlled movement!!! OOOOOHHHHH, makes me wanna:..............!!!

[fruitbat38]

Hey where's my car gone (it used to be on the left under my login name)?

93 BG (the SP model).

Yeh I was cautious about Pedders, but I went in there asking the guy what I could do to improve handling, he said the Astina doesn't need to upgrade rear swaybar (only bombadoors really need it). I guess its more of a tweek than a requirement. Report only suggested replacing front shocks (had squigly graph numbers of 32 fl and 28 fr instead of 18 like its supposed to) and upper and lower something front bushes needed replacing.

Reason I was contemplating poly bushes was saw article somewhere explaining that while cornering hard the rubber bushes squish and change wheel alignement settings while cornering. Is this something I should be concerned about, or is someone just trying to get more of my money?

Anyone tried poly bushes, complaints? praises?

So whiteline springs, yeh?

Koni shocks? or pedders sports riders?

[Cosmo Dude]

I've used polly bushes on various parts of the suspension and yes the results are as you would expect. The other side of the coin is that they do transfer more noise and vibration into the car.
I want to do the radius rods on the 929 to sharpen the turn in and maybe the 'D's on the rear sway to stiffen the roll a little.

[skippy]

I started a topic under “Wheels and Suspension” its called Whiteline on BA or similar, tis worth a look,

In regards to progressive springs (not that I have any) I read somewhere they are usually pretty much linear anyway, only difference (as I understood it) is they have a very lightweight/lowresistance spring at the top so that if your cars on a Hoist the springs will not have any play or movement without compressing both Shock and Spring, it’s a legality thing and I don’t believe it effects handeling anyway,

This is of course how I understood it, wether that be correctly or not, hmmm dunno.

Maybe go to Whiteline.com get the contact details and send a message to a guy called Bob he gave me the answers in the forum I mentioned and yeah he was quite helpful.