Post: #1

Right, so the front of my car has stock springs, but a 23mm sway-bar, all poly sway bar bushings, and DeCarbons.

The rear is basically all stock in terms of spring, dampers and the sway bar.

I plan on getting the iPd sport springs all around, so that takes care of that department.

I want to know what your all opinions on what are a good set of dampers to compliment the iPd springs, and what, if any, rear bar I should upgrade to, or just leave my stock one in there and let it be.

Keep in mind the car is a DD and 75-80% of the driving it sees is normal, boring highway driving. I would like to retain an element of comfort and ride quality because of this so I'm not gonna get 500# springs and ridiculously stiff dampers, but I would like something that makes the car actually handle a little better.

1985 Volvo 245DL "The Battlewagon"
1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle "Diego"

Post: #2

you can run an ipd 22mm bar with the 23 front with good results. The 25/22 setup with ipd springs felt nice on my car, just wasn't enough when I wanted to go faster. Should be fine for you. Bilstein HD's will do just fine with the ipd springs too.

Post: #3

I used to run the ipd springs with bilstein hd and 25/25 ipd bars on my 82 turbo 2dr. It is a firm but comfortable ride. My 80 year old Mom was comfortable. There is a large improvement to the cars manners. The downside is the loss of ground clearance should you need that and also some load capacity in the rear since you are over an inch lower to the ground and your car is a wagon. Overall that was a very good setup for daily driving. I really liked it.

The rear hd bisteins are soft in stock application and would work well with decarbon fronts. I used to use the boge turbo gas as my cheaper alternative.

Post: #4

I am running a 16mm Rear bar, with adjustable panhard bar, Poly torque rods, Jerd's custom rear adjustable spring perches with 14" x 2.5" ID #250 springs. Pretty nice setup. I will go with a shorter spring after the winter.

Post: #5

(12-11-2011 12:13 PM)dl242gt Wrote:  The rear hd bisteins are soft in stock application and would work well with decarbon fronts. I used to use the boge turbo gas as my cheaper alternative.

Agree, rear HD's are soft with either iPd lowering springs or coilovers. They're okay with stock springs or stock cut springs but anything more and they're not enough shock (the rear will bounce).

Post: #6

The HD's are soft but the let the suspension work. Your shocks shouldn't be adding artificial spring rate or restricting the motion of the suspension. I have HD's on the back of the 244 and they work great with IPD springs with one turn cut out.

Post: #7

Actually the Bistein HD shocks worked better with the IPD springs than with stock springs. The stock springs would oscillate under certain conditions but when I combined the same Bilsteins with IPD springs it seemed like a well designed match. A very good handling improvement with a comfortable ride.

Post: #8

So bilstein HDs and iPd springs are a good match? Any opinions on the DeCarbon/iPd mix? I'm not really looking to change out the front struts if at all possible, I'm really pleased with the DeCarbons. The damping is firm but comfortable, certainly better handling characteristics than stock but it still rides nicely. Even with all the poly in the rear and the stiffened front end + DeCarbons, I still feel like the car drives really well, and that 75% of the roughness and road noise is due to the 205/50-16s and not due to the suspension.

Granted, I also feel like most of the handling capability it's gained is from the short sidewalls, I remember autocrossing it on the 195/75-14s and being able to feel it roll over to the sidewalls and just handle like complete shit overall.

1985 Volvo 245DL "The Battlewagon"
1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle "Diego"

Post: #9

Try these for the rear: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=244367