Air Shocks

[Bill K]

Is anyone out there running air shocks on the rear of their buggy?

[David O']

Why would you want to do that?

[carlos del carpio]

Nah, KYB's GR2's all around, there's just been TOO MUCH good feedback from these awesome inexpensive shocks....

[David O']

Not trying to find fault, but what is the deal with taking a car that weighs about one third less than a stock bug and using items that stiffen the ride to where you feel every little pebble in the road?
The buggies are too light to need gas shocks, and so are the beetles. (at 1800 lbs)
Besides, a really stiff suspension is really hard on the wheel bearings!
Reminds me of the time that my son and I went to the bug-in in Seatle Washington and saw all of the VW cover cars going there also and they could only go about 60 mph. The people's heads looked like they were all trying out to see if they could be bobble head figures! We were doing 75 and enjoying the ride and the view!
I know that a lot of the guys trailer their cars to where they are going, so I guess that it isn't really a big issue. If I had one, I would be driving it everywhere, and wouldn't feel like I had been in a beating machine when I got to where I was going!

[GregR]

air shocks would seem to make the ride awfuly stiff. As I remember, there was a shocks article from Bruce in his Manx Mania sometime back. He took basic stock shocks, carefully drilled a small hole, drained the fluid and replaced it with a ligthweight oil (sewing machine oil if memory serves) then sealed up the shock again. These things are so light that most folks have removed half or more of the torsion leaves from the front tubes....in an effort to soften the ride...That and tire pressure down around 15lbs. my .02

[MURZ]

I think the idea was adjustablity.

[Bill K]

Murzi's right. I don't want to use the air shocks to jack up the back of my car. I just want to be able to use the air shocks to adjust the rear wheel camber between setting empty and carrying two people.

[GregR]

right, but I think what we're trying to say is, that even with most or all of the air out of the shocks they'll, still probably make for a stiffer ride than you'd like. Maybe consider an adjustable traditional shock?