Re: Lowering a Square's butt (longish)

[Toby Erkson <Toby_Erkson@ccm2.hf.intel.com>]

Yep, the main problem with lowering a T3 is tire/fender clearancing.  
After-market rims with the wrong backspacing doesn't help, either.  Try 
using a lower profile tire like 185/65 or 185/60, or if you want *low* try 
55 or 50 series (the second set of numbers determine the tire height with 
lower numbers giving less height).  I think these will work with a 4.5" 
width rim.  It is the height, not the width, of the tire you need to change 
for these fender clearancing problems (wider tires will give you better 
handling, too).  Although, 10.4cm (4" for you non-metric types) is a *big* 
drop -- no wonder you are having rubbing problems.  The lower profile tires 
would lower you even more and that may cause another problem:  body pan 
scraping earth (bumps).

If you drop your rear to match the front you are going to have a lot of 
uneven rear tire wear (that's why God created IRS ;)  Figure on taking a 
good half day to lower the rear end (this assumes no problems encountered 
-- HA!).  Lowering the rear will not affect the torsion bars.  If they're 
fatigued then they should be replaced (i.e. the rear of the car is lower 
than stock when the spring plates are in stock position).  When you change 
the ride height (front or back) you are just changing the spline 
positioning -- the torsion bars have no clue as to whether the vehicle is 
lower or higher.  But wheel travel will change and in the case of *raising* 
the ride height the torsion bar will experience more twisting since the 
wheel will have more travel (not good for a fatigued bar!).  Lowering a 
vehicle lessens the amount of wheel travel which is less stressful for the 
torsion bars but harder on the suspension stops, shocks and body (human and 
car) due to less cushioning effort from the stock setup.  Speaking of 
shocks, you will need stiffer shocks in the rear to help protect the rear 
from bottoming out (but you will get some better handling).

I recommend you lift the front a notch, lower the rear to match, and wrap 
your rims in lower profile tires.  This will still give you a lowered look 
but reduce tire rubbing and wear.  Although, my view point is from IRS; 
swings may need a tire with less width for the rear, for example.
     Toby Erkson
     air_cooled_nut@pobox.com
     '72 VW Squareback 1.6L bored and stroked to 2.0L
     '75 Porsche 914 stock 1.8L for sale

P.S.  My baby was dropped two notches and that makes for a mild drop -- 
definitely not 4"!  I believe yours was lowered more than two notches since a 2"
(2.5cm) drop per notch is quite a bit of movement!.

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Lowering a Square's butt [longish with humor].
Author:  type-3-errors@umich.edu at SMTPGATE
Date:    3/25/97 11:35 AM

After all of the mails last fall (and thanks again to everyone), I did go
ahead and lower the front of my Squareback two turns (10.4 cm).  This
combined with a steering gear box adjustment, new ball joints, new Boge
shocks and an alignment did improve the steering somewhat.  As many of you
pointed out, it changed the drivability and handling (I don't always have
to wear kidney supports).  Perhaps for the worse, but after now driving on
some long trips (a total of over 4,000 kilometers) and a few more
kilometers around southern Finland, I can't even remember what it used to
ride like.  I do think that it handles strong wind better, but one has to
wonder if the low look is worth it in the end.  The police do not seem to
like it.  However for now, I will keep it low.

The biggest problem has been the tires rubbing on the fenders - 165s are
...
We have never dropped the rear of a TIII, so I wonder about the difficulty
involved.  Volksworld did an article about rear lowering a few months back,
and of course they made it sound like it could be done during tea time of a
Commonwealth Games cricket test series while jousting on horseback using
the same hand tools required to make an English breakfast for the Queen
Mother ... I doubt it.

What are the humble opinions of yee Type 3 owners?  Please mail ...

Mud

_____________________________________
P  A  T  R  I  C  K   J  O  E  L   M  O  R  T  O  N

Owner of, "Helmut", a 1963 Pearl White,
Resto-Cal Custom Volkswagen Beetle &
"Urs", a 1967 Baltic Blue Squareback,
which will eat all of my money for years to come ...

E-mail Address:
patmor@utu.fi