[Gutted Hatch]

OK, since I am dying to put a full race suspension on, and I am poor, and impetuious (a very, very bad combo), I had an idea. Now bear with me, as I thought this idea up while fighting the affects of undercooked Burger King (Read mild food poisoning).

A friend of mine had coilover sleeves on stock shocks for about 3 months. the ride was VERY stiff, but the car seemed to handle pretty well (Mk III Jetta). When we took them off, his rear shocks had blown. You would have never know it because the springs were so stiff.

So, If i put some coilover sleeves on stock zx3 or SVT dampers (I have a spare, full suspension from each in my garage), with some stiff spring rates, and kept the car at about 1" below stock ride height, AND USED THIS ONLY ON THE TRACK, would it work better than my current SVT damper/SVT intrax setup?

I feel if i am to try this, several things need to be adressed.

1- What ride height would be optimium? Approx 1.5" drop to keep proper geometry or about 1" to aleviate stress on the dampers and keep them in some semblance of their working range?

2- What Spring rates would keep a decent F/R ratio and overall balance?

I know this totally goes against Murph's beliefs that a suspension dosent need to be Kidney damagingly stiff to be effective, But would it work? Is it worth a shot? Am I nuts? Should i have told the pink elephant to stop talking about suspension while i was getting sick from Botulism King?

 

[Auto-X-ZTS]

Have you considered just doing a damper upgrade to the Intrax springs--perhaps SPAX.

I use the same springs, and have SPAX adjusables out back and the "regulars" in the front--been on the car less than a month. I recall paying $400 or so for those dampers. It is certainly stiff as a daily driver, but...

...I expect it to be excellent on the "track", er um, parking lot

Those INTRAX springs are just too stiff for OE dampers...225/275F 275/325R again is what I recall...