springs again

[Randy G.]

Can some one please tell me is it possible to fit the springs of a wagon
into a sedan in an effort to tighten up the rear end on my 1990 turbo ?.Its
not sagging just seems soft handling .As well with my wife son and myself
,an 82 litre tank full, its a bit low to the ground .Did the front end with
gas shockers back one are fine just those springs dont seem taunt enough .I
put 225 x50x 16 inch tyres on and they do a good job as my older Pirellis
seemed to be hard with age as well as low on tread .The Fulda extremo at 38
psi seem to grip well .Incidentally the Pirellis were 205x 55x 16 .

No free lunch when it comes to suspension. If you set the rear end to
handle better AND handle the load, when empty it will sit high and run
stiff. That is why Volvo did the Nivomats for some wagons- it allowed
a level ride regardless of load. Sure, there are better handling
shocks, but you can't have our cake and eat it as well. Air shocks
might be an option, or air assist springs.

38PSI might "seem" to handle well, but logic would seem to indicate
that it probably would not handle as well as would 33-35 or so. At 38
they won't heat up as well and will offer a smaller contact patch.

Adding a stabilizer bar (anti-roll bar) would probably be the best
start. Keeping the car level on corners is critical for handling.


__ __
Randy & \ \/ /alerie's
\__/olvos
'90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate
"Shelby" & "Kate"

 

[James Sweet]

Can some one please tell me is it possible to fit the springs of a wagon
into a sedan in an effort to tighten up the rear end on my 1990 turbo ?.Its
not sagging just seems soft handling .As well with my wife son and myself
,an 82 litre tank full, its a bit low to the ground .Did the front end with
gas shockers back one are fine just those springs dont seem taunt enough .I
put 225 x50x 16 inch tyres on and they do a good job as my older Pirellis
seemed to be hard with age as well as low on tread .The Fulda extremo at 38
psi seem to grip well .Incidentally the Pirellis were 205x 55x 16 .

You can swap the springs, as I did, but the wagon springs don't feel
significantly harder than the sedan springs did so I'm not sure there's
any difference. On the 240 the wagon springs feel substantially stiffer.

 

[Dick Brown]

Adding a stabilizer bar (anti-roll bar) would probably be the best

start. Keeping the car level on corners is critical for handling.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but do the 240 Wagons have these stabiliser
bars on the rear as standard? If not, can they be retro fitted like the
700's?

Cheers.

 

[Michael Pardee]

Can some one please tell me is it possible to fit the springs of a wagon
into a sedan in an effort to tighten up the rear end on my 1990 turbo
?.Its not sagging just seems soft handling .As well with my wife son and
myself ,an 82 litre tank full, its a bit low to the ground .Did the front
end with gas shockers back one are fine just those springs dont seem taunt
enough .I put 225 x50x 16 inch tyres on and they do a good job as my older
Pirellis seemed to be hard with age as well as low on tread .The Fulda
extremo at 38 psi seem to grip well .Incidentally the Pirellis were 205x
55x 16 .

IPD (www.ipdusa.com) and probably other sources have "overload springs" to
allow normal shocks to be used on these models. When the Nivomats went out
on our 765T, I went to the overload springs and Boge (IIRC) shocks. They
work great.

I was amazed at how easy it was to change the rear springs. Once I had the
shocks out, there was only a single bolt holding each spring.

Mike

 

[James Sweet]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but do the 240 Wagons have these stabiliser
bars on the rear as standard? If not, can they be retro fitted like the
700's?

Yes all 240's have swaybars standard, the turbos have somewhat thicker
ones that can be put on any 240 for a signficant handling improvement.
IPD sells aftermarket bars that are even better.

 

[John Robertson]

Can some one please tell me is it possible to fit the springs of a wagon
into a sedan in an effort to tighten up the rear end on my 1990 turbo ?.Its
not sagging just seems soft handling .As well with my wife son and myself
,an 82 litre tank full, its a bit low to the ground .Did the front end with
gas shockers back one are fine just those springs dont seem taunt enough .I
put 225 x50x 16 inch tyres on and they do a good job as my older Pirellis
seemed to be hard with age as well as low on tread .The Fulda extremo at 38
psi seem to grip well .Incidentally the Pirellis were 205x 55x 16 .

 

[Mike F]

You can swap the springs, as I did, but the wagon springs don't feel
significantly harder than the sedan springs did so I'm not sure there's
any difference. On the 240 the wagon springs feel substantially stiffer.

That's assuming he doesn't have a 760 sedan, which would have the
multilink rear suspension. In that case, the only choices are new
Nivomats or a kit from IPD (ipdusa.com). On the solid axle cars, wagon
springs are a good upgrade.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

 

[John Robertosn]

THANKS GUYS btw my front sway bar is only 21 mm and my rear 19 mm thought
they would be thicker .So maybe a heavier sway bar and wagon springs will
tighten it up .