Classic 900 Suspension Advice

Replacing all the suspension bushes with PU makes a really big difference - especially given the age of the bushes you have on there now. Replacing the balljoints is also a favourite move, you'll be amazed how much slop they develop over the years.

Depends what you will use the car for. I personally think the OE shocks are a very good compromise for everyday use. Any deviation towards harder shocks will provide handling gains at the expense of ride comfort.

I've never got on with anything wider than 195 on the C900, but again that's a personal choice. When I tried 205s a few years back, I found it reduced the responsive feel, and the car tended to follow road surface irregularities more.

Thanks Grunff - one of my ball joints has a torn rubber anyway, so they'll get replaced. I'll get the PU beforehand and have my garage fit it. I heard something about the anti-roll bar should only be fitted with PU on one side - sounds crazy, but I heard that ... whatcha think about that.

I've got very used to a hard ride (or rather shockerless ride), so any new shockers will feel blissful. For the price, I'll go for the standard ride I think and put the money into a new exhaust when that gives up.

Never heard that before. I can guess why - but if you want more flex from the anti roll bar, a thinner bar would be the way I'd go.

That's probably what I'd do.

Have fun.

in article snipped-for-privacy@individual.net, Grunff at snipped-for-privacy@ixxa.com wrote on 03/02/2005 16:27:

There's a whole debate around getting rid of the anti-roll bar altogether and setting up the camber, castor, etc in a different way ... But I won't pretend to understand any of that :)

If SAAB decided that an anti-roll bar was a "good thing" for my model, then I'll go with that.

I've done the pricing up for the job and reckon that if I go for a Sachs at each corner and a PU kit for the shocks and the anti-roll bar, I still have enough money for lowering springs for the front; 25mm should do it ... 40mm sounds quite extreme, even for 15" wheels. That should drop my front enough to make the gap between the wheel and the arch the same as the back.

.. Oh, and fitting ... And the MOT ...

By the end of the month, my Orca should be smooth again :)

Paul

Not the wishbone bushes? Or the rear axle bushes? These are much more heavily loaded than the shocks and anti-roll bar.

That's where those would hurt the most - took me a pretty long weekend to do all of them.

weekend

Ah okay ... noted. I'm getting the bushes from a local SAAB specialist that my garage recommended, but I'll be using my usual garage (another SAAB specialist) for the shocks and springs. I'll talk to them and see what they recommend, too. I don't have the equipment to do that kind of job, although I'm getting a lot better at a lot of other things on the car :)

Cheers, Paul