Shocking testimonial or strutting my stuff

[Robert Myers <rmyers@inetone.net>]

Hi Y'all,

On the morning of July 2, on the way to Pike's Peak, I stopped with Eric
Fletcher in St. Louis to have his suspension kit installed in my '89 200tq.  

I thought I'd give the mods a good workout before I reported on them.  Keep
in mind that comparisons are being made between the new stuff and the old
parts which had better than 110K miles on them.  The old struts were in
*bad* shape.  The old "gas charged" struts were easily compressed by hand.
If there were any gas left in those struts this would not have been the
case.  Since suspension work was needed anyway, I decided to do it right.
Even my better half was aware that the car had been wallowing on the roads.

Here is my report:

What was done:  New struts, springs, and sub-frame bushings were installed.

Car height:  A bit lower.  Less than an inch difference.

Smooth road ride:  Well damped and very comfortable.

Rough road ride:  Well damped and rather firm but not harshly firm.  You
feel  that the car is *under control*.  You are well aware of the road
conditions but you aren't punished for having acquired that knowledge.

Cornering:  WOW!  Body roll is (almost) totally gone.  Turn-in is superb.
I find myself quite comfortably taking some serious highway bends at speeds
which I would have been concerned about before the mods were installed.
Before the mods I might have made the curves at the same speeds but there
is a significant difference in the driver confidence level.

Due to some unfortunate meetings with a couple of REOs in the last couple
of years I haven't pushed toward a new upper limit on these same curves but
I am taking them now at my self-set former upper limits with no stress at
all and feel that even considerably higher speeds will be quite comfortable.

All in all I'm very satisfied with the new suspension.  If you are in need
of suspension work anyway, it makes sense to get the job done right and to
have your car's suspension set up the way it should have been from the
factory.  If you don't *need* suspension work at the moment I'd still
suggest that you consider these mods.  I think you'd be happy with the
results.

Insert the usual disclaimers here....

___
   Bob
*****************************************************************
*  Robert L. Myers    rmyers@inetone.net      Home 304-574-2372 *
*  Rt. 1, Box 57                         FAX/Modem 304-574-1166 *
*  Fayetteville, WV 25840 USA                 WV tag Q SHIP     *
*  Obligatory quattro and sleddog-L references:                 *
*  My 3 Siberian Huskies enjoy riding in my '89 200TQ           *
*****************************************************************