Winter Additions To S60

[JackS60]

Hmmmm well alrighty then! good to know

[kalvin]

[JackS60]

[Kraske]

TL:DR - Buy a kit that includes everything. Expensive but worth it.

Adjustable coil-over suspension is a great upgrade and well worth the money especially if you are thinking about taking the car to the track or auto-x. Obviously you CAN just do the adjustable springs (to get low) but without better dampers your handling will be like with cut springs. If all you want it low (which is totally valid), there are cheaper ways to do it and cooler ways to do it.

Springs and dampers go hand in hand; this is why you get a nice kit that includes both. Get one designed especially for your car. It will take most of the math out of your choices. Otherwise you have to:

• Select a spring rate. With adjustable coil overs, it all depends on the spring rate (and height) you use and what kind of damper (i.e. damping coefficient) you use. Once you're on a good set of adjustable spring perches replacement springs are like $40 each so it's pretty cheap to experiment and find a rate you like. With a car as heavy as the S60 you should probably start around 300-350 lbf/in.
  

• Select dampers. Dampers will probably end up being the most expensive part of the conversion if you buy nice (read: adjustable) ones. I have no idea what product support is like for S60s but I recently bought a set of Tokico Illumina dampers (nice dampers for street driving but not adjustable enough for serious track work) and they retailed for $160 each.
  

• Consider suspension geometry factors. For example, if you're going to lower the car more than 1.5 inches, it may become necessary to retrofit shorter dampers into the car to regain some suspension travel. This would require either sectioning the stock housings and purchasing shorter strut inserts (if they're removable) or purchasing shorter strut assemblies. The only other thing I can think of off hand in this category is that it may be necessary to make sure that the vertical spacing between the LCA and the tie rod is corrected to alleviate any bump steer. I don't think roll steer is much of an issue on the backs of these cars but again, I don't know them that well.
  

[JackS60]

Much of that flies over my head but I think I understand the basic concepts presented. I'm going to C&P that to a word document and save it for next year when I'll think about doing more big work.