Personally I don’t think there is much wrong with the trad rear suspension. I like the firm spring rate and the feel. My only issue is its restricted movement and the uncomfortable bottoming that ensues and gives it such bad press (even with new springs). However it may be fixable (at least on my 2 seater). With a little ingenuity the peak movement can be brought under control.
I’m surprised a low cost aftermarket solution has not been developed over the years given all the debate on the subject. For a few pounds I’ve knocked up some simple adjustable progressive bump stops (the progressive bit is important). After a bit of experimentation with the adjustment my rear end is now under control. I have new springs, adjustable AVOs (that are set to max comfort) and have fine-tuned the bump stops to eliminate the hard bottoming. Given that the suspension movement is very small from the outset and the component variations can be large, adjusting each side of each car to achieve the optimum setting is critical (IMHO). I suspect that even as my new springs age further adjustment will be required. My feeling is that this degree of precision cannot be achieve with a “one size fits all” bump stop on a shock absorber. On my car alone the side to side physical variation is larger than my bump stop setting tolerance and then there are different cars with different weights.
There’s and opportunity here for somebody!
