Full air suspension... what's your experience?

Guigsy

Guigsy

Joined
Sep 17, 2017
Posts
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Location
Birmingham, UK
Funster No
50,575
MH
A-Class
Exp
2017
We've got a 6m a-class on a Ducato chassis (not Alko). I'm generally happy with it, but it's tiring to drive on poor surfaces... which is pretty much the whole of the UK. It judders and booms over the smallest road imperfections. I've changed from camper tyres to van tyres, which made a large improvement, but it's still not great. I've been busy adding sound deadening behind all the plastic panels that make up the extended dash, which is also helping general road noise, but it doesn't stop the shakes. The front rides pretty low (probably the intended height) but the back is really high, I'm wondering if the bare chassis comes from Fiat with the same springs regardless of what a-class it's going on, and ours is way under 3.5t and it's nearly topped out most of the time?

I'm thinking of splashing the ~£8.5k for full air suspension from either VB or Goldschmitt. There's not a lot of difference in the price and the lead times now mean it won't be fitted until late autumn regardless.

Has anyone else got full air? Did it make much of a difference?

Cheers.
 
So you’ve still got camping tyres on the rear? And at what pressure?
 
Landy Andy said:
So you’ve still got camping tyres on the rear? And at what pressure?
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Changed them all to van tyres. Continental VanContact 4Season. I'm running 55psi all round. I could actually run slightly lower according to the charts, but they look quite saggy at that pressure.
 
Got full Vb air assist and would not be with out it. Brilliant whilst driving. No more heavy thumps or bangs when hitting pot holes etc and when cornering....it a dream with the assist set up. Its dearer but well worth it. We have a Autotrail Delaware and it's now rated at 5000kgs. Pay load is now 1400kgs and the stuff it does ...auto levels ...drains the grey tank by tilting the truck to one side...drains the roof when raining...front comes up and drains off etc
Love it! ❤
 
I've got full VB air on my ducato maxi 4500kg. It's like night and day comparing before and after. Turns a cart into a limo. Handling wise it removes all the body roll and braking doesn't make the front dip down. We did an emergency stop on a motorway and I was very impressed.
Please feel free to message me if you want my phone number to have a chat.

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The van is only 6m and is rated at 3500kg and still has 700kg of payload. It doesn't have a garage, only a couple of small external lockers, so I don't really have to worry about carry capacity. It really is just the comfort I'm looking to improve. The trips we tend to make normally mean driving a fair bit and moving every day, so it does matter to me. I previously had a post-conversion panel van. I expected a professionally designed and screwed together coachbuild from a Hymer sub-brand (Hymer begat LMC begat Geist) to ride quieter, but no...

Other question is... where do people get theirs fitted? I've seen Erwin Hymer Centre Travelworld in Stafford (which is close) and Rosmia in West Sussex.
 
Have full air and levelling on our 5700kg tag.

We decided to try it without for a year as the £13k was a bit eye watering. However, it is by far the best 13k we have spent. Nommore buffeting by trucks, stable on corners, smoother ride, easy to level and a real pleasure to drive.

We have done over 12,000 miles in the past year since Mick at SAP fitted it, and would not be without it.

The van is currently sitting on its jacks on Baska Beach Croatia having given us a pleasurable and smooth journey down.

Personally, I cannot recommend highly enough.
 
We too have VB full air and E&P. Ducato on Al ko. It’s ok. Handy for dropping when you deployed jacks. Ride wise it’s certainly an improvement over standard but not earth shatteringly so. Can’t say I’d be bothered either way next time especially as our front struts have recently failed after only 5 years 25k miles and at £1600 a corner I’d probably manage without next time and just have the rams.
 
We have Goldschmidt full air and it’s reasonable ride but still get the jolts and bumps we have Michelins Agilis camper tyres and not a comfortable ride however before spending £8000 try changing your tyres to Toyo Observe or similar Lenny HB reckons they make a lot of difference 😊
 
8.5k is really expensive, think of the small amount of diesel you could buy with that these days.

You may fit it and then think, was it worth it, has it made that much difference?

We have Goldschmitt rear air already fitted so I can’t compare but it’s a decent ride.

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We have Goldschmitt ADC full air, the difference is amazing. Not only super smooth, but super quiet. Also can ask the system for your axle weights, which is very handy.
IMG_1187.jpeg
 
Have the Goldschmitt full air, thumps over bumps now rather than crashes but a vast improvement. Amazing stability when driving, flying pasts artics, really strong crosswinds the van just keeps a dead straight line.
Great for leveling can get level over 90% of the time at the push of a button, never found the need for Jack's.

Wouldnt have a van without it now but I did get a very good improvement in ride after fitting Toyo tyres,. If I'd fitted those first I probably wouldn't have bother with the air.

Had it fitted in Belgium as TW wanted stupid money.
 
Sorry Guigsy you have changed tyres already so if that is still bumpy the full air will certainly help🤔

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Speve said:
Sorry Guigsy you have changed tyres already so if that is still bumpy the full air will certainly help🤔
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Changing tyres did make it noticeably better. But still a lot of jolts and body shake on even relatively small road imperfections. The joints on the elevated sections of the M6 are torture!
 
We have VB full air on our Autocruise Augusta. The drive is much more comfortable and less rattles. Auto levelling is able to level the van on most sites. Wouldn't be without it now.
 
Guigsy said:
Changing tyres did make it noticeably better. But still a lot of jolts and body shake on even relatively small road imperfections. The joints on the elevated sections of the M6 are torture!
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I think you have a very short wheelbase I know that can cause a very joggily ride. Full air should work but there is no guarantee. If you can afford it got for it.
If its going to be pushing the finances you you could fit the semi air on the rear will one cost a few hundred especially if you do it yourself
 
Lenny HB said:
Have the Goldschmitt full air, thumps over bumps now rather than crashes but a vast improvement. Amazing stability when driving, flying pasts artics, really strong crosswinds the van just keeps a dead straight line.
Great for leveling can get level over 90% of the time at the push of a button, never found the need for Jack's.

Wouldnt have a van without it now but I did get a very good improvement in ride after fitting Toyo tyres,. If I'd fitted those first I probably wouldn't km LG have bother with the air.

Had it fitted in Belgium as TW wanted stupid money.
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Guigsy said:
Changing tyres did make it noticeably better. But still a lot of jolts and body shake on even relatively small road imperfections. The joints on the elevated sections of the M6 are torture!
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Certainly makes the concrete sections of M25 a little better and when I get around to changing the tyres even better🤔😊

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We've had three 6m vehicles all on basic chassis. I have a problem with my stomach being shaken about, even in cars with harsh suspension, so this thread is very interesting. Our first MH was a Chauson and an absolute nightmare. Rough ride and poor stability. We changed it for a McLouis and I had Alko Comfort struts fitted up front and their Redtop devices on the rear axle. Big improvement with stability but not much else. Now driving a Pilote G600 and found it better but will probably go for a tyre change before anything else. Might be difficult to source in France but hey-ho.
 
We have full VB Air on a Ducato Knaus Sun Ti 700 MEG. It's definitely an improvement in the ride but is not outstandingly different from the standard suspension. However, I wouldn't be without it for some of the other features the ability to Self-level when parked is very nice and if needed we have the EP hydraulic jacks which are integrated with the VB. So when you tell the Jacks to self-level the Air suspension fully lowers before the Jacks are deployed meaning the range of the Jacks is improved. The other important feature for me is the ability to put the nose down and the rear up to increase the ground clearance on the rear overhang. This means I can get the van on and off the driveway and also very useful on ferries and similar. Another bonus is the ability to tilt the van to empty the grey water tank and also lower when loading the garage.
 
We have a 2019 6m Fiat Maxi chassis based Ducato Murvi Morocco and are waiting for the VB 4 corners full air kit. We ordered the VB Air in February this year for a late April fit by Rosmia but there is a long back order on one of the key components and so the best outlook is now is for us to get it in September / October. So my advice is if you are keen do choose soon as I suspect there might be a long wait ahead. In the meantime we switched to BF Goodrich KA02 all terrain tyres and this has transformed both the ride and the handling over the original tyres. We have not noticed any noise increase from our tyres or any increased fuel consumption although some did say it took a 1mpg penalty. Whilst I can't give any feedback based on personal experience of air suspension yet, I have had very positive feedback from fellow Murvi club owners that have had it fitted to their 6m or 6.36m campervans. They also like the fact that the ride height is level when driving (from the standard nose down attitude) and an extreme example in one club newsletter article three of the club members went on tour to Iceland and only the van with VB air could drive safely on the smaller cinder roads!
 
RichardLM said:
We have a 2019 6m Fiat Maxi chassis based Ducato Murvi Morocco and are waiting for the VB 4 corners full air kit. We ordered the VB Air in February this year for a late April fit by Rosmia but there is a long back order on one of the key components and so the best outlook is now is for us to get it in September / October. So my advice is if you are keen do choose soon as I suspect there might be a long wait ahead. In the meantime we switched to BF Goodrich KA02 all terrain tyres and this has transformed both the ride and the handling over the original tyres. We have not noticed any noise increase from our tyres or any increased fuel consumption although some did say it took a 1mpg penalty. Whilst I can't give any feedback based on personal experience of air suspension yet, I have had very positive feedback from fellow Murvi club owners that have had it fitted to their 6m or 6.36m campervans. They also like the fact that the ride height is level when driving (from the standard nose down attitude) and an extreme example in one club newsletter article three of the club members went on tour to Iceland and only the van with VB air could drive safely on the smaller cinder roads!
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I had a quote from Rosmia in Feb and nearly purchased one of their kits then, but my work contract was up, so I delayed. I asked for a re-quote this week and they said the same to me. But they are expecting kits to follow pretty quickly after September. Issue now is that the price has gone up...
 
Previously had a Hymer 46 with rear air,4.6 meters long !
Everything rattled until I discovered it had rear air,
Re-inflated ,ALL noise and crashing out were gone.
Experience with 40 foot American motorhomes, the correct air pressure in an air suspension coach turned a cart into a glider.

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I had full VB air on my first Morelo. It is difficult to evaluate the difference if it comes from the factory with it fitted, but certainly felt a good reasonable ride. We would be kidding ourselves and you on if we were to say it glides along, you do still feel the bumps. A down side is the side ways movement on cornering and of course roll on sharp braking. Most noticeable is when going over a very uneven field, you roll and pitch like a cross channel ferry in the height of winter. Our second Morelo also had full VB but was spec'd to have active air, the difference was amazing. It made no difference to the smoothing of the ride but works to stiffen the suspension to prevent the pitch and roll on corners and uneven ground.
Some owners talk about VB leveling having the ability to level, this is very limited by allowing either the back or the front to be raised and no side adjustment. Unfortunately, I would say that fitting air suspension increases the need to have traditional leveling jacks. Don't forget you are sitting on 4 air bags, the slightest wind and you are back on that cross channel ferry again.
We then bought our third Morelo which is based on the Mercedes Atego with Mercedes full leveling fitted, Wow, night and day to the VB system. We found the raise and lower function was very limited on the VB. Granted, it did raise the the vehicle for ferries etc. but not high enough in my opinion. The Mercedes system is instant, you ask for it to raise and the complete van raises about 18 inches in seconds. The VB was about half that height and seemed to pump away to raise it. I guess the air brake reservoir helps with a high volume of air available.
In summary VB Full Air is good, but don't fool yourself into thinking you are going to get a Rolls Royce smooth ride. It has it's limitations and only you can decide if it is worth the price. If I had the van you have I probably wouldn't bother being perfectly honest, based on the cost and the ride improvements I have experienced.
 
Guigsy said:
Has anyone got Goldschmitt? I think Lenny HB has it?

Is it worth paying the premium?
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I had to have Goldschmitt as VB didn't work on my van read end was too low, had to have it taken off Mick SAP gave me a full refund.
Having been in the unique position of having driven my van with both types I can offer a real opinion.

Very little in it driving I think the Goldschmitt may be slightly softer on the front end but hardly noticeable.
Slightly more travel on the front end on the Goldschmitt so slightly better for leveling but again hardly noticeable.
The Goldschmitt has the emergency inflation valves as standard (I think SAP fit these to the VB). Also has sport mode which can be set to lower the van 20mm when cruising at speed, I always forget to use and don't notice any difference anyway. Also has strain gauges on the axles for weight sensing, took me ages playing on a weighbridge to get it to read right.

Cost wise the Goldschmitt was only £500 more but I had it done in Belgium, £1500 cheaper than the UK.

I would be happy with either, VB has many more agents all over Europe and for fitting and any problems you won't get anyone more knowledgeable than Mick at SAP.
 
we have the vb air suspension. it came ready fitted on our van, so can't tell if improved over standard. i'm hoping that finding the correct tyre pressures will help. with the state of the roads who knows!
 
We opted for a much cheaper VBairsuspension solution with uprated springs and shock absorbers. This converted our 6m 3.5t PVC Ducato Maxi from a tooth rattling bone shaker to relatively car like comfort without air assistance. No height adjustment possible but an excellent budget solution, and less to go wrong. Page 37 in the brochure here <Broken link removed>

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