Is My Van Only Partially Lowered?

[rodti]

I bought a Highline with some Sportsline mods last year from a main dealer. I've been delighted with it but I'm a bit confused by the existing suspension setup!

It's a 2017 T6 Highline T32.

I believe it's been lowered at the front, certainly looks like a nice gap between the arch and tyre on the front but the rear is quite a bit higher. I'd like to get the ride height even all around.

First of all I'd like to work out what the drop is on the front. I read a while back about how you can measure (from the arch to the centre of the wheel maybe?) to work out the existing ride height, but I'm struggling to find that advice now! I thought if I could establish the current ride height it would give me a baseline to work from.

I expect it rides higher at the back due to it being a T32, but we've done the conversion now so other than a couple of people in the back it's not going to have any more load. Would I be safe just matching the height of the front springs at the rear? Would the higher rated shocks sit lower with the springs?

Sorry for the rambling post, I've tried to look up bits of this on the search function but not coming up with quite the right results!

 

[The Van Cave]

It's unusual to see a converted van riding that much higher at the back than at the front, is it a full camper conversion in the back? Standard vans tend to run higher at the back with the assumption being that they'll usually carry some load.

If you want to be able to get the van sitting perfectly then one option is to fit a set of height adjustable coilovers. There are many available depending on budget, from as little as about £300 up to about £1600 or so, but these will let you set the ride height you want depending on your needs for comfort/looks/levelling etc and adjust the front and back to get exactly what you need.

 

[The Van Cave]

Can you see what colour the front springs are and any identification markings such as manufacturer and part numbers? If we know the manufacturer and part numbers we can work out exactly what the front end drop is.

 

[mmi]

Perhaps this one ► Ride Height Survey ◄

 

[rodti]

It's unusual to see a converted van riding that much higher at the back than at the front, is it a full camper conversion in the back? Standard vans tend to run higher at the back with the assumption being that they'll usually carry some load.

I should have been clearer, it was bought as a 'standard' Kombi, albeit with lots of extra dealer-fitted options. I don't have the receipts/details for all of these so if any tweaking has been done to the suspension then I don't know what that was!

Since we bought it we've had it 'converted' in so far as it's got a 150cm RIB Altair, fully carpeted and lined, with an Altro floor. So it's basically just a furry cabin with a massive bed in it

If you want to be able to get the van sitting perfectly then one option is to fit a set of height adjustable coilovers. There are many available depending on budget, from as little as about £300 up to about £1600 or so, but these will let you set the ride height you want depending on your needs for comfort/looks/levelling etc and adjust the front and back to get exactly what you need.[/QUOTE]

B14s or something would be amazing but I'm hopeful I can save a ton of cash by just matching whatever the front suspension is on the rear, so maybe only two rear springs or something like that! Maybe I'm being overoptimistic...

 

[rodti]

Can you see what colour the front springs are and any identification markings such as manufacturer and part numbers? If we know the manufacturer and part numbers we can work out exactly what the front end drop is.

Will have a look!

 

[rodti]

Perhaps this one ► Ride Height Survey ◄

Yeah that might have been it, thanks!. I remembered the 'measure from arch to centre of wheel' thing but was searching for all the wrong keywords on the forum...