I think what we have to remember here is the OP’s question, which is on springs and 20 inch wheel only....
So without hijacking the thread away from this too much, but adding our experience with Transporter suspension from over the years.
The standard ‘warranty friendly’ eibach 30mm springs are renowned for being harsh and used to be standard fit on the Sportline. They also don’t lower the van enough for most people. A sensible money upgrade instead is the H and R -40. 10 mm difference and they ride totally different, and we know this from experience, as do many customers. Lots of people lower their vans on springs, as their budget can’t go to shocks and springs. And lots of people are happy with how their vans ride on springs alone.
With the VW scene and the Transporter we all like our vans sitting lower on an 18/19/20 wheel. As we know, the lower we go the firmer it gets. The B14’s are an excellent and proven solution and at full height the ride is night and Day better than any spring alone, and gives you the opportunity to level or lower the ride further. 30/40 mm drops just aren’t enough for what the majority of customers are after. We have fitted hundreds of B14 kits and have only ever taken 1 off, due to the customer wanting to go for a swamper kit. Everyone is happy, and especially so with how much better it drives over standard.
I personally run a 204 4Motion stage 1, with every extra, so very heavy, and on 20’s, 15mm off the bottom on B14’s with H&R Arbs. Yes it’s firmer, but in a very controlled way, and a way I like my van to drive. It’s running approx 250ps on Gy F1 tyres, handles like its on rails and I do up to 20k a year in it with zero issues.
The state of our roads are really testing all suspension setups at present and comfort gets questioned as a result of potholes, ruts in the roads and uneven surfaces. As a company we are always looking for new solutions to run your vans lower on big wheels - Watch this space as we have some new coilover kit testing coming up in the next few weeks, for varying budgets- keep an eye out for the separate post on this, as the first kit arrived this week.
As we’ve always said suspension and ride and control is very subjective to individuals. What suits and is acceptable one person isn’t to another. We have customers running around on standard suspension who are very happy, and the same is said just for springs, and for B14’s.
Luckily we don’t all like the same thing or we’d have identical vans and set ups and how boring would that be?
HTH. We run various vans and suspension setups so please feel free to come down and have a few test drives and decide for yourself- we don’t run the eibachs and that speaks for itself.
