The Pursuit of Suspension Happiness
- Thread starter The Van Cave
- Start date
In a word - No
I need educating on German driving rules.. maybe someone could start a new thread.
Here’s some reading. Germany vs Car Modification
If I wait until I can afford air I’ll be waiting forever!@ChrisR big decisions mate! Why not just wait and get what you really want...
I haven’t driven them yet, but I’m seeing Steve on Wednesday. I’ve got to be up Birmingham way on Wednesday anyway so I can tie it all in at the same time. I would’ve definitely taken your offer otherwise, cheers.
So, I've been to see Steve at CRS and tried a couple of vans whilst I was there. I was a bit early getting to Steve, but he welcomed me in with a cuppa and I watched whilst the chaps fitted a set of the STX to a customer van. They were set at 60mm down and the customer was good enough to let me jump in for a drive to test this setup. I also then had a drive in Steve's van which is running the Koni/H&R coil over kit at 80mm down. Steve was great and I kept him at his unit much longer than he needed to be by just chatting suspension and drinking more tea, he even threw in an orange Kit Kat!
I'm not going to make any final verdict until I've driven everything that I want to, but I already have a few thoughts.....
STX - Very good and seem to be outstanding value for money. They're not going to be what I need though, they just won't go low enough to maintain my existing stance so I've already ruled them out, but it was great to get a drive in a van running them just to get a comparison. They rode very well indeed, still a great deal of control in cornering and under braking/acceleration, but more compliant than the B14s I'm running now. No crashing over potholes, they softened the blow quite well and felt more refined. They were set 5mm higher than their max drop so that may make a difference, but they were very impressive nonetheless.
Koni/H&R - These impressed me a great deal. Steve's van is 80mm down, running 20" wheels and 275/35 tyres so this was a good test. We're very close to my current stance, but running a lower profile tyre than I do. Steve's van is an empty panel van too, so it should show up the rear end more than my kombi with it's leather rear seats and sound deadening, insulation, carpet etc to add weight. Everything I said about the ride for the STX still applies here and I was a little surprised at how quiet and compliant this setup was. The speed bump on the way to Steve's unit really showed up a difference between the Koni/H&R and my B14s. It's typical of the sort of thing I hate in my van, but it was much more bearable in Steve's. I'm not going to start using cliches like "it was night and day different", but it was a noticeable improvement. This setup still did everything that the B14s do well, the only real difference being more compliance and comfort over poor surfaces and larger impacts such as pot holes, speed bumps etc. That is exactly what I'm looking for, so this setup ticked all the boxes I want ticked, but I still have to try the others before I can be sure.
What happens next? Well, I'll be off to see Oli when we can get a date arranged to drive the B14 komforts and with Brett's help @ Chilli Jam hopefully I can try some Twin adjust project max Low stuff on the way to Oli. It might take a bit of arranging though, so bear with me, but I would rather that than a 3rd 5 hour round trip!
Oh, and if like me you are a bit sceptical of the thought of an orange flavoured Kit Kat, don't be, they are bloody lovely.
I'm not going to make any final verdict until I've driven everything that I want to, but I already have a few thoughts.....
STX - Very good and seem to be outstanding value for money. They're not going to be what I need though, they just won't go low enough to maintain my existing stance so I've already ruled them out, but it was great to get a drive in a van running them just to get a comparison. They rode very well indeed, still a great deal of control in cornering and under braking/acceleration, but more compliant than the B14s I'm running now. No crashing over potholes, they softened the blow quite well and felt more refined. They were set 5mm higher than their max drop so that may make a difference, but they were very impressive nonetheless.
Koni/H&R - These impressed me a great deal. Steve's van is 80mm down, running 20" wheels and 275/35 tyres so this was a good test. We're very close to my current stance, but running a lower profile tyre than I do. Steve's van is an empty panel van too, so it should show up the rear end more than my kombi with it's leather rear seats and sound deadening, insulation, carpet etc to add weight. Everything I said about the ride for the STX still applies here and I was a little surprised at how quiet and compliant this setup was. The speed bump on the way to Steve's unit really showed up a difference between the Koni/H&R and my B14s. It's typical of the sort of thing I hate in my van, but it was much more bearable in Steve's. I'm not going to start using cliches like "it was night and day different", but it was a noticeable improvement. This setup still did everything that the B14s do well, the only real difference being more compliance and comfort over poor surfaces and larger impacts such as pot holes, speed bumps etc. That is exactly what I'm looking for, so this setup ticked all the boxes I want ticked, but I still have to try the others before I can be sure.
What happens next? Well, I'll be off to see Oli when we can get a date arranged to drive the B14 komforts and with Brett's help @ Chilli Jam hopefully I can try some Twin adjust project max Low stuff on the way to Oli. It might take a bit of arranging though, so bear with me, but I would rather that than a 3rd 5 hour round trip!
Oh, and if like me you are a bit sceptical of the thought of an orange flavoured Kit Kat, don't be, they are bloody lovely.
Last edited:
I have had my B14s for 2 years and have decided to take them off and try something different.
I decided to go to CRS and go for the H&R /KONI set up so will travelling down on Friday from Newcastle and will be getting them fitted on Saturday Morning.
After reading all the feedback on the set up and Also CRS I’m really excited to have them fitted.
I had 18”” VW Amarok’s Fitted last year and would love 20”” but I have no money left in the piggy bank
.
Going to see if I can stretch to H&R ARB’s
Or use that money for a revo remap instead of my tuning box?.
Cheers
I decided to go to CRS and go for the H&R /KONI set up so will travelling down on Friday from Newcastle and will be getting them fitted on Saturday Morning.
After reading all the feedback on the set up and Also CRS I’m really excited to have them fitted.
I had 18”” VW Amarok’s Fitted last year and would love 20”” but I have no money left in the piggy bank
.Going to see if I can stretch to H&R ARB’s
Or use that money for a revo remap instead of my tuning box?.
Cheers
Go for the ARB's - it'll feel like you've had a remap as you can take the curves quicker!!I have had my B14s for 2 years and have decided to take them off and try something different.
I decided to go to CRS and go for the H&R /KONI set up so will travelling down on Friday from Newcastle and will be getting them fitted on Saturday Morning.
After reading all the feedback on the set up and Also CRS I’m really excited to have them fitted.
I had 18”” VW Amarok’s Fitted last year and would love 20”” but I have no money left in the piggy bank
Going to see if I can stretch to H&R ARB’s
Or use that money for a revo remap instead of my tuning box?.
Cheers
I have just pushed the button and having The ARB’s really looking forward to seeing what difference the H&R /koni and ARB’s is like compared to B14’s and standard ARB.
The main reason for the Chang was for towing extra weight but it sounds like the drive will so improved as well do win win .
The main reason for the Chang was for towing extra weight but it sounds like the drive will so improved as well do win win .
Last edited:
Next up is a trip to Oli @BognorMotors tomorrow afternoon to have a go with the B14 komforts. Van on 20s and Komforts set low so should be a fair comparison with what I’ve tried so far. Full report to follow after the drive.
hi mate what size drop spring are you on and what size wheels , I've been in contact with CRS , just cant quite make my mind up
cheers nige
Hi Nige. I'm on 19" Judds - 9.5J/ET35 all round, with a 40mm drop (I think). It's set up to have a slight nose down rake.
@ThreeBridgeT6
thanks , looks great
thanks , looks great
How did you get on with your test drive really thinking about the b14 comforts myself
OK, I've had a go with the B14 Komforts and here are my thoughts........
.......I'll be completely honest, for 2 reasons I didn't want to like them (but I did, they’re very good), in fact, I wanted to really dislike them. Why?
1. They're unnecessarily expensive, much more so than the competition (There are deals out there, but they are still expensive)
2. It would make my choice really easy if I could discount them straight away!
How do I feel now I've driven them?
If we keep an open mind and focus just on the performance of this kit they impressed me. All the things I said about the Koni/H&R and the ST X are true of the B14 komforts too. As with the Koni/H&R demo, this was a really fair test, the B14 komfort demo van was running 20's with the same size tyres and pressures as me and they were all the way down in a largely empty kombi. Just like the other kits I've tried they do everything the original B14s do well, but they are more compliant and comfortable over poor surfaces and larger impacts such as pot holes, speed bumps etc. They are a real improvement, you can't argue with that.
However, I've been thinking about this for a day or so now and I still have a problem with them. I didn't want to post straight after driving them, I wanted to take some time to think about it. The problem is nothing to do with performance, it's all about the price. There's no technological marvel going on here that justifies the pricing, yes, they are better than the old B14s, but so are other cheaper options. Shock absorber technology hasn't been reinvented here, but the price isn't far off some genuine coil over kits that have sophisticated adjustable inbound and rebound damping, it just doesn't make sense from a customer perspective, there's no value for money here. It obviously makes sense from a manufacturer perspective, they are better than the original and highly successful B14 so let's over charge people and fill our pockets, despite the fact they very likely cost nothing more to produce. I have to keep reminding myself that the ST X kit is not far off half the RRP of the B14 komforts and it's a proper coil over rather than a sleeve over. All it lacks is 5mm of lowering.
Moving on; unfortunately the Twin Adjust Project suspension isn't yet available for a T32, so that's off my list for now. I have no idea how I managed to miss that information having spoken to 2 different suppliers of that kit and researched its credentials for hours, but there you go, I did.
Conclusions so far?
All 3 of the suspension setups I've tried are a real improvement over the original B14s. It's really hard to split them on performance alone and anyone buying any of them would be happy, apart from maybe the odd B14 komfort owner who might be thinking they’ve been mugged off a bit (depending on the available discounted deals at time of purchase).
What coil overs would I recommend for others? Slightly too early to tell because I haven't driven the Twin Adjust Project stuff, but if I had to choose today?
T28 or T30: ST X for up to 65mm lowering. Simply incredible value for money. Koni/H&R for up to 80mm lowering. Great ride, go lower than ST X and still good value.
T32 (My van): Too early to say yet, I've still got some thinking to do here and I'll comment further once I've had a bit more time.
.......I'll be completely honest, for 2 reasons I didn't want to like them (but I did, they’re very good), in fact, I wanted to really dislike them. Why?
1. They're unnecessarily expensive, much more so than the competition (There are deals out there, but they are still expensive)
2. It would make my choice really easy if I could discount them straight away!
How do I feel now I've driven them?
If we keep an open mind and focus just on the performance of this kit they impressed me. All the things I said about the Koni/H&R and the ST X are true of the B14 komforts too. As with the Koni/H&R demo, this was a really fair test, the B14 komfort demo van was running 20's with the same size tyres and pressures as me and they were all the way down in a largely empty kombi. Just like the other kits I've tried they do everything the original B14s do well, but they are more compliant and comfortable over poor surfaces and larger impacts such as pot holes, speed bumps etc. They are a real improvement, you can't argue with that.
However, I've been thinking about this for a day or so now and I still have a problem with them. I didn't want to post straight after driving them, I wanted to take some time to think about it. The problem is nothing to do with performance, it's all about the price. There's no technological marvel going on here that justifies the pricing, yes, they are better than the old B14s, but so are other cheaper options. Shock absorber technology hasn't been reinvented here, but the price isn't far off some genuine coil over kits that have sophisticated adjustable inbound and rebound damping, it just doesn't make sense from a customer perspective, there's no value for money here. It obviously makes sense from a manufacturer perspective, they are better than the original and highly successful B14 so let's over charge people and fill our pockets, despite the fact they very likely cost nothing more to produce. I have to keep reminding myself that the ST X kit is not far off half the RRP of the B14 komforts and it's a proper coil over rather than a sleeve over. All it lacks is 5mm of lowering.
Moving on; unfortunately the Twin Adjust Project suspension isn't yet available for a T32, so that's off my list for now. I have no idea how I managed to miss that information having spoken to 2 different suppliers of that kit and researched its credentials for hours, but there you go, I did.
Conclusions so far?
All 3 of the suspension setups I've tried are a real improvement over the original B14s. It's really hard to split them on performance alone and anyone buying any of them would be happy, apart from maybe the odd B14 komfort owner who might be thinking they’ve been mugged off a bit (depending on the available discounted deals at time of purchase).
What coil overs would I recommend for others? Slightly too early to tell because I haven't driven the Twin Adjust Project stuff, but if I had to choose today?
T28 or T30: ST X for up to 65mm lowering. Simply incredible value for money. Koni/H&R for up to 80mm lowering. Great ride, go lower than ST X and still good value.
T32 (My van): Too early to say yet, I've still got some thinking to do here and I'll comment further once I've had a bit more time.
Last edited:
Similar threads
