Hi All
I dont post often, but I look at the forum all the time and find it really useful. I've had my T6 camper for 5 years now and wanted to make some observations and ask a few question on a topic that come up again and again.
My VW is stock and I'm a fairly gentle driver, although most milage is at the speed limit on the motorway. I've been really pleased with my T6, but, on the downside, found the ride jarring and the tyres lacking grip - they also developded a really loud droning noise after about 25, 000 miles, like a wheelbearing noise. Also, having read about it on here, I began to worry that my steering was pulling to the left. In addition to those two things, the rear has always "sagged", not improved by five years of use.
Firstly tyres - I covered 40,000 miles on the original Continental 206/65 R 16 tyres before changing them, after much searching and agonising, to Michelin CrossClimate 215/65 R 16, which has made a huge improvement. I don't know if it's mainly the tyre type or mainly the size change (which run at lower pressures), but it's a huge difference. Grip and ride comfort are both much improved. There is a slight whirring noise from the tread at low speed, but overall the noise level is lower than the Continentals. Surprisingly, the mpg is slightly up.
Secondly rear Suspension - I can see that T32 rear springs are often recommended for improving the situation on a T28 camper, so am inclined to try that, although I do have some questions, which I'll come to in a bit. I'm not sure that there is really a technical problem with the rear suspesion, rather that with the weight of the conversion and then sometimes the holiday stuff, the van is always running at about 75 - 90% of the load capacity, so some apparent sag is to be expected compared with a new and unloaded T28. I notice that the converters new 2024 T28 models also sag a bit. I'll come back to the springs.
Thirdly - pulling to the left. I never thought about it or worried at all until I read about on here, then I though "yes, mine does that" I realised that my Skoda Yeti also does it. I suspect that gravity is pulling them down the camber as the road mostly slopes from the middle to the left. In France it doesn't pull to the left at all, although I'm not sure that it pulls to the right as much as I thought it might. For me ignorance was bliss - until I read about the issue I didn't realise that I might have a problem. I think its maybe a bit like mild tinnitus - if you can tune it out it's not really a worry, but if you concentrate on it you can start to go mad.
I hope some of that strikes a chord, or is useful. Finally, although I know that there's a lot of info already on here, I wanted to ask about the rear springs. I can see that convertors have a lot of new springs for sale on ebay, taken off of new vans, both T32 and California. So far as the rear springs are concerned and given the spec of the van, replacing the stock T28 springs with something heavier duty seems like a sensible idea. From reading on here, I can see that there are various grades of spring fitted to T32 and Californina vehicles. A lot of the T32 springs that I have seen for sale have 3 grey marks, are they the best ones to go for or might the California springs be even stiffer? Also do I need to replace the spring seats if I go from a T28 spring to a T32 (or California) spring?
All the best.
I dont post often, but I look at the forum all the time and find it really useful. I've had my T6 camper for 5 years now and wanted to make some observations and ask a few question on a topic that come up again and again.
My VW is stock and I'm a fairly gentle driver, although most milage is at the speed limit on the motorway. I've been really pleased with my T6, but, on the downside, found the ride jarring and the tyres lacking grip - they also developded a really loud droning noise after about 25, 000 miles, like a wheelbearing noise. Also, having read about it on here, I began to worry that my steering was pulling to the left. In addition to those two things, the rear has always "sagged", not improved by five years of use.
Firstly tyres - I covered 40,000 miles on the original Continental 206/65 R 16 tyres before changing them, after much searching and agonising, to Michelin CrossClimate 215/65 R 16, which has made a huge improvement. I don't know if it's mainly the tyre type or mainly the size change (which run at lower pressures), but it's a huge difference. Grip and ride comfort are both much improved. There is a slight whirring noise from the tread at low speed, but overall the noise level is lower than the Continentals. Surprisingly, the mpg is slightly up.
Secondly rear Suspension - I can see that T32 rear springs are often recommended for improving the situation on a T28 camper, so am inclined to try that, although I do have some questions, which I'll come to in a bit. I'm not sure that there is really a technical problem with the rear suspesion, rather that with the weight of the conversion and then sometimes the holiday stuff, the van is always running at about 75 - 90% of the load capacity, so some apparent sag is to be expected compared with a new and unloaded T28. I notice that the converters new 2024 T28 models also sag a bit. I'll come back to the springs.
Thirdly - pulling to the left. I never thought about it or worried at all until I read about on here, then I though "yes, mine does that" I realised that my Skoda Yeti also does it. I suspect that gravity is pulling them down the camber as the road mostly slopes from the middle to the left. In France it doesn't pull to the left at all, although I'm not sure that it pulls to the right as much as I thought it might. For me ignorance was bliss - until I read about the issue I didn't realise that I might have a problem. I think its maybe a bit like mild tinnitus - if you can tune it out it's not really a worry, but if you concentrate on it you can start to go mad.
I hope some of that strikes a chord, or is useful. Finally, although I know that there's a lot of info already on here, I wanted to ask about the rear springs. I can see that convertors have a lot of new springs for sale on ebay, taken off of new vans, both T32 and California. So far as the rear springs are concerned and given the spec of the van, replacing the stock T28 springs with something heavier duty seems like a sensible idea. From reading on here, I can see that there are various grades of spring fitted to T32 and Californina vehicles. A lot of the T32 springs that I have seen for sale have 3 grey marks, are they the best ones to go for or might the California springs be even stiffer? Also do I need to replace the spring seats if I go from a T28 spring to a T32 (or California) spring?
All the best.
