Here's the update. I'm deliberately going to avoid phrases like "corners like it's on rails" and "night and day different" and try to put into words what's changed.
For context, I'm a staid, 57 year old, grey-haired bloke who has never felt the need to own a performance car. I had to sell my lovely Skoda Yeti when I bought the van and I still miss that car today. I drive a car like you ought to drive if you've stolen it - well within the law so as not to attract attention. But the van needed some work to fix things battered by our village speed bumps and I'd been persuaded by lots of posts I'd read on this forum that better suspension transforms the van and lowering would make it drive a little better.
So, yesterday morning, at 7am, I drove my 102HP T28 SWB camper van down the twisty and undulating A286, typical of Britain's shoddy, lumpy, potholed roads. Corner entry, even on slight bends, involved slowing down to avoid the potential of the van hitting a mid-corner dip and lurching towards the side of the road. Braking towards the apex of a bend risked even more lurching about as the van tended to rock forward and outward. Even the big, flat, well-surfaced roundabouts on the A27 involved a slowish, constant throttle trundle as the van would give that "I'm about to tip over" feeling if you went a little too quickly and had to back off. On straights, too, I've long been avoiding any kind of visible undulation, never mind potholes, as they would make the van jump just a little off track, which gave me no confidence at all with oncoming traffic and night driving on single-carriageway roads I found stressful.
All of this is in hindsight as I didn't know how bad the standard suspension, ride height and 16" wheels were or how hard I was having to work to make the van go where I wanted to. I found out on the way home.
I'd asked
@BognorMotors not to go too mad with the ride height as I live in a village with some vicious speed bumps. In the event, they ended up going most, if not all the way down (80ish, I think) on the front and leaving 5mm extra height at the rear for the weight of the awning and other junk we take with us when we're going away. Here are before and after shots of the rear wheel.
View attachment 217225View attachment 217226
Driving past Goodwood in the last hour of daylight, I fell in love with the van again. I was putting so much less effort into steering, making fewer inputs and gradually building confidence. It was coping with mid-corner bumps without drama, the wheel dropping into the dip without the van following suit. I had this odd feeling of being between the wheels rather than way above them. The light faded and my apprehension of night driving pretty much disappeared. The A286 was a joy to drive in the dark. And it cleared our vicious village ramps with ease.
So, what have I done to my van today? I've driven it on twisty A roads, looked at it a thousand times, grinned like an idiot at it and written this very wordy post about it.
I'd like to thank everyone at Bognor Motors for their help and advice, their friendly, completely un-pushy and professional manner and their coffee. I can't recommend them enough.
View attachment 217228great review! Are you able to share what struts, shocks and springs you had fitted?
