Air suspension

[Mountainbiker]

Anyone running the VB air suspension on a carthago compactline ? Is it worth the money and how much would it cost? Does it self-level and would E&P levelling sytem be redundant. Just new and trying to get my head around all this stuff.

 

[Guigsy]

I've got VB 4c full air on my Fiat chassis 6m Geist. It made the ride quite a lot better, but it was a similar jump in improvement when we got rid of the camper tyres, so do that first.

Leveling is quite useful. We've not had to use ramps since as it can usually do the job. Not had to deal with a hilly pitch yet though. It can cope with mild slopes, but ram based levellers have much more travel. And you've still got some of the wobble, although probably a bit less as at least one of the airbags is probably bottomed out when leveled.

It's expensive, £8k when fitted this year. But I don't regret it.

 

[Mountainbiker]

Thanks for that - so what tyres do you run now and would it be worth a swop even if the tyres are new?

 

[Guigsy]

My Michelin Agilis Campers were a year old when I got the van. So they had a ton of life left. I swapped for Continental VanContact 4Seasons. Mainly because Continental publish charts so I had a justification for not running the tyres at 80psi like the manual says. For £650, the comfort change was quite considerable.

 

[Russell's Dad]

I have found that altering the tyre pressures on my i138 Compactline made a big difference to the comfort and handling. The Carthago recommended pressures are in the manual and inside the fuel flap. When you get your new van, stick near to these and don't run at the high pressures your new van will probably arrive with. I still have the original Agilas campers, so I can't make any comparison with other tyres.

My next bit of advice is to get your van and use it for a while and then decide if you need air, levelling and lithium. ( Unless you have money to burn, then just get it all fitted straight away).

I do not have any of these and have no problem with power from spring through to autumn on the 2x gels and 150w solar. We tend to stay between 1 and 5 days in any one place. Battery has never been below 75% even with a few hours telly use. Normally charged by the solar and back on "float" before lunchtime in good weather.
Using Milenco ramps isn't too difficult on this size of van.
My van has hab air-con, which was already fitted. This has been great in really hot weather as long as ehu is available, but to be honest I've used it maybe a dozen times in a year. It is not quiet.

The van doesn't wobble hugely when parked up.

The only thing I may consider adding to my van is adjustable rear air suspension as the back end can be a bit soft when loaded, and to help with payload and levelling. If you have an automatic van on order it will probably already have uprated front suspension fitted ( not air though).

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[Russell's Dad]

Just to add to my last post, here are Carthagos pressure recommendations. At 2400kg on the axle with 225/16 CPs it's 65psi.