VB semi air or full air

WESTY66 said:
It will ride so much better! I only have full rear air and it’s far better than semi air! I can only imagine how good full air is, I could never afford full air, BUT If I could I wouldn’t hesitate, the vans good for it and soon after you’ve had it done it will be near perfect!!
Oh and if you haven’t got levelling, get that at same time, just think Al, all this work on electrics, suspension and levelling will still be CHEAPER than changing vans👍
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I’m intrigued why you say full air on your rear axel is better than semi air Ade

can you expand on that mate
 
Al n Val said:
I’m intrigued why you say full air on your rear axel is better than semi air Ade

can you expand on that mate
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I can and I can’t as I don’t know the set up on tags if I’m honest, I’ve had a go in semi on a single axle and as you know I’m on rear air 2C and the ride is noticeably better, I’m of the opinion that full air is a superior set up and that’s the reason it’s on premium motorhomes and is the way forward, it’s happened on trucks and is now standard (other than 8 wheel tippers) and on most HGV trailers. I think someone has previously said try and find one to have a go in and/do contact a few installers and ask their point of view, do some research. I’m not being flippant Al, and I know you could have any motorhome you wanted, but against the cost of it and the cost to change, it might just be the icing on the cake to settle your mind once and for all and you will keep the Rap and enjoy it that much you won’t need to look around to change for a while.
BUT if there’s still the slightest niggle that you want to change, don’t get it, you will be wasting your money.
If you do go ahead I think you will have the ultimate rapido😉👍👍
 
We have factory GS on ours, also double axle with full air. We like the fact that we can lower the van all round before levelling, you could argue that you could just use the air suspension to level which it will although it won’t steady the van like jacks. Then of course you have all those additional controls with a full system like lifting the front or back for steep access points, plus water emptying etc. For us the ride is coach like, very floaty and very nice, just a different league than our previous semi air/rear axle only system.

Lovely to have but chuffing expensive, as said ours was on from the factory.

Ooh another “useful”😂 feature is that we can lower ours for motorway use ie it drops the whole van a tad in order to reduce fuel and make it a bit steadier with side winds, honestly not sure it does much but it’s another button i can push 😁
 
Out of interest what did you go for in the end as I am thinking about adding VB air to the rear of my rapido tag axle to avoid the dreaded scrape on my towbar when going on and off ferries? My motorhome is 2017 so been driving it for a while as is but I wont be getting another.

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I’ve had VB semi air fitted and running at 2.5bar, it’s still early days but since i’ve had it done and also changed all 6 tyres to Michelin Cross Climates I really do notice a difference in ride quality especially the front end so the tyres imo are making the biggest difference.

We set off in less then 4 weeks on our trip to Spain and possibly Portugal so i’ll be trying different pressures as we go along, Mick from SAP recommended 3.2 bar when fully loaded so that’s what i’ll do, i’ll travel full fresh water tank so that alone is 300kgs.

As previously mentioned it was all only a weight upgrade exercise but i’m not regretting any of it apart from the overall cost which has been close to £5k including new rear rams needed to accommodate the VB air .

Hey ho! it’s only money 👍😉
 
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Is that vb semi on both front and back? We usually travel with the same full fresh tank (300litres)
 
zac said:
Is that vb semi on both front and back? We usually travel with the same full fresh tank (300litres)
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No just on the rear 2 axels, when the van was brand new it went straight to SAP on trade plates to have all the extras fitted, these extras included front VB Comfort springs and EP hydraulic levellers 👍
 
Ok thanks, ours went straight to SAP as well from new to have the E&P fitted but at the time he didn't think I needed the VB so didn't go for it (wished I had now though as back then it was 5k for full all round and now it triple that but that was nearly 8 years ago ). Will get a quote but will likely need the front springs replaced as well.
 
Is yours an i1090 Distiction btw?

tbh i’m glad I didn’t have full air either at the time or now.

Full air is £11k now and i’m so pleased with the ride as is the £7k saved has paid for all the massive electrical upgrades i’ve also recently had done and I know i’ll benefit massively from those a lot than full air which I didn’t need.

Mick also told me I didn’t need and wouldn’t benefit from full air so I appreciated his honesty.

Getting the balance of upgrades has been a nice learning curve and i’m very happy now with the van and looking forward to a lot more long distance touring that’s hopefully to come.

Safe travels - Al 👍

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Al n Val said:
Is yours an i1090 Distiction btw?

tbh i’m glad I didn’t have full air either at the time or now.

Full air is £11k now and i’m so pleased with the ride as is the £7k saved has paid for all the massive electrical upgrades i’ve also recently had done and I know i’ll benefit massively from those a lot than full air which I didn’t need.

Mick also told me I didn’t need and wouldn’t benefit from full air so I appreciated his honesty.

Getting the balance of upgrades has been a nice learning curve and i’m very happy now with the van and looking forward to a lot more long distance touring that’s hopefully to come.

Safe travels - Al 👍
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Ours is a 10000 DFH 2017 Tag axle. Is Mick still at SAP as last I heard he was not involved like he used to be. He was not there when I was there last March for a service on the E&P and to be honest I wasnt too happy with the comms from them leading up to that appointment.
Prior to this I thought they were excellent and Mick always went the extra mile but I think that may have changed.
I will probably go with someone else to get the vb fitted unless Mick is now back.
 
I’d rather not say on an open forum why he wasn’t there last year as he had a really rough time, pm me if you want to know.

He was definitely there for me when the suspension was fitted and he was on the VB stand at the NEC when we had a good chat and he talked me through the VB system and its merits
 
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Al n Val I am glad you’re happy with the semi air and as you also have jacks I think that with a tag axle it may have been the right solution. For completeness for others with a similar question.
Judy & I were in a similar situation to you. We couldn’t find any newer Motorhome’s that we liked and certainly didn’t like the prices so we decided to spend money on our 12 year old A-class Hymer with Alko chassis but not tag.
We decided to go for full air 4C at a ridiculous £9k. I resent every penny of the cost. But wouldn't be without it now. The boss also thinks it's fantastic and worth every penny.
We had it fitted in May and set off for three months wild camping in June to Scandinavia. The crashing on bumps at the front is a little reduced, not as much as I was hoping for but enough to be noticeable. The straight line stability and lorry effect is also a little improved as is roundabout lean.
Being able to lift the back for ferries is fantastic as our rear end often grounded. I had grounding wheels on the rear chassis but forgot to lift the back on the first ferry and ripped one wheel off. I didn’t forget again and consequently saved a lot of rear end damage as we did very many ferries.
We were able to level every time we stopped which was great. You have jacks so not a problem for you, but I wouldn’t like to use jacks when wild camping.
We went on some quite rough roads so being able to lift the whole vehicle while moving was great ensuring no damage.
On this trip we blew a turbo hose off, putting the vehicle into limp mode. I could lift the front fully so I could get under the front to re-fix it, so a bonus there. And saved many hours calling the AA to do it or risking working under it lifted by jacks.
All in all I am very pleased with the result. But expensive.
 
OldAgeTravellers

hi Steve

interesting to hear what differences you thought having full air brought to the table, luckily we’ll never ground getting on/off ferries as Val will never go via sea….. ever lol, so that’s not an issue for us 😀

I’m inclined to think after having the VB comfort coils on the front did 2 things. It raised the front ride height which is what I wanted and a bonus was to improve the crashing albeit imo only slightly.

Now as mentioned, the Cross Climates tyres have, once again imo, transformed the crashing issue to such an extent that i’d call it a revelation. A friend who’s had them for about 2 years reckons they are a lot quieter regarding road noise and i’m inclined to agree with him.

Being a tag axel we don’t really suffer from sway when cornering or when anything big passes us but that’s not often as i tend to sit at around 62mph. This allows me to pass the hgv’s safely.

Another thing which I love is our 2 way reversing camera, I can select on the radio head unit to have a permanent rear view, so when I see the hgv cab in the display I know i’m passed and I can safely pull in. This is great and i’d recommend it 100%.

I’m intrigued why you wouldn’t want levelling rams when wilding and I love the fact I can get all 6 wheels off the floor which as you say allows lots of clearance to crawl underneath if ever needed.

I’d considered internal mirror cameras but keep reading they’re good but not without issues such as poor night vision and misting, tbh I try not to drive when dark as much as possible.

Another possibility are external cameras that daveclare has had fitted and a waste drain camera and monitor which i’ve already got but not yet fitted.

I’m resigned to think we’ll be keeping this motorhome now for as long as i’m able to drive it, it has more or less everything we want/need. it’s very comfortable and now all the issues have been ironed out under warranty we’re back in love with it again.

Enjoy your travels and hope to meet up for a chinwag somewhere

Al 👍

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Al n Val said:
I’d rather not say on an open forum why he wasn’t there last year as he had a really rough time, pm me if you want to know.

He was definitely there for me when the suspension was fitted and he was on the VB stand at the NEC when we had a good chat and he talked me through the VB system and its merits
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Good to know he is still a part of it as he was very good.
 
Our last Hymer had an incredibly hard crashing ride and was really badly affected by crosswinds to the point of being downright dangerous to drive.
Had full air fitted it was the miracle cure, after fitting unaffected by sidewinds, very strong ones would rock the van but it would keep at dead straight line even if you took your hands off the wheel. Could go past arctics at 70 without a murmer. Ride comfort was greatly improved but not as much as expected.

Current Carthago is a lot smaller at 6.7m we were going to get full air but our first long trip was an eye opener. It has VB front struts and handles almost as well as the Hymer did with full air. No problems with crosswinds or going past artics.
Most of the crashing hard ride appears to come from the rear so we have decided just to have semi air on the rear.

Van is going in tomorrow for VB semi air & E&P Jacks.
 

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