To help with road handling I am going to be fitting some new shocks along with a new heavy duty anti roll bar. However I have read that to improve handling even more (My main concern is how scary my van is in the wind) that some people also fit rear anti roll bars but that there is some modification needed to fit them. My questions are does anyone have a rear bar fitted and if so how much does it help with handling, is it worth doing, also how easy was it to fit? Cheers
you shouldn't just fit the front one, as upgrading just the front can lead to adverse handling... I've got front and rear HD roll bars, and my van handles like it's on rails round corners!!
Ive just go a front one on and gas shocks and it understeers horribly if you arent careful. Got a rear but not fitted it yet (had gassers on the rear to but they packed up and I binned em. Probably a good idea for me to swap the fronts for standard !
Have only a front fitted. Rear sat too near the floor, so removed it. Handeled fine with them both on, but was worried about clearence issues, and it still handles fine with just the front on. Disagree that you have to fit both. not all sports cars do. Yes a stiffer front ARB can enduce understear, but a softer rear end, with more roll, can enduce overstear. Can componsate everything with stiffer shocks and springs. (waiting for my GAZ coilovers to turn up !!) Never planning on driving mine quick enough to find out, but at the moment it handles ok. Have a rear Empi ARB with fittings, all packaged back up, if you are interested.
our westy was a bit wayward on handling - we replaced the following front dampers, anti roll bar and bushes dampers all round steering damper all of the ball joints, steering arms and draglink (its no race bus but it handles much better now) reset the tracking front & rear
If you're van's all over the road, you need to get the steering sorted, rather than the dampers (although a fresh set of shocks is good). Oil-filled Boges and the standard roll bar are fine (on my van at least). In good shape, the bus shouldn't roll excessively or get blown around.
The van handles ok on most roads but I struggle in winds on the road by the cliffs. Its the only way out from where I live so have to drive this route and on motorways but only in wind. I will be looking at the steering but also replacing shocks as the ones on there look pretty knackered. I do town, country and motorway driving but its the wind that causes all the issues.
Thats too many sprouts though isn't it? Check your steering damper. I fitted one of the cheap £10 cofap ones and it lasted a year (and only 400 miles) before it was too weak to do anything. Replacing it with a boge one made a big difference. Car spec tyres with 4 ply sidewalls can make a difference as they aren't firm enough so squash about. C or D (100/102) rated commercial 6 or 8 ply tyres with the correct pressures in make a difference too.
Not sure what the figurea mean but the tyres are firestone commercial rating 185/14 I think. To add to it my clutch cable snapped in the middle of going round a roundabout so had to pootle back in 1st. I had quite the queue of admirers behind me! I might get the shocks to start see what that does and consider hd rollbar at a later date
