Evening Guys, my wife has had her bus Lola for a little over a week now and we are slowly ironing out her little wrinkles but she has been lowered. Can it be too low as the tyres sound like they are rubbing the inside of the wheel arches and we nearly lose our fillings when she hits even the mildest pothole. She was lowered professionally so could it be suspension component failure?
Do you know how the lowering was achieved? There's several ways to "skin that cat". I would check the condition of the shock absorbers, but she won't ride like a modern.
Cheers pal...yeah we weren't expecting a flying carpet but losing fillings?? We have only just acquired a tool to get the wheels off so I shall do a full inspection then stand round and scratch my head then pass it on to someone who knows better
I’m afraid that lowering a bus is not a science. The bus is the same weight but has less suspension movement which unfortunately has these little nuances that you mentioned in your first post. Some lowering is better than others however none will compare with stock. Ozziedog,,,,,,,,, very nice looking bus for sure.
Stock - you know it makes sense but then again it probably won't fit in your garage ... Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
That’s the reason that mine is lowered. I’m in the planning stages now to remove and raise a new beam / lintel to allow me a higher door set up then return to stock height. Low looks cool and rides like poooo. Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,, plus now I’m a tad older, but no fillings left
There’s a few threads on here that list out the ways of lowering. But in a nut shell... Lowered beam with adjusters (poke your head under the nose, you’ll see the adjuster) Cut and turned beam (you’ll see the weld on the beam) 1.5“ ish dropped spindles (should be able to see on full lock - steering joints should be the right way up) 2.5” (and the rest) flipped spindles (full lock, the steering joints will be upside down) Or a combination of the above. dropped spindles shouldn’t affect suspension travel, but there isn’t much room under a stock arch before the rub so often get stiffer dampers or coil overs are added to manage suspension travel. if you like the look and not the rubbing, you may find yourself on a path towards tubbed arches.... that’ll be cutting and welding a nice looking bus! enjoy it though!
Superb, the stuff of dreams. One observes an approaching pothole from on high & is vaguely aware of a soft, but distant thump.
Stock suspension is ace. When I unlowered one of mine I could go 20-30mph faster on bad roads. Lowered was like being on a bucking broncho though great on good roads.
Go stock! I’ve been taking ours down to the workshop once a week to work on the bug and the dirt track which destroyed the suspension on both my little Clio and Fiesta is no trouble (each of those cars cost less than £350 though and got driven like I stole them). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
define "lowered professionally"? i'm guessing that just means the PO paid someone to do it rather than home /shed diy approach, but as above, could be a bunch of different ways this could have been done although i fully respect all the "stock is best" comments above, i feel obliged to offer the counter argument; mines lower than yours and rides and handles better than it did when it was stock, and doesn't stop me getting in or out of any camping field. The caveat is though that this was not quick, cheap or easy to achieve..
Only risk with lovely stock suspension is cracking your head on the ceiling when you go over a speed bump...
I didn't want mine lowered so the only alternative was to do as you intend, raise the lintel and make the door bigger! !
Luckily I'm pretty short so no head banging for me (although a bit of Black Sabbath is always welcome).
french slammer / vintage autohaus -8cm adjustable beam set at max height with fs dropped spindles kyb gas-a-just dampers and a custom narrowed anti-roll bar, 17"x7 et43 wheels with 195/45 85xl tyres on the front.. rear has fs adjustable spring plates, wheels have 20mm spacers and 205/50 93xl tyres, stock dampers and heavy duty empi anti roll bar. new steering damper, coupler and replaced the steering box with good low miles original which made a big difference tbh the kyb's aren't great, will be replacing all the dampers at some point, likely with bilsteins as i've had good experiences with these on other vehicles.
