Eibach 45mm Solow springs

[Solow Suspension]

Hi, to help people, I thought I'd share this question I've been asked incase anyone else had been incorrectly told the same thing.

The Solow / Eibach 45mm spring we do is 100% made by Eibach. The reason it's not available on the Eibach website is it's exclusive to, and designed by us with Eibach. Eibach refer to it as a 'white label' product. We took the information from the springs Eibach made for VW for the 30mm Sportline spring. We then trialed different drops. The goal was to get the biggest drop without sacrificing ride quality. This is the best drop on springs alone you can get before the ride becomes 'crashy' We tried lower but after lots of testing, 45mm came up the best. It was surprising to us how even an extra 5mm to 50mm reduced the comfort.

If budget only allows for springs, we believe these are the best spring only option on the market. Ideally when lowering the springs, you really want to shorten the damper too. Thats where the Solow, Bilstein and Twin Adjust Projekt coilovers come in for the ultimate in comfort, ride, handling, reduced body roll and sway.

Anyway, I hope this helps others.

 

[T6_FunBus]

Thats good news, as I can confirm how awful cheap -50mm springs are on standard shockers. Crashy, bouncy, it still rolls, all it does is get the van lower, everything else is awful about a 50mm drop on standard shockers. Especially with lower profile tyres and large alloys.

 

[Solow Suspension]

The shorter the spring, on an original damper, the worse that crashy ride will be.

 

[CRS Performance]

There are some major factors in fitting springs alone , one being the standard shocks . A serviceable part of the car that definitely WONT last forever !! . At 60 to 80 k miles they will definitely not work as well as they did new and wont be happy with lowering springs (what ever the height) . Its impossible to assess the condition of a shock at any given time in its life with out dyno-ing it . VW would never give out the details of the damper forces anyway so its pretty much down to the mileage to give us an idea of the result we would expect .
Normally clients buying springs alone are on a budget and cant stretch to the hi cost of quality sport , sleeve over and coil over kits that come with better shocks .

There fore results will vary based on two major things . The age and condition of their shocks and the weight of the van .

We have a range of 14 different spring kits that we use on transporters , and the reason is that "one size doesn't suit all " in a Transporter because they have vastly different weights to deal with. A 102 HP T28 panel van will drop approx 40 mm with a correctly spec-d 40 mm H&R spring 29270-1 as an example , BUT fit that spring into a 4 motion California and you can expect a drop of 70 to 80 mm with terrible results .

The reason I point out to clients that 45 mm Eibach and 50 mm H&R springs aren't on the respective manufacturers catalogues or web sites is that these manufacturers know these facts and the limits of lowering with standard shocks along with the impact of heavier vans . H&R as an example make lots of parts that they dont agree with in principal. But If someone is happy to order them in quantity they will make them to their spec its really that simple .

To summarise , its imperative to make sure the spring you buy does what it says on the tin if your van is a heavy one , i would recommend buying the smallest drop spring you can and hope it doesn't go too low . We do a lot of spring only kits to the trade and we try to aim for 35 to 40 mm to make sure the ride is ok , these vans are usually low mileage so results are fine , If you put a spring that drops the van 50 to 60 mm physically with old shocks it will ride badly .

As Solow pointed out at 50 mm the ride was distinguishably worse than at 45 mm . it is amazing what that little difference makes and therefore important to know that the spring you buy can carry the weight of your van at the drop you want. We must also assume that the tests were done on a newish van so that the standard shocks would be at their best ??

 

[Solow Suspension]

Worth noting there are some very good adjustable lowering spring sets on the market, also made by Eibach and with TUV approval. (for the German users on this forum) These are particularly good if the weight of your vehicle is likely to change. This could be as your build changes or even if you have a heavy camper you load up for holiday's. The adjustability on the rear allow's you to get the front and your rear balance exactly right, which make a big difference to the ride and handling. We would always recommend having your suspension installed by an approved installer, with the vehicle at the heaviest expected weight, for example with all your camping gear on board.

Eibach Adjustable Lowering Springs - 35-40mm | Transporter HQ

These Eibach adjustable lowering springs are super useful for leveling out a camper conversion that is now rear heavy as a result.

transporterhq.co.uk