Upgrading the Suspension

After driving the van for 2.5 years, I was very familiar with the top-heavy wobbling of the van on curves, washboards, and other bumpy terrain. I read many recommendations to upgrade the suspension to improve handling, and after conferring my with trusted advisors at San Carlos German Auto Works, I opted for the Van Compass suspension upgrade.  They have recently changed their naming conventions, so I'll avoid calling it a 'Stage X', and just say that we installed the Fox shocks on the front and back, along with a Sumo spring in the front, costing about $2000. After doing this, I can see that the van's rear is about 1.5" lower in the back than in the front, so it may be useful to install the VC mini leaf spring in the rear as well.

The result is a van with better handling. Rather than wobbling through curves, it now seems to hug the road, carving through curves. The wobbles are greatly dampened, and the experience of riding in the van is more pleasant. 

In the front, the original shocks are left in place, and one more is added to each side, Here is a photo of the front driver's side, showing the new VC shock and its special mounting bracket, with the original shock shown at the right.

You can see the top of the additional shock mounting point from inside the engine compartment.

The rear shocks were simply replaced with the new VC shocks.

UPDATE July 2021

We finally got around to adding the rear mini-leaf spring to address the 1-2" sag that we were seeing in the rear. This cost approximately $800 with labor in California.

In this photo, the new leaf spring is the glossy black item beneath the older springs.

It seems that we gained about 2 inches of height in the rear, giving it the appearance of being slightly raked forward.

So, in summary, we installed 2 additional shocks in the front, 2 in the rear, a Sumo spring in the front, and the mini-leaf springs in the rear. Love the ride and the handling.

21-Sept-2020