Lowering?

[xt600]

As part of my ongoing Bongo modifications I'm considering stiffening and lowering my suspension. I have a new set of larger wheels, which will raise the height by 10mm. I now want to lower the body to stiffen up the ride, and make it handle better on the bends. I'm considering lowering by 40mm (effectively 30mm when taking new wheels into equation) Has anyone here lowered and if so by how much? And how does it look/feel/perform now?

[Jim the Box]

My issues I had with the lowering springs were
Speed bumps in towns in fact I could only use one road to exit my own town or I risked bottoming the van when passing over the speed bumps.
Secondly uneven ground on campsites can also be a problem.
The final straw that made me remove them was they were so firm, when driving over the expansion gaps on the forth road bridge the rough ride was horrendous especially for people in the back, my bongo looked good and handled well on corners, but I found it impractical for the above reasons and also travelling on many of the Scottish minor roads.

[xt600]

Do you know how much yours was lowered by Jim? Also, did you have the standard wheels (215/70/15) fitted?

[Jim the Box]

Lowered by 25-30 mm tyres were 215 65/15 advertised the lowered springs for sale page on the bongo website, but no takers ended up giving them away.

[xt600]

Lowered by 25-30 mm tyres were 215 65/15 advertised the lowered springs for sale page on the bongo website, but no takers ended up giving them away.

I'm surprised the ride was so rough if only lowered 25-30 and on that sized tyres. Did you measure the lowered springs against some originals to come up with that figure Jim?

[Jim the Box]

That was the difference in height from ground to wheel arch after fitting standard springs, 25mm front axel and 30mm higher on the rear, don't know if the lowered springs were actually bottoming out but the ride was certainly improved after fitting the std springs, I also fitted air assistors to the rear springs this did not raise the suspension any, but I felt it did improve the handling.
The bongo came imported as a tintiop with the springs already lowered in Japan, I had a conversion done (full side conversion) a towbar fitted, an LPG conversion, a bak-rak mounted on my towbar carrying a full size spare wheel, possibly with all the weight from the additions the lowered springs may have been found wanting with the extra load.

[xt600]

That was the difference in height from ground to wheel arch after fitting standard springs, 25mm front axel and 30mm higher on the rear, don't know if the lowered springs were actually bottoming out but the ride was certainly improved after fitting the std springs, I also fitted air assistors to the rear springs this did not raise the suspension any, but I felt it did improve the handling.
The bongo came imported as a tintiop with the springs already lowered in Japan, I had a conversion done (full side conversion) a towbar fitted, an LPG conversion, a bak-rak mounted on my towbar carrying a full size spare wheel, possibly with all the weight from the additions the lowered springs may have been found wanting with the extra load.

You're right that's a lot of extra weight! Mine will have a similar extra load, but probably without the spare wheel. I'm wondering whether the Japanese springs were lowered but not uprated, and maybe that was the problem. Also, if you fitted second hand springs to replace your lowered ones then they may have been anything up to 20 years old so would probably have settled a bit lower than new ones. Thanks for sharing your experience, I'm now erring on the side of caution and thinking I'll go 30mm and not 40. Currently my Bongo scrapes the top of the garage door, but with the new wheels taking it's height up 10mm it won't fit in. A 30mm drop should make for a nice snug fit

[Jim the Box]

With living and touring mainly in Scotland I feel the full sized spare is essential, we were at Lossiemouth 2 weeks ago and Belladrum last weekend, and neither place had any phone network thus unable to call out any breakdown services in the event of a puncture, some areas of Scotland on the sabbath nothing moves, and many areas are pretty remote with not a town never mind a city for many miles, I also feel by the time I realise I may have a puncture and 2 tonne of bongo slows down, a tin of tyre inflator may be useless as the tyre could be in shreds.

[Spencer54]

Friend of mine has one with a full lowering kit from someone in Japan.
Whoever owned it that side of the water spent a few quid as it has full Mazdaspeed accessories all over it.

It has been lowered at least 40mm by my reckoning, is on 17 split rims, and has a full Mazdaspeed bodykit and exhaust. The ride on it is superb, he does 500 miles a week in it in and out to his home in Lincolnshire to London.

So my thoughts are there are lowering kits and lowering kits.
I think a decent expensive one will be fine, but cut down springs or just springs on old shocks could be dreadful.

I was going to do mine, and I have the rear springs already - but I think a full set ripped off a bongo would be the way to go like his rather than a bodge.

[Jim the Box]

I have a full Mazdaspeed body kit on mine including Mazda speed skirts, mesh grill etc (have only seen 2 other grills like it in 4 years) so would be a bit surprised if they compromised on the springs, as I said the handling was very good just not suitable for speed bumps and rural Scottish roads. I even fitted18" alloys as I so much wanted to keep them on the van looked great however it just was not practical for my location.

[xt600]

I'm having mine made to spec, 25% stiffer to account for the extra weight. When they're made and fitted, I'll let you know how they perform

[Gasy]

Hi
What is the height of your rear wheel arch from the floor please Jim
With your new springs on
I want to raise / lift mine
Well it is a 4x4

[Jim the Box]

Will check and post later today, van is empty of all equipment at the moment so it will be at maximum height.

[Gasy]

Many thanks ^^^^^^

[New Forest Terrier]

Don't know if this muddies the water or helps. My tin top is 28.5 inch 73 cm from ground to top of wheel arch. This is running on 17in wheels, as imported. I calculate a lower of 10 to 15 cm. It does not have blue lowering springs, but is definitely lowered. It shows up as lower in a line of Bongos, plus two unlowered Bongos, including an Aero can get down my drive with easy clearance of the steep angle whilst I scrape if the line is not right.

The road holding is excellent but I would not to go any further down, for fear of speed bumps.