Mad Suspention Airbags

[CWARD]

Just had the misfortune of spending the day fitting Mad Suspension Airbags system to my brothers VRS estate as the back end is too soft for anything but the lightest of caravans. He didn't want stiffer springs as they're too harsh when no load on and also raise the backend. A couple of pointers to anyone wanting to fit this kit. 

Mad Suspension Airbags. Let's start with the instructions, they're terrible and extremely basic. If your not technically minded I wouldn't try this on your own. 

The kit comes with a pressure relief valve to prevent over-inflation. Check what this is operating at as his came set so high that it wasn't operating even though we'd nearly inflated one of the bags whilst testing to nearly double the maximum quoted psi. 

Without removing the springs the bags are very hard to get between the coils, obviously clean the springs up trying to fit. The bags are quite rigged so we tried to soften them up by submerging in hot water but it had little effect. Found the best solution was to coat them silicon spray which worked a treat. You still need to be careful not snag the brass pipe on the bag. The hose fitting to brass pipe is very tight and will test your patience. There is a protective spring to prevent the hose getting snagged in the coils. It's too big to grip the hose or the base of the airbag so wrap some insulation tape around the hose to bulk it out so the spring will grip and stay in place. 

Once you've routed and connected the hoses together with the push fit T joints then inflate the system and spray all the connections and bags with leak detection spray (a couple of £ from a hardware store). Ours leaked at one of the airbag to hose connections and without the spray was undetectable. 

Finally there is a low pressure warning buzzer which you'll need to find a live for, most likely us from the towbar electrics. The buzzer will sound when very low pressure is in the system so you will need to leave around 10psi in there which will stop and prevent the airbag dropping down inside the spring. I mounted the air valve, standard car type, just below the load cover panel on the offside near the light cluster. It's easy to get even when loaded, out of harms way and there is room behind those panels to hide the pressure relief valve and low pressure sensor and buzzer. 

It doesn't take much effort to inflate the system to maximum, even less with a compressor so I don't see any reason to spend the extra on the inflation kit. It's already overpriced without it. 

Hope this helps anyone thinking of buying and fitting this. 

 

[dr-knuckles]

Having scraped the ground too many times whilst using a tow bar on my VRS this summer I am thinking about fitting these, but wondered if there are any consequences when unloaded and at minimum pressure:  Does that car sit higher at the rear and is the ride quality any different?

 

Cheers.

[CWARD]

My brother has had these fitted for over a year now. Even though he no longer tows the caravan as it is sited, he still has the airbags fitted. 

The majority of the time they’ve been at the minimum pressure and only pumped up when taking trailers of rubble to the tip. 

I’ve borrowed his car when I’ve needed an estate and I think it handles better with the bags installed at minimum pressure than it did before they were fitted. The ride height is unchanged and that was one of the reason he went for airbags rather than springs. 

[dr-knuckles]

Many thanks, that's really useful.