Auxillary Spring assistors - Grayston Vs MAD

[Damian]

Afternoon all,
I'm looking into replacing the standard rear springs on my 2007 Mondeo, for progressive springs. The two main manufacturers being, Grayston Engineering or MAD. Both companies offer the same product but MAD are £45 dearer! Has anyone had experience of either of these makes or can recommend either of them?
Cheers
Gazza

 

[RogerL]

Generally - MAD supply auxilliary variable-rate springs which have more effect when laden, less effect when running light - Grayston supply rubber doughnuts to stiffen the existing springs both laden and unladen..
In general, MAD are better but more expensive.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Gazza,

Car manufactures do a lot of work to establish the correct spring rates for their products. If you think that when you load your car or add a trailer, the car is too low, then unless there is damage or wear to suspension systems, it almost certainly means you have over loaded the car.
The way to tell if the car is too low is to maesure the height of the LOADED towball and car when fully loaded to manufactureres specifications it shouldl sit no lower than 350mm from ground to centre of the ball.
The use of spring assistes are never necessary, all they do is change ride heights to suite the owners whim. Most importantly they do not increase the load capacity, and they should not be used to repair a faulty vehicle

 

[RogerL]

John - I hope you're going to get spring assisters banned then - you'd better include self-levelling suspenion as that isn't "necessary".

 

[ProfJohnL]

Roger,

Of course I'm not going to get them banned, as some people may want to customise a car and that their right. But as with the towing ratio debate, if people make choices based on misconceptions then the choices may be wrong, and at worst lead them into an illegal act.
In this type of case if someone finds a car that is bottoming when loaded, then simply fitting uprated springs is probably the wrong solution, as the cause is most likely over loading which is illegal, and dangerous.
You seem to be a knowlegable person, yet I am surprised at the number times you knock comments that are aimed at informing people of the logic and legal issuses of a subject.
Never accept 'traditions' and 'common sense' at face value. Quite often you find these matters are based on ideas that may have been formed without proper investigation or evaluation, but because of the herding instinct, and the dogmatic repetition, they have become quasi facts, which is why they so often fail offer the best or even legal soltions.

 

[Gazza1]

Evening all and thanks for your replies. I have to say and much to my wife’s annoyance, that I am very keen on weights, so much so I have weighed my outfit and then the car and van individually, so I am confident (given the tolerances given by the weigh bridge operator as + or - 50Kg) that my car and van fully laden are not overweight. That said I still believe the car sits too low and would benefit from progressive springs. MAD have commented that their springs will raise the ride height of the car by 10-15mm, which has put me off! Grayston on the other hand say that their progressive springs do not alter the unladen ride height and as designed only benefit the laden ride height of the car. Since Grayston are £45 cheaper and do not alter the unladen ride height, I guess my business will go to them. Thanks again for your replies. Gazza

 

[SteveG1]

Hi Gazza Earlier this year I lost a jockey wheel on a speed hump. I checked the tow ball which was at the correct height of 420mm. above ground level, but with the van on the springs were a bit soft and despite adjusting the loading and double checking the nose weight, I thought the tow ball was a bit low so I fitted a MAD suspension kit. Brilliant! The tow ball was at 460mm. above ground level but this has settled. Plenty of ground clearance now. Also, probably due to the stiffer supplementary springs, the van does not seem to move the van much - when say you are over taken by large vehicles. I would recommend them. Steve G.

 

[otherclive]

I have seen lots of current and former Mondeos on sites, and as a previous owner of three Mondeos I cannot recall any loading issues with my cars (estates) or anyone mentioning any such issues. Surely given the awards received by Mondeos if the rear was soft then the cars noted ride and handling would not receive such good reviews. Possibly you may be feeling normal ride changes due to a loaded car/towball. Is it a new car to you? I would check the noseweight and distribution of load in the car first and then if it still does not seem right have it checked out at a garage. Are you an experienced caravanner or relatively new as if the latter the motion due to having a car loaded and van attached can be a bit disconcerting at first.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Steve G,

I amsure you will have read my previus comments regarding the neccesity of spring assistors.

You shoudl also be made aware that there are reulations that define the limits of height for loaded towballs 350 t0 420mm from the ground to the centre of the ball.

By adding your assistors you now have an outfit that fails fo meet that regulation.

If your jockewheel caught a speed hump, then either the hump was to high, or you had not fully retracted your jockewheel.

By over elevating the hitch, you will find the tail of your caravan is now lower that it should be.

 

[otherclive]

My recent reply pos has'nt shown through although the website shows eight posts. Here we go again! I have had three Mondeo estates and none have required any form of spring assistance. Given that the current model has won awards for ride/handling solo and twoing I cannot believe that it would be improved by fitting assisters. Are you sure that the car is properly loaded and that the noseweight of the van is within the car's specified limit? Do you carry bikes on the back of the car as these would tend to act in the same way as a noseweight that is too heavy. One other aspect is the feel of the car when towing is different to when solo and for some drivers it takes time to get used to it. Is this a new car to you, or are you a new caravanner? If none of the above applies then I would have the car checked out for any suspension issues before fitting any assisters. I have seen countless Mondeos arrive on site and cannot recall thinking 'That looks very low'.

 

[Lutz]

If you raise the towball to a higher position after measuring the noseweight with the caravan standing level (which quite a lot of people apparently incorrectly do) then the actual noseweight after hitching up will be less than what was originally measured. This introduces an added risk.