The off-road corner

Hi guys,

I'm opening this thread to share any information or ask any qeluestion related to the Cali off-road world.

To start I'd like to ask VB Susoension user how are they doing when off-road and whether any additional maintenance are required to, for example, avoid puntures in the suspension.

Another question us which tyres are you using, and which measure.

Wouldn't this be better as a dedicated topic area (Admins?) so we don't have to lump all our discussions into one thread?

We could add a new section here for 'off road'? https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/forums/having-fun-with-your-california.61/

Martin said:

We could add a new section here for 'off road'? https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/forums/having-fun-with-your-california.61/

Click to expand...

Yes, there is one in there, but could I request an "Overlanding" topic area under travel?

I have put it in here for now rather than have two 'off road' sections, we have created new sections in the past and they have gone unused so I will keep an eye on how active this becomes.

Afraid this may take a while, the VB Air suspension owners are too busy having fun with their Cali to answer our questions

I myself was wondering if the VB Air suspension "sports" mode on highways leads to improved fuel consumption and if that's measurable. Also I contacted now 4 companies for a quote (2 belgian, 2 dutch), none of them has replied. I got them from the VB official dealer list.

We've had the VB air subs for 18 months now, and overall it's been very good,with no problems of note. It occasionally gets a little beefy if you turn the ignition but do not switch on, but switching off fully and restarting the whole process does a reset.

We have not done serious off roading as yet, but do venture up rutted tracks etc.

I would classify its function by the settings buttons

Auto level : absolutely the best feature, no more faff with chocks, sink not emptying or sliding to bottom of bed etc. All sorted in a minute of parking up unless on serious incline. The other half would not countenance camping without this feature

Off road setting: additionally useful for clunky ferries and other accessing a where on the 4 motion the back end will scape etc.

Sport mode: better ride on motorways and I think it improves fuel by maybe 2 mpg, ( based on forgetting to switch it on sometimes), more meaningfully it takes a bit of the long bounce out of the air sus on the faster road. Also a bit lower under the French height barriers

Other major benefits are the park mode that lets you limbo in to multi storey car parks...... We have often got into places where it would otherwise be really stressful, and leave the van on down mode

The airbags of the suspension system are pretty well tucked away, but they do need an annual check over, but so far so good.

We use OEM tyres on for summer and winter tyres for snow times etc. I'm sure more extreme types are taking things further, but for us the true potential for camping off the beaten track is enhanced by the air set up and gives us better utility and value.....also feels less likely to prang the investment doing what it's designed to do

Do you have the standard system or the one that increases height by 3cm standard?
If not, why not, did you consider it?

I think I read somewhere that with VB Air suspension the max weight of the vehicle increases (or can be increased?) to max 3.2tons compared to 3.08 for the classic 4motion or 3.0 for the 2wd. Can anyone confirm?

Our system does elevate to off-road which I think is the extra height, but that option came as part of the package with Autolevel. There is a thread somewhere here that a Dutch contributor confirms the increase in payload to 3.25 tonnes gross weight I think. Certainly the previous sit down that the 4 motion has as standard goes away and the sink always drains!

The leaflet here clearly shows 2 different systems 'VB standard kit' and 'VB increased elevation kit' and there is no mention that the latter can only be done on 4Motion
http://www.vbairsuspension.com/upload/files/00000793.pdf
in dutch sorry, but translated summary:

Standard kit: (front / rear)
Driving height: 760 / 770 mm
Highest position (0-5km/u): + 60 / 50 mm
Lowest Position (0-5km/u): - 80 / 100 mm
Sport height (Independent of speed): - 25 mm
Off road height (0-25km/u): + 30 mm
Parking garage height (0-25km/u): - 70 / 90 mm

Increased elevation kit:
Driving height: 790 / 800 mm
Highest position (0-5km/u): + 60 / 50 mm
Lowest Position (0-5km/u): - 80 / 130 mm
Sport height (Independent of speed): - 35 mm
Off road height (0-25km/u): + 30 mm + 30 mm
Parking garage height (0-25km/u): - 70 / 120 mm

So it looks like this VB increased elevation kit had 3cm higher standard height, and can lift the van up to 9cm. They adjust sport height to get slightly below unmodified height, which keeps the van < 2m

Next year I will most likely elevate my Cali with something from terranger along with 18" wheels and 255/55R18 General Grabber AT2 tires.
http://www.terranger.de/epages/6291...ukte_passend_fuer_VW_T6/Fahrwerk_Hoeherlegung

zeratul said:

Do you have the standard system or the one that increases height by 3cm standard?
If not, why not, did you consider it?

I think I read somewhere that with VB Air suspension the max weight of the vehicle increases (or can be increased?) to max 3.2tons compared to 3.08 for the classic 4motion or 3.0 for the 2wd. Can anyone confirm?

Click to expand...

There are indeed two variants. One with standard height, and the various settings (sport, off road, parking garage) increase/decrease from there. One with an increased standard height (+ 3 cm), and the various settings increase/decrease from there. If you choose e.g. the off road setting there, you will then be 6 cm higher than a normal Cali.
Based on the air suspension we were able to have the max weight of our Cali increased from 3000 to 3250 kg.


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk

So you have the standard one? A tough decision.. the standard one can decrease fuel consumption on highways and we will always drive more on highways.. But the extra 3cm can make a significant difference offroad. With larger tyres, in highest position a lift of 11cm. Would bring clearance to 31cm, getting close to the Defender clearance (31.4cm). Of course, it will never be a Defender.

kave said:

Next year I will most likely elevate my Cali with something from terranger along with 18" wheels and 255/55R18 General Grabber AT2 tires.
http://www.terranger.de/epages/6291...ukte_passend_fuer_VW_T6/Fahrwerk_Hoeherlegung

Click to expand...

Thought about it (and Seikel's), it's cheaper, but you'll never be able to enter a parking garage of 2m anymore, and on the french highways you'll pay more... so I won't go that route.

Why not get the high version? It can be used in sport setting which lowers it 25mm front and 35 rear?
6970€ including mounting from terranger http://www.terranger.de/epages/6291...ath=/Shops/62914780/Products/TA-T5-104-10-001

This looks like a relabeled VB Air suspension kit "increased elevation", just 1-2K euro extra.

Where do you buy a VB kit incl installation on the van for 4000-5000€?

Well this one is 6.970 EUR. For VB Air sus with auto level excl paperworks and emergency inflation valves (which are not included here either) I have an offer here for 5.555 EUR. Others here have reported 5.000EUR. In my opinion this is already more than enough. 7K.. can't justify that.

Is that with the offroad model or without?
Sounds like a better price. I guess the installation is a big bart of the cost?

It doesn't explicitly list the amount of work (just mentioned it's included) but I found "17 hours" on some other link.
I was also told the increased elevation model is the same price as the standard one. I don't have that on paper yet though.

zeratul said:

I was also told the increased elevation model is the same price as the standard one. I don't have that on paper yet though.

Click to expand...

That was the case when we had ours done as well. No price difference, just make sure you order the kit you want, not the wrong one.

We decided in the end for the 'regular' height kit. The Cali is one big compromise anyway, and where we liked the extra stability and versatility of air suspension (Don't forget the extra stability! On here we tend to focus on it's off road setting), and where we DO go off the beaten track regularly (with all kinds of mods, as you guys know), 80% of what we do is on normal roads still. And together with our solar panel on top and the bigger AT's, with the extra lift kit we would have had difficulties with our parking garage...

kave said:

Why not get the high version? It can be used in sport setting which lowers it 25mm front and 35 rear?
6970€ including mounting from terranger http://www.terranger.de/epages/6291...ath=/Shops/62914780/Products/TA-T5-104-10-001

Click to expand...

Terranger resells Seikel and others

I think seikel desert kit is very good option. Seikel is vw partner and you can order this suspension directly from factory. But for more than 3000€. I will fit Seikel on my new beach in few weeks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was mulling a lot over the idea of retrofit Seikel kits, but one of the main reasons I've got a Cali is the benefucts of it size, includibg the height, on top of the cons of the size.

If I'll havd mode cons than benefits (higher than 2m is not good) doesn't make sense to me have a Cali rathers than a Sprinter or a Ducato 4x4.

That's because to me the VB suspension could be my choice. But I won't pay much more than 5K EUR, mainly now that the Pound value is simlilar to the Monololy notes J

Why not set up a "join venture" and ask for a bugdget for all of us interested?

I guess asking for a budget for 4-5 Calis could help up getting better price.