Thanks for the all the info on the T32 springs and HD shocks, I've really looked into them. Personally I'm after the Pedders 45/50mm rear lift for my 4 Motion. Even with little weight on board my mud flaps and even the tow bar are regularly dragging on the ground when going into the dips of unpaved roads etc. I'm not looking for super stiff suspension, just firmer, much better damped and more height. What concerns me is from looking at your Beach before and after pictures in your other post is you are easily 20-30mm higher on the rear to my 4M SE on the before picture. If I fitted the T32 springs and it raised it by only 30mm (or less as 4M heavy) it would only be about the same height as you started with. I spoke to Pedders and they were clear in stating that if the rear is not heavy enough their suspension will be too firm but have also seen on another forum owners of T32 wanting softer springs to remove the harshness from their lightly loaded panel vans. So I'm thinking as the 4M SE has a fair bit more weight on the rear than the Beach, if I fit the Pedders we should be about even. As I'm only guessing all this from pictures, I would love to hear from anyone who has the T32 springs on a 4 Motion and what height difference it made and also anyone with Pedders on a 4M and is it too firm with no load??
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When you get a chance
@Skewif, it'd be handy if you can identify what springs you have in the rear so you have a starting block. Likewise
@WelshGas this would be useful to know given your zero sag. You might be able to see through the wheel arch with a rag to wipe the dirt off or failing that you'll be on your back under the rear wheel. You're looking for crude paint markings on the spring, typically 3 x pink or 2 x white, etc.
Before even talking about springs you will appreciate with 65k miles the rear spring top and bottom rubber mounts will not be like new so you are likely losing a little height gain from here. Small monies so definitely renew these if you do swap out the springs.
There's a vast array of springs applicable for the T5/6, identified by their colour markings and shared across the complete T5/6 range.
For the Cali the following list of rear springs are factory installed in this order of increasing weight...
3x white, 3x pink, 4x pink, 1x white, 2x white, and then for 'bad roads' we step up to...
1x grey, 2x grey, 3x grey, 4x grey and so it goes on...
Each spring increment covers a weight range of approx. 50kg, e.g.. 1200-1250kgs.
So seems reasonable to presume that after the factory spring selection all Cali variants come out at the same height irrespective of their differing weights due to model & options. eg. Ocean/Beach/4Motion/no.of seats/DSG or manual/spare wheel or not/ etc.
But the difference in weight between the installed springs could be between 50 & 100kgs.
And then given its likely a different allocation between springs & weight could have occurred when the T6 was introduced its not really a surprise that with all these potential combinations why we have some Cali's appearing lower/higher than others for a similar specification.
It's unlikely we will glean what these actual weight loadings are for each spring type so all we have to work with is this progressive loading scale. I.e. See what you've got and best guess which spring further up the list you want to jump to!
The 'uprated' spring of choice on the Caliboard.de forum is the 4x grey which is what comes fitted to the 1BB Cali but also the T32 4motion model. I would guess the slightly less rated 3x grey is the T32 2WD model.
It could be a useful exercise just to understand this range of rear springs currently fitted to our Calis if people want to post their Cali model/ rear spring colour. Here's an initial stab with known Calis from here along with the German Caliboard forum and ordered in an increasing load… (included the Beach 4wd although we know its unavailable here)
3x Pink T6 Beach 2WD
3x Pink T5.2 Beach 4WD
3x Pink T5.2 SE 2WD (no spare wheel)
4x Pink T5.2 SE 2WD (with spare wheel)
4x Pink T5.2 SE 2WD
4x Pink T5.2 Beach 4WD
4x Pink T6 Beach 4WD (DSG)
2x White T5.2 Beach 4WD (manual)
2x White T5.2 Beach 4WD (DSG)
2x White T6 Ocean 2WD
2x White T6 Ocean 4WD (DSG)
As to your more specific concerns re knowing what your van would look like you could see if
@Del Boy (on the other T6 suspension thread) would post a pic as he's swapped to the T32 springs with a T6 204 4M, albeit the front as well, but again you really need the paint marks, are they the 3xgrey (2wd?) or 4xgrey (4wd) versions? I think
@Gavrobb is about to go this route as well (2xgrey to 4xgrey) so you could pm him as he's got the same 204 4M but again in T6 guise.
See what you have spring wise but you will only improve things swapping to the 4xgrey, there's enough folk on the Caliboard forum that have done it with 4M and rate it. I think there's a high chance it will give you the lift you're after but worst case you can always add in a Weitec spring distance kit to get you exactly where you want to be.
A quick look couldn't find any T5 SE 4M shots but I came across these Beach 4M shots from the Caliboard forum which may be of help.
4Motion Beach, (2x white to 4x grey) before & after...
