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We had the rubber cone type spring assisters fitted to our car because of the angle between the drive and the road made the car bottom when pulling out with the camper.  I can't say I noticed much improvement.  They are tough to put on even after putting them in a bucket of hot water..

We now have a caravan and have had a mover fitted to it to cure the problem.

Brian 

my boyfriend had these fitted to his car, they were black rubber coil type, put in very hot water to losen them and plenty of fairy liquid, be patient though, they do work.

Hi, I used spring assisters similar to your description.   I was towing a Dandy with an elderly Polo SALOON.  As the saloon is longer than the more common hatchback, it caused my suspension to bottom in the way you are describing.  They were very successful and outlived the car, (which did 154,000 before I sold it and was still on the road 18 months later.)

I have towed successfully with an Astra ever since, and never needed to fit spring assistors to it, but my "L" astra estate did tend to ride rather low when loaded, so possibly would have benefited. Not so sure about the "clunking" exhaust though?

Hi, I would check your nose weight (the weight your towbar is putting on your tow ball) - the caravan forum may be able to advise on this. It should probably be about 25kgs, which isn't much (a bit like 1 bag of cement in your boot). If it is to high then reload the trailer, not only is it currently banging the back of your car about, it is also lifting the front end and making the brakes and steering ineffective - jacking up the rear will not change this much. I have towed a well balance single axle trailer with a loaded weight of 1.2 tons with my Fiat Brava (Astra sized saloon) with no problems - I have also had a half ton load of sand "slip forward" in the same trailer - this resulted in the front brakes hardly doing anything, the steering going scarilly light and the bottom of the tow bar scraping on speed bumps. Your exhaust probably needs the couplings loosening off and it being realigned (twisted a bit) as they can easily be badly fitted - but take it somewhere - they make it look dead easy at the exhaust place but often it's not. 

Chris