Quote: Originally posted by mr grumpy on 25/5/2012
i see you didnt mention your car insurance. have you told them as it might void your insurance. my insurance wouldnt cover mer if i used spring assisters
Yes, you do need to inform them otherwise as Mr G says - you could void your insurance if the 'mod' comes to light amidst a claim. A carefully worded letter sent recorded did the trick for me - I didn't want to risk phoning and getting someone in a call centre who didn't understand what I was trying to achieve. My insurer has acknowledged the 'mod' with no difference to my premium.
Quote: Originally posted by mr grumpy on 25/5/2012
i see you didnt mention your car insurance. have you told them as it might void your insurance. my insurance wouldnt cover mer if i used spring assisters
I did inform my insurers, as stated above, all they were bothered about was that the car wasn't lowered.
It helped that I phoned during the day rather than during the evening so the call was not forwarded to an overseas call centre so they actually understood what I was doing. The overseas call centre were confused by the mod of a towbar, I was asked if I was adding a turbo to the car (odd as it is a Turbo Diesel already!!) & I had to be put onto a supervisor. That filled me with confidence!!!
As my car is now slightly higher, I have lost all cred with the backward baseball cap wearing group of people in the local McD's car park on a Friday night
Does anyone inform the next purchaser of their car, (dealer or private), that their car has 'modified' suspension?
I didn't, so does that mean that the purchaser of my old Mk5 Golf, (fitted with MAD springs), is driving around uninsured?
How do I know that my Rav 4 is 'standard?
Quote: Originally posted by Vernon on 28/5/2012
Does anyone inform the next purchaser of their car, (dealer or private), that their car has 'modified' suspension? I didn't, so does that mean that the purchaser of my old Mk5 Golf, (fitted with MAD springs), is driving around uninsured? How do I know that my Rav 4 is 'standard?
My standard springs are going back in when I sell - the buyers are not getting near on £240 worth of springs for nothing!!!
Quote: Originally posted by Vernon on 28/5/2012
Does anyone inform the next purchaser of their car, (dealer or private), that their car has 'modified' suspension? I didn't, so does that mean that the purchaser of my old Mk5 Golf, (fitted with MAD springs), is driving around uninsured? How do I know that my Rav 4 is 'standard?
These are very good questions.
The same can be aked of other less obvious modifications like re-mapping. From the people I've spoken to it does seem to be a bit of a grey area. Proving anything one way or the other is going to be hard in most cases.
After the first tow return to Dorset I can say that the new springs have improved the car significantly.
The car sat perfectly level & was very stable. I will go as far as to say the car is now more stable than the significantly heavier Peugeot 4007 4x4 I had before the Mondeo. The ride / handling solo have no detrimental effects so they have been £230 or so well spent.
The car sits just under 1" higher when unladen, but for me that is a small price to pay as previously I had towbar scraping even when the caravan was not attached.
Quote: Originally posted by Grampian91 on 11/6/2012Zafiral. You just need to fit some 135x12 tyres on the front and paint flames down the side for that perfect 70's jacked up retro look.
:)
Keep it loaded up for a few miles the springs may settle back the normal ride height.
It has settled now. Here it is when we first hitched up at storage.
I fitted the MAD spring assistors to my outlander, fitted them myself. Cost about £120. They do effect the handling when driving solo but not significantly. Just makes it a but bouncy. They are progressive wound springs so should make negligible effect when not laden. When towing the caravan though I have found to improve the ride it's better to increase the nose weight to 85kg. With 70kg it was too bouncy and never felt far from disaster. With 85 it's very sure footed. The outlander can take 100kg on the hitch but without the assistors it would look very bad. Sagging rear suspension on the outlander (and the Peugeot 4007 and citroen c-crosser, same car) is a known fault if you check the forums.