Defender suspension for road use

[bluemoon321]

My wife drives a new Land Rover defender to work each day about 25 miles over country roads which are very bumpy roads and does not like the ride, it there a set of road springs etc that makes the ride softer and much better for road use only and would not be carrying a lot of weight. Any suggestions ?

[Bill]

Why does she have a Defender?

I like Landies, but you need to want one and if the ride is an issue she needs something else. There's no point ruining a Defender in an attempt to make it a road car.

[SimesJH]

Softer suspension could make it roll more in corners.

My own Defender has standard suspension with Old Man Emu Sports gas shocks. They're a big improvement over the almost-new oil-filled originals that were previously fitted.

On the ride front, the easiest change is to alter the tyre pressures. A Defender will never ride like a Range Rover.

[camel_landy]

If she doesn't like it... Get her a car. It'll be cheaper to run in the long run too.

The Defender wasn't built for comfort.

M

[anonymous-user]

camel_landy said:

The Defender wasn't built for comfort.

...or speed.

[SimesJH]

Oh, I don't know.

My tuned 300Tdi was cruising quite happily at 80 yesterday on a jaunt to Sussex and managed some respectable A-road overtaking on a few occasions.

Clearly, not nearly as quick as my Range Rover, but considerably more fun to hustle about the place.

[anonymous-user]

80 is not speed.

[Andy RV]

Which defender is it? I believe that the commercial 110's have harder springs than the station wagons.

My 90 was noticeably less bouncy yesterday when it has full of logs!

[2.5pi]

Andy RV said:

Which defender is it? I believe that the commercial 110's have harder springs than the station wagons.

My 90 was noticeably less bouncy yesterday when it has full of logs!

This

My Defender 90 is bouncy unless loaded, it sounds nonsensical but carrying around heavy stuff might be your cheapest option along with dropping tyre pressures to the lowest level possible given payload and speeds.

[Griffithy]

Have the original standard Heavy Duty suspension, Steel
wheels and tyres on the Defender 130.
Phantastic in the corners but the damping is extremely,
and I mean it, hard.
Changing to Grabbers on Boost Wheels made a huge difference.
Maybe corner speed is slightly down a bit now.

[100SRV]

bluemoon321 said:

My wife drives a new Land Rover defender to work each day about 25 miles over country roads which are very bumpy roads and does not like the ride, it there a set of road springs etc that makes the ride softer and much better for road use only and would not be carrying a lot of weight. Any suggestions ?

You don't need different springs just better dampers; depending upon depth of pocket I'd recommend dampers in this order:
DeCarbon
Bilstein
Fox (Prolinx)

Avoid Pro-comp and similar tat.
100SRV

[The Wookie]

If ride is your priority then I'd go for Konis. Not my favourite damper but the kit on mine rode nicely, albeit lacking a bit of body control for my liking. The twisted spring kit has a similar spring rate to what I had before (an Overfinch setup) too so you may wish to consider fitting those while you're at it, as they're pretty good value.

Don't listen to the 'get something else' blah, if you like the truck and want it to ride better then you're sacrificing a negligible or non existent amount of off road ability, and those that take them off road seriously upgrade tyres and suspension and sacrifice their road capability anyway!

[Bill]

OTOH live axles are an issue on bumpy roads. She may well like or need a Defender, in which case crack on, but with the best will in the world it'll always be compromised as a road car.