Fitting air lifts to rear suspension for towing?

[ZSStan]

I’d like my car to be a little more level when towing my track car, I’ve gone down the route of spring assisters which seem to stiffen things up but they don’t really change the ride height when loaded up.

Now I’m not into air suspension as in show car crap, I’m a user not a shower when it comes to motoring, however, I’d consider a kit that ‘airs up’ my car as opposed to ‘slamming’ it.

Can this be done?

Cheers.

[KTMsm]

Yes there are airbags that simply sit inside your existing spring and you blow them up with an onboard compressor - cheap and effective

For certain, generally older cars, you can also buy air assisted shock absorbers

[tight fart]

It shouldn’t be sitting low, do you check the nose weight of the trailer?

[Bobley]

We've got VB-Air suspension on the back of ours. You can pump it up to stiffen the rear and raise slightly. Also, if I park on the old cheese wedges on a site I can vary the air pressure on each back corner to fine tune the level. Quite handy really.

[ZSStan]

KTMsm said:

Yes there are airbags that simply sit inside your existing spring and you blow them up with an onboard compressor - cheap and effective

For certain, generally older cars, you can also buy air assisted shock absorbers

Brill, ill look into that, cheers

[ZSStan]

tight fart said:

It shouldn t be sitting low, do you check the nose weight of the trailer?

It’s a twin axel trailer with the weight (engine end of track car) foward. Keeps it stable(ish) in a snake situation vs rear biased trailer weight

[ZSStan]

Bobley said:

We've got VB-Air suspension on the back of ours. You can pump it up to stiffen the rear and raise slightly. Also, if I park on the old cheese wedges on a site I can vary the air pressure on each back corner to fine tune the level. Quite handy really.

Cheers, ill research VB air. 👍🏼

[Decky_Q]

I have suspension height control on my key fob (range rover) and it's pretty handy to raise the tow ball up, get hooked in, realise I've forgotten the breakaway chain and repeat without having to wind the jockey wheel!

[Smint]

I've had estate cars in the past that had self levelling shocks, Volvo and Subaru, initially on loading up the car sinks but once you start driving the hydraulics inside the shocks pump quickly them back up to normal ride height.
Don't know if your car is an estate or had an estate version of the same model that had self levellers fitted (sometimes on higher spec versions only), might be worth checking.

Note they are normally really expensive with aftermarket not always available so finding a set from a crashed breaker would be first choice if this is an option.

[Kawasicki]

Smint said:

I've had estate cars in the past that had self levelling shocks, Volvo and Subaru, initially on loading up the car sinks but once you start driving the hydraulics inside the shocks pump quickly them back up to normal ride height.
Don't know if your car is an estate or had an estate version of the same model that had self levellers fitted (sometimes on higher spec versions only), might be worth checking.

Note they are normally really expensive with aftermarket not always available so finding a set from a crashed breaker would be first choice if this is an option.

I drove handling tests in the past, with a trailer fitted to a car with those rear self leveling damper struts. Nivomat I think they were called. They were pretty slick in function.

[paul_c123]

ZSStan said:

I d like my car to be a little more level when towing my track car, I ve gone down the route of spring assisters which seem to stiffen things up but they don t really change the ride height when loaded up.

Now I m not into air suspension as in show car crap, I m a user not a shower when it comes to motoring, however, I d consider a kit that airs up my car as opposed to slamming it.

Can this be done?

Cheers.

You didn't say the make/model/year of car, and with it being a resurrected thread, not much hope of returning after a year+ anyway.

With a twin axle trailer, you really shouldn't be running an excessive nose weight anyway; and with it being twin axle, how heavy is it? It might simply be a case that the trailer is too heavy for the car, or if its within the towing weight limit, its handling is terrible at/near the limit. Some cars are good at towing, some are rubbish, due to the geometry of the rear suspension.

But I have air assist on the back of my 3.5t beavertail - yes it helps A LOT.