Springs Springs Springs

[JimCT]

Roll over...

Usually they just get tired and lay over on their side for a bit....

[TedW]

My $.02: Love my Parabolics!

I bought them a few years ago from Les at our hosts - with Old Man Emus. I heard the stories about body roll but see absolutely NO difference between the parabolics and the stock springs. Les credits the OME shocks for that. In any case, I'm down with Gunny on this one - much better ride than before. I think the ride is terrific now. Also more blood in my urine anymore.

[TeriAnn]

Now what's-his-name over at what's-it-called in Olympia, WA (parts sales, restorations) says factory springs are crap (he doesn't like paras either). Something about new factory springs being made out of bad ChiCom steel maybe...? He sells his own and has a dog in the fight so to speak.

Ah, He who must not be named but who reads this board and has been known to follow the reading up with phone calls and threats of law suits.

He who must not be named is very knowledgeable and is generally worth listening to when he speaks about technical stuff and originality. If he claims there are springs manufactured with bad steel coming out of the LR's supplier's factory I have no reason to doubt him.

I like your plastic trick and I'd consider it seriously except now I'm a little gun-shy of factory springs too.. that coupled with the extra plastic installation time, expense, monkey business..

Well you know, if you get enough monkeys and springs together one is bound to disassemble a spring pack, add the sheets of plastic and correctly reassemble them. You would just have a very large banana bill and a horrendous cleanup job afterwards.

There are different companies that make springs to Land Rover factory specs. The trick is to find out which factory is supplying the bad steel to Land Rover and which are not. If the springs are not meeting LR's specifications I suspect the problem will be corrected by Land Rover. If it is an aftermarket supplier the problem might not get corrected.

What should stop me from just going with some reputable paras and being done with it?

Nothing that I know of. Its your decision, your vehicle, your money.

In what situations might they let me down or regret using them?

While I have a strong tendency to be opinionated, I have never owned a set of Parabolics and can not answer that with any authority. My best guess is they might put you over the edge in situations where the dynamic centre of balance ventures out to the edge of your wheelbase. But that is a marginal guess. Also you may encounter increased wheel hop when climbing steep hills and your traction breaks if you do not have shocks matched to the springs.

Remember until very recently I based all my opinions about Parabolics from a single experience with early preproduction springs. That could be why one manufacturer has been trying to set me up with a set for several years. It has only been VERY recently that I've had an opportunity to test differently sprung Dormobiles side by side.

Are RM paras clearly at the top of the heap or are there others that should be considered?

Well, Ray is a good guy who does due diligence with his spring research and testing. But so is Paul and Paul started out earlier from the stock Santana design. I would image both companies make a very good well researched and tested product. I have no basis to voice any opinion on the parabolics manufactured by British Steel. I suggest researching each company and product as best you can. And don't forget whichever company you choose, be sure to use the shock that they recommend for their springs.

http://www.heystee-automotive.com

http://www.parabolicsprings.com

Some quick searching on British steel:
"Corus was formed on 6th October 1999 through the merger of British Steel and Koninklijke Hoogovens. On April 2 2007, Corus became a subsidiary of Tata Steel." If memory serves, Tata steel is a sister company of Tata Motors, one of the companies considering the purchase of Land Rover. I don't know if they still are but British Steel was/is an OEM spring supplier to Land Rover.

[sven]

Here's a site that supposedlty provides unbiased comparison between different parabolic springs: http://www.parabolicspring.com/ I found it on accident.

[jp-]

My take on it is this: Parabolic springs do for the unladen ride what stock springs do for the laden ride.

Since I drive mostly unloaded (unladen) except for the odd long camping trip, I prefer the parabolics. With the vehicles loaded, the stock springs and parabolics ride about the same.

My 88" has British Spring parabolics and the 109" has RM ones.