Disco 2 Air spring spacers?

So this might be a very odd/daft question but I'm struggling to find any info on it that is conclusive..

The rear suspension on my 2002 disco is very harsh over small bumps at med/low (well any!) speed.
I have air (for a number of reasons it suits my use of the car) and bags are <6 months old.
Terrafirma std length shocks were fitted and I've just replaced them with OME shocks - no huge difference!
ARB bushes are new and no obvious bearing wear/play on watts link.
Front springs are 1" lifted to cope with forthcoming new front bumper
Tyres are General grabber AT3's on 18" alloys - I know this will make it slightly harsher but I can't believe it's meant to be quite as harsh as it is!!
Rear air levelled with nanocom

I've read the article on disco2.co.uk about spacers for the rear air bags and wondered if adding a 1" spacer would help? Take a bit of the pressure out of the bags... Or am I clutching at straws?!

Any thoughts??

Cheers

Hi, did you match the 1" lift on the front by lifting the rear using a nanocom? So increasing the pressure in the bags (spring rate)?
Also in some cases with short shocks and lifted airbags you can have the shocks topping out. Is this your issue too?
Also OME shocks are on the stiff side if the vehicle in unladed. I have a similar harshness issue with stiff Ironman shocks that were fitted by the previous owner.

I also found OME shocks too harsh & eventually changed.
Adding an airbag spacer & then leaving the height settings unchanged to cause reduced pressure in the airbags is unlikely to make much difference to ride & will put the airbags into a condition they weren't designed for - especially over bumps, where they could bottom out internally.
If your intent is stay at standard height, have you considered using standard OE dampers - they obviously work very well or wouldn't have been specified.
Have you checked the condition of the radius / trailing arm bushes at the chassis end. If worn badly they can cause al sorts of noises over bumps / potholes ?

On another note, Dunlop recently introduced a +2" airbag for those who want a lift, keep air and avoid spacers.

If you have lifted the vehicle with the air suspension, then you have effectively increased the spring rate. A 1" spacer might well allow you to reduce the pressure in the air spring for a more supple ride.

When my p38 was on air, it rode noticeably smoother in the lowered motorway ride height vs the normal ride height. And at extended ride height it was very bouncy.

Michalis Karatzis said:

Hi, did you match the 1" lift on the front by lifting the rear using a nanocom? So increasing the pressure in the bags (spring rate)?
Also in some cases with short shocks and lifted airbags you can have the shocks topping out. Is this your issue too?
Also OME shocks are on the stiff side if the vehicle in unladed. I have a similar harshness issue with stiff Ironman shocks that were fitted by the previous owner.

Click to expand...

Hi, shocks aren't topping out as far as I can tell, just very harsh.
Front is about 1" higher at the moment as I haven't raised the rear to level it out, figured that would make it even harsher! Fitting the bumper before Xmas which should drop the front down level again

Pawl said:

I also found OME shocks too harsh & eventually changed.
Adding an airbag spacer & then leaving the height settings unchanged to cause reduced pressure in the airbags is unlikely to make much difference to ride & will put the airbags into a condition they weren't designed for - especially over bumps, where they could bottom out internally.
If your intent is stay at standard height, have you considered using standard OE dampers - they obviously work very well or wouldn't have been specified.
Have you checked the condition of the radius / trailing arm bushes at the chassis end. If worn badly they can cause al sorts of noises over bumps / potholes ?

Click to expand...

Yes, worth looking at the oe shocks although after spending £180 on OME shocks after too much research I'm reluctant to give up on them just yet..
A good shout on the radius arms, will have a proper look at those this weekend

Michalis Karatzis said:

On another note, Dunlop recently introduced a +2" airbag for those who want a lift, keep air and avoid spacers.

Click to expand...

Hmm, that may be worth a look, thanks

02Disco2 said:

Hi, shocks aren't topping out as far as I can tell, just very harsh.
Front is about 1" higher at the moment as I haven't raised the rear to level it out, figured that would make it even harsher! Fitting the bumper before Xmas which should drop the front down level again

Click to expand...

When you get the chance to carry extra load you will be able to tell if the valving of OME shocks is the issue. The extra weight might match the conditions that the shocks were designed for.

Mine rides harsh and when i put 200kg of logs in the back it is much, much better. Original and Supergaz shocks feel exactly the same and both gave a better ride when the back is loaded up. Also, running the tyres at 38psi on the rear helps a fair bit. Report back on further findings!

Michalis Karatzis said:

When you get the chance to carry extra load you will be able to tell if the valving of OME shocks is the issue. The extra weight might match the conditions that the shocks were designed for.

Click to expand...

I've got a few hundred kgs of logs to move tomorrow so will see how that feels on the woodland track and will report back. Also going to be checking the bushes on radius arms etc to check for play if stops raining long enough!

Ok, so loaded up with logs the ride wasn't much better which is leading me to think that it's bearing/Bush related... Bugger!

Hoping it's not radius arm as they appear to be (from reading up) a real pig to change. Watts seems fine and arb's are new so it could well be radius arms as there's not a lot else to check/change.