Air Suspension and car sickness

One of the chaps at LRM magazine recently did the conversion from air to coil springs on his D2, stating that the main reason for this was that his kids were getting car sick when sat in the back. He claims that the conversion has done the trick.

Has anyone else had this problem?

My 2 year old puked in the back seat a few weeks back but has been otherwise OK since I got the car last august and ever since. Amazing what coverage you can get from a second hand bowl of porridge.

I know that my rear shocks have seen better days and intend to replace them with Bilsteins at the end of next month.

Could car sickness as described by the chap at LRM be more a case of worn shocks? Or do old air bags have an effect?

I really can't see that Land Rover would have spent all that money designing a fancy suspension system that made folk throw up - hardly a selling point.

I would like to keep the air suspension as it appears to be working properly and would prefer not to consider changing until the compressor packs in, when I will make a decision according to how broke I am at the time - I'm always broke these days (I have a Disco 2 y'know) but it'll be a case of "how broke".

maybe he was not feeling well? kids pick all sorts of bugs up!
just put new shocks on, leave bags alone if all is ok!

If you've got to get new bags, make sure that they're airline sick bags!

The third row seats do accentuate body pitch and roll as they are right at the back, so new shockers will definitely help, if that is the problem.

Peter

Does the Disco have ACE ?,that should stop any rolling around.

Keep the air, fix the shocks.

Couldn't speak from experience with the disco 2 as I have a 1 but my audi allroad has airbag suspension all round and we have never had that problem (what about the Jaguar XJ8, Mercedes S-E Class, Bmw X5, Audi A8/Q7, VW Toureg , Porsche Cayenne etc they all have airbags too)

And we all use the same wabco compressor, they are about £400 brand new but you can find them cheaper.

99% of the time when they go its simply the composite piston ring that wears out resulting in a noisy compressor that fails to provide enough air.

Why not do what I done and just buy a compressor refurb kit off ebay for about £20?

Land Rover Discovery 2 Air Compressor Piston Seal Kit | eBay

Audi/Mercedes/BMW/Porsche Wabco Air Suspension Compressor Piston Seal repair Kit | eBay

That's if you can undo the bolt holding it together.

mrnice said:

Couldn't speak from experience with the disco 2 as I have a 1 but my audi allroad has airbag suspension all round and we have never had that problem (what about the Jaguar XJ8, Mercedes S-E Class, Bmw X5, Audi A8/Q7, VW Toureg , Porsche Cayenne etc they all have airbags too)

And we all use the same wabco compressor, they are about £400 brand new but you can find them cheaper.

99% of the time when they go its simply the composite piston ring that wears out resulting in a noisy compressor that fails to provide enough air.

Why not do what I done and just buy a compressor refurb kit off ebay for about £20?

Land Rover Discovery 2 Air Compressor Piston Seal Kit | eBay

Audi/Mercedes/BMW/Porsche Wabco Air Suspension Compressor Piston Seal repair Kit | eBay

That's if you can undo the bolt holding it together.

Click to expand...

The Op is complaining about ride, not lack of air pressure. The P38 also has air suspension and the ride is good as long as the shocks are OK.

Our D2 still has it's air suspension fitted. The kids have no sickness problems sitting in the third row even with the 2" lift. We do have ACE though so body role is minimal.

I'd replace the shocks and see how it goes.

maaarrghk said:

i would like to keep the air suspension as it appears to be working properly and would prefer not to consider changing until the compressor packs in, when i will make a decision according to how broke i am at the time - i'm always broke these days (i have a disco 2 y'know) but it'll be a case of "how broke".

Click to expand...

datatek said:

the op is complaining about ride, not lack of air pressure. The p38 also has air suspension and the ride is good as long as the shocks are ok.

Click to expand...

Thank you all very much for your replies.

Glad it didn't descend into another "springs/air is better" debate.

Oddly, for a very late model Landmark, it doesn't have ACE. I was a bit disappointed about that, but still surprised how well it handles. I am taking the view that lack of ACE is one more expensive thing less to go wrong.

No problems with bags going down or compressor issues so far, but appreciate the advice on compressor service kits.

Could have been a bug that young Saddam caught, but a couple of hours later he was eating like a horse, which led me to think of car sickness.

I think I will replace the shocks as soon as finances allow.

Mine rolls about too. What shocks do people recommend? Also, would you change the front springs?

Fom looking at other threads I find that many here like to go for Super Gaz or Terrafirma, although I will be giving Bilsteins a go on the back - I am told they are more of a road biased shock, but I don't do much off-roading and won't be while it's my only vehicle.

As for front shocks and springs, I will change them when I feel there is an issue - probably a month after the rears when I realize how firm the back is and how sloppy the front is.......