mikescuba

mikescuba

Well-Known Member
Hi, I currently have a Defender 110, 200tdi 1990 which is great. However I am missing the creature comforts of a normal car. I am therefore seriously thinking of buying something like a 1998/1999 Diesel RR. The last two winters I bloody near froze to death in the Defender but still enjoyed driving it especially in the snow which we get here in France.
I have seen a couple of RR for sale which have had the suspension changed to normal coil type suspension.
My question is. Is the ride and road holding still comfortable, Is the EAS suspension a problem. Basically do I go for a normal suspension set up or should I consider a coil spring setup.
I mainly drive on the road with some greenlaning and of course snow.
Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.
 
Buy your P38 in the UK, steerings on the wrong side but they are half the price of the French ones. EAS is great, just needs looking after. New airbags at 7 to 8 years, the occasional sensor at 100k and it's fine. Personally I wouldn't touch a P38 on coils.
 
Coils are great, I would not change back but its not to everyones taste, main disadvantage is access with it being a little higher. As for reliability just try searching EAS at the top of the page and make up your own mind.
Davie
 
Datatek said:
Buy your P38 in the UK, steerings on the wrong side but they are half the price of the French ones. EAS is great, just needs looking after. New airbags at 7 to 8 years, the occasional sensor at 100k and it's fine. Personally I wouldn't touch a P38 on coils.
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ditto!!!
 
am selling one for a customer have a look at my web site.
i have air on my classic best upgarde land rover ever did apart from bags and a valve block and comp which is all normal wear and tear never let me down
 
Hi All, thanks for the info. I get the impression that if your handy with tools and can get cheap spares EAS is great.
As I live in France I need something reliable which makes coils look more attractive.
Is there much difference in the ride and cornering. I would imagine it must be more like driving a Defender which I don't have a problem with.
And if the bitch can't climb into a RR with coils then she must be too old for me.
 
I've been running a '97 P38 2.5dse for about 18 months. They are a lot of car for the money If you look around £2500 - £3000 will get you a nice one. The EAS has been great on mine. I had one of the sensors replaced at it's last service for just £40. I had an old Discovery tdi 3 door before which was fantastic but basic. The creature comforts in the P38 are great for me and the family. Go for it! When you check one out make sure it restarts when warm/hot. They're ok from cold but can be a bugger to fire up when warm. A really heavy duty battery and good quality glow pugs will help but make sure you restart again when it's still hot before parting with your money!!
 
mikescuba said:
Hi All, thanks for the info. I get the impression that if your handy with tools and can get cheap spares EAS is great.
As I live in France I need something reliable which makes coils look more attractive.
Is there much difference in the ride and cornering. I would imagine it must be more like driving a Defender which I don't have a problem with.
And if the bitch can't climb into a RR with coils then she must be too old for me.
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The EAS is not unreliable, at least no more so than anything else on a P38, it just needs maintenance. If the EAS scares you the the P38 is not the car for you. The EAS is easy to fix and the software is free which is more than can be said for BECM problems.
 
Datatek said:
Buy your P38 in the UK, steerings on the wrong side but they are half the price of the French ones. EAS is great, just needs looking after. New airbags at 7 to 8 years, the occasional sensor at 100k and it's fine. Personally I wouldn't touch a P38 on coils.
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Spot on as usual Keith; having driven a coiled P38, I wouldn't have one if it was given to me!!
EAS gives a far more comfortable, stable and safer ride. Yes it has the odd hiccup, as would anything reliant on a combination of elektrikery, pneumatics and com-bloody-pooters!!! However, fixes for the odd glitch are relatively quick, cheap and simple.......if it's a P38, it has to be EAS! (IMHO!)
 
Never heard such bollocks, if anything mine handles better with coils and I would rather scrap mine than put the EAS back, as I said earlier go to the search box and put in EAS, you might find one or 2 gazillion posts about the subject. Anyway there are lots for sale so go and try one on coils and one on EAS that way you can make up your own mind instead of listening to second hand and biased (inc me) information. More important is the condition of the rest of it, electrics/electronics are a particular weak point, suspension one way or the other can be sorted out for a few hundred quid and a bit of know how, best thing about the coils is you know it aint going to f*ck up when most needed.
Davie
 
Davie F said:
Never heard such bollocks, if anything mine handles better with coils and I would rather scrap mine than put the EAS back, as I said earlier go to the search box and put in EAS, you might find one or 2 gazillion posts about the subject. Anyway there are lots for sale so go and try one on coils and one on EAS that way you can make up your own mind instead of listening to second hand and biased (inc me) information. More important is the condition of the rest of it, electrics/electronics are a particular weak point, suspension one way or the other can be sorted out for a few hundred quid and a bit of know how, best thing about the coils is you know it aint going to f*ck up when most needed.
Davie
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But is likely to fall over when going round corners. See RR.net. If you raise it high enough to be any good off road then it will be dangerous on road. There are no two ways about it. The P38 was not designed for coils.
 
Four good sensors, four good airbags, and a good compressor are all you need. The rest is so simple to fix that it beggers belief anyone would fit coil springs. The coil spring option is for people who don't know what they are doing simple as that.
 
kooky_guy said:
But is likely to fall over when going round corners. See RR.net. If you raise it high enough to be any good off road then it will be dangerous on road. There are no two ways about it. The P38 was not designed for coils.
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Agreed. Anybody who says a P38 is as stable on the road on springs, as it is on air is living with a very dangerous illusion.
 
Ha same old argument, I reckon mine does not wallow on corners now like it did with EAS, if you guys want to bury your head in the sand thats fine. From personal experience having an air bag let go at 70 mph is not the most fun and while that may be a 1 in 10 000 chance it won't happen to me again unless I change it for another one and if I did it would get changed to coils on the first hint of trouble. As said try both first and don't listen to the scare mongering crap, lots of companies and some very reputable like strutmaster do 100s of conversion kits but of course they only make them for the foolish to fit. So I will stick with my unstable piece of crap that probably would blow over in a side wind :- not.
Davie
 
Davie F said:
Ha same old argument, I reckon mine does not wallow on corners now like it did with EAS, if you guys want to bury your head in the sand thats fine. From personal experience having an air bag let go at 70 mph is not the most fun and while that may be a 1 in 10 000 chance it won't happen to me again unless I change it for another one and if I did it would get changed to coils on the first hint of trouble. As said try both first and don't listen to the scare mongering crap, lots of companies and some very reputable like strutmaster do 100s of conversion kits but of course they only make them for the foolish to fit. So I will stick with my unstable piece of crap that probably would blow over in a side wind :- not.
Davie
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It's simple physics. High centre of gravity = unstable, especially on a vehicle not designed to be at height at speed. EAS mitigates this by lowering the centre of gravity at speed.

I don't care who makes the spring kits, you can't change this simple fact. There have been lots of incidences of rollovers on coil sprung P38s and not surprising either when you think about it.

If you don't care about your own safety and the safety of any passengers or other road users then go ahead and fit coils.

So yes, same old argument.
 
Airbags do not let go at 70 mph IF they are checked on a regular basis and changed as required. Like everything else on a vehicle regular service and maintenence works wonders. Everything has a service life, the EAS IF looked after works very well indeed. P38s on springs ARE more likely to rollover on a bend, roundabout or in an agressive evasive maneuver than those fitted with EAS, that is a law of simple physics even you cannot argue with. Wallowing around bends in a P38 is more to do with your shock absorbers than the springing. A P38 is not specifically designed to be thrown around corners like a sports car. Some body roll whilst cornering and even more with agressive cornering (driving like a prat basically) is to be expected from a vehicle with a high centre of gravity. That is why the vehicle was designed to sit down above 50 mph and stay there until the speed reduces to below 35mph to aid stability. Fitting coils removes that safety feature. Buy your self a good crash helmet i feel sure you will need one eventually.
 
Everyone is entitled to set-up their suspension as they see fit, it’s a personal choice. My Rangie is on EAS , I think it is great for my needs and would never change it. In cross axle negotiating washouts etc it keeps its wheels on the ground just as well as any accompanying coil sprung Rangie or Defender over the same terrain, and is a heck of a lot more smoother ride over the rough stuff. Yes, EAS can cause problems, but none that will restrict you from getting home, unlike the difficult situation facing you if a coil snaps, and they do, I’ve witnessed two on trips I’ve been on in the last couple of years, one on a Rangie and the other on a Cruiser. Whatever floats your boat I say!
 
ssmn1234 said:
Everyone is entitled to set-up their suspension as they see fit, it’s a personal choice. My Rangie is on EAS , I think it is great for my needs and would never change it. In cross axle negotiating washouts etc it keeps its wheels on the ground just as well as any accompanying coil sprung Rangie or Defender over the same terrain, and is a heck of a lot more smoother ride over the rough stuff. Yes, EAS can cause problems, but none that will restrict you from getting home, unlike the difficult situation facing you if a coil snaps, and they do, I’ve witnessed two on trips I’ve been on in the last couple of years, one on a Rangie and the other on a Cruiser. Whatever floats your boat I say!
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Even when you are removing a built in safety feature and making the vehicle easier to turn over. Can't see where a personal choice comes in there to be honest. So the Rangie on coils enters a corner that it would have negotiated easily on sat down air springs, a little hot, rolls and wipes out a family with two young kids. Don't think it's my personal choice how i set my suspension up would hold much water with the judge. We have just had an incident over here were a modified off roader lost the plot at speed and wiped out his own family. He thought it was his own choice as well. Bet he doesn't now. He will have a long time in jail to think about it though.
 
Wammers your right they should not be driven like a sports car and if you keep that in mind then what is the problem, wheather you like it or not mine feels very stable and planted when driven and we had that incident covered before and there was a hell of a lot more to blame than a set of coils (speed one of them). Enter a corner too fast in an M3 and you will have problems. Disagree totaly about the safety, if I thought that the coils compromised my or anyone else's safety then I would get rid of it, lift kits, oversized wheels, tuning boxes and bad maintenance are all culprits of safety, a decent set of coils are not. TBH I feel safer than when I had the EAS, but thats me and god knows how many more that have converted.
Davie
 
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