Best Shocks for Road Use and towing

[Grey Wolf]

I am looking for some advice. I am an early owner of Grenadier in the UK and rightly or wrongly purchased a petrol commercial version. I believe that the springs are stiffer on the commercial models which is great for towing or when I have a reasonable load onboard but I would like a better ride quality on the road, most of my driving is UK country lanes which are bumpy and pot holed.
I was thinking that changing out the shocks for something like the French Nimbus hydrolic shock or something would hopefully improve my day to day driving and will handle the poor roads which are just everywhere here in the UK. I would really like some input before spending my hard earned cash. . Thanks Daniel

 

[Cheshire cat]

I am looking for some advice. I am an early owner of Grenadier in the UK and rightly or wrongly purchased a petrol commercial version. I believe that the springs are stiffer on the commercial models which is great for towing or when I have a reasonable load onboard but I would like a better ride quality on the road, most of my driving is UK country lanes which are bumpy and pot holed.
I was thinking that changing out the shocks for something like the French Nimbus hydrolic shock or something would hopefully improve my day to day driving and will handle the poor roads which are just everywhere here in the UK. I would really like some input before spending my hard earned cash. . Thanks Daniel

Hi Grey Wolf
I am also very interested in the Nimbus product but as yet, can't find enough feedback. A lot of cash to lay out without some pedigree. They do have a dealer in the UK (Chris) whom I need to meet up with and see how they perform on his Defender.

 

[Grey Wolf]

Hi Grey Wolf
I am also very interested in the Nimbus product but as yet, can't find enough feedback. A lot of cash to lay out without some pedigree. They do have a dealer in the UK (Chris) whom I need to meet up with and see how they perform on his Defender.

The reviews from this forum aren't exactly glowing for Nimbus but it's hard to know if they are fair and unbiased as forums are like Google business reviews, one star or five stars, and I am just left confused.

 

[KristinaM]

I’ve placed an order for the Nimbus Erebus. I should see them arrive in mid or late April at this point.

 

[Cheshire cat]

Will be very interested in hearing your views. There is someone else on here from the US, who has fitted Nimbus. He told me he was very happy with his choice. To me, the engineering definitely makes a lot of sense.

 

[Dokatd]

Nimbus would likely do exactly what you are looking for since they are charged shocks. You will likely want to run the Nimbus just a smidge over factory ride height to fully realize the effects. Maybe .5-1" over.

I cannot speak to the quality of Nimbus but I have run similar products over the years and it does provide a nice supple ride.

 

[pmatusov]

I would not buy Nimbus out of a general principle - the company using a meaningless buzzword for something that is not only not new, but widely used everywhere.
Every single Bilstein monotube shock is oleo-pneumatic. Every Gabriel AirShock from a 40-year-old JCWhitney catalog was oleo-pneumatic.
I believe every glowing review is just because people have to justify spending a large coin on a buzzword.

 

[TheDocAUS]

AIRBAGS
Depending on how heavy the van is, airbags maybe enough to deal with any issues. It is enough for my van, which is 1980kg max.

Short article on towing with airbags on the INEOS here.

KONI
I would suggest you also look at the KONI Raid shocks, see link below. A highly respected shock and much more competitively priced than the Nimbus.

NIMBUS
@Adam-Oz has been working on dialing in his Nimbus shocks to tow a 3.5 tonne van. He has some valuable insight if you go that way. It is not straight forward. NImbus is a pricey option.

I know Adam is close to posting a review of his experiences.

View: https://youtu.be/7hkvTdl8CI8

 

[Dokatd]

I would not buy Nimbus out of a general principle - the company using a meaningless buzzword for something that is not only not new, but widely used everywhere.
Every single Bilstein monotube shock is oleo-pneumatic. Every Gabriel AirShock from a 40-year-old JCWhitney catalog was oleo-pneumatic.
I believe every glowing review is just because people have to justify spending a large coin on a buzzword.

Ok, I'm with you, but Nimbus are true air shocks are they not. Standard monotube shocks are not designed to carry any load and use relatively thin shafts. Nimbus to my knowledge use shafts that are 1.25-1.5" in diameter or more. Then they are charged to the point that they carry some load. This provides a wildly different ride over normal charged shocks.