Since we first drove Beatrix on the hairpin roads of the Alps, there’s been something I wanted to do. Anything to improve the suspension and handling.

Why?

Beatrix has air suspension to support the rear but the front suspension is provided by torsion bars. It’s a bit ‘agricultural’ and easily overwhelmed by the weight of the vehicle.

The problem is that the suspension is designed for a van workload. That means some journeys will be fully loaded but that others will be unloaded. In motorhome mode, we’re fully loaded up to our plated maximum of 6700kgs almost all the time.

We had previously looked at upgrading to full air suspension. Lots of these vehicles are fitted with the VB system, which from research appears to the Rolls Royce solution. Sadly, the overall cost we’ve had quoted was about £9500. For a vehicle of Beatrix’s age and value it just didn’t make sense.

Then I came across Marquart Dampers in Germany.

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They produce heavy duty shock absorbers for cars, motorhomes and trucks.

For motorhomes, they’re heavier duty than the factory supplied units and given ours have already provided 18 years of service, upgrading them seemed like a cost effective way to try to improve Beatrix’s boat-like handling.

We opted to install them in Germany, at the Marquart facility in Loningen.

Installation

We arrived the day before our appointment and stayed over in the dedicated motorhome space that they have.

Next morning, we took Beatrix into the workshop as planned and the technician walked me through the installation process.

We were having the front and rear dampers replaced.

Beatrix is an older lady and I was concerned that the guys might complain or not want to work to remove the older, rusty parts but it was no problem. They explained what can happen on older vehicle installations and what they might need to do to get the old parts out.

There are three ratings of damper available and they recommended the medium level of damper, which is what they usually fit to these type of motorhomes.

Installation did take a few hours and removing the rear dampers did indeed prove a bit tricky but the technician treated it like a challenge and came over to show me how he’d been able to get them out.

Does it make a difference?

Yes.

I thought the test drive might be a bit like doing a wine tasting in the way that I wouldn’t be able to feel any difference. Thankfully it wasn’t.

The difference was immediately clear and the handling significantly better.

Despite the immediate improvements, it’s as we’ve driven more miles that the improvements have become really obvious.

The massive body roll we used to get entering corners has gone and I’ve noticed that simple things like slip roads that I’m able to take at 10-15 mph higher. That’s a really big improvement for us.

Along with this improvement has come an increase in my confidence.

Lower speed handling’s been improved too and whilst we don’t exactly soak up the potholes of UK roads, the performance is much, much better.

Recommendation and costs

Would I recommend the Marquart Damper upgrade. Yes. Without a doubt.

I’d love VB air suspension too but it’s had to imagine that would make as bigger change as the Marquart dampers have done.

For our 2008 Iveco Daily 65C18, they cost us just under £1000 fitted.

How do I get them?

The Marquart website is linked to this post.

It’s easy to make an appointment to have the dampers fitted by Marquart in Germany. Alternatively they quote to ship the parts to the UK.