T6 campervan suspension: lower and improve ride quality

The Problem

A campervanned T6 sits too high on standard suspension and wallows badly, with body roll made worse by the added weight of the conversion fitout. Fitting lower springs alone without matched dampers and anti-roll bars produced a poor ride.

Solution

1. Source an H&R spring and Koni Sport damper kit for the T6, specifying a 50 mm drop.
   • The Koni Sport 'short' variant is used to maintain proper suspension travel at the lower ride height.
   • H&R lowering springs (verify part number before ordering) and Koni Sport dampers (verify part number before ordering) must be ordered as matched fronts and rears — record the exact kit references with the supplier before paying.
   • Critical: H&R offers different spring rates for the T6 depending on your van's gross vehicle weight (commonly 3.0 t vs 3.2 t GVW) and front axle load, and there are detail differences between T6 and T6.1 (confirm this applies to your T6 generation). A converted camper sits near the top of its payload band, so quote the supplier your V5C GVW, kerb weight, and front axle load to get the correct spring — fitting a lighter-duty spring will over-lower the front and cause it to bottom out.
2. Order uprated front and rear anti-roll bars (ARBs) at the same time.
   • ARBs address the wallowing caused by pop-top or conversion weight without making the ride harsher.
   • Specify the brand, part number, and bar diameter for both the front and rear bar to suit your GVW variant (verify part numbers and diameters before ordering) — 'uprated' alone is not enough to order the correct parts, and front/rear stiffness must be balanced to avoid introducing under- or oversteer.
3. Set the final ride height with the van fully loaded — kitchen, fridge, bed, and all camping gear in place.
   • If you set the height unloaded, the conversion weight will push the van lower than intended once you fill it.
4. Have the complete kit fitted, then book a four-wheel geometry/alignment reset, ideally with a specialist familiar with campervanned T6s.
   • Note that H&R fixed-rate lowering springs are not height-adjustable, so true corner-weighting (balancing the diagonal wheel weights on individual scales, targeting roughly 50% cross-weight) only applies to adjustable coilovers — with these springs the essential post-fit job is resetting the geometry that lowering has thrown out.
   • After lowering, front camber goes more negative and toe shifts, so have the front and rear toe and camber measured against VW's published tolerances and corrected to bring them back within spec; ask the workshop to provide the before/after print-out. Skipping this causes inner-edge tyre wear and tramlining. Confirm the correct alignment figures for your exact T6/T6.1 model and axle loads with a VW dealer or the kit manufacturer.