Air Suspension Installation

Air suspension can improve the stability, safety and comfort levels of your journey by correcting ride height and improving weight distribution. If you frequently drive on uneven roads or carry heavy or variable loads, an auxiliary air suspension kit could transform your journeys.

Dunlop Air Assist produces air suspension systems for Light Commercial Vehicles between 1.5t and 7.5t.  For larger vehicles we can also provide a solution from other suppliers.

Without Air Suspension
- Unstable handling

- Higher sensitivity to cross-winds

- Less grip on the front wheels

- Long, or too long a braking distance

- Can dangerously blind oncoming drivers 

- Increased risk of damage

With Air Suspension

- More driving comfort and better roadholding

- Always sufficient ground clearance

- Highly stable left/right divided system

- Allows vehicle to be raised safely to drive on and off ferries

- Levels on an uneven surface

- More grip on the front wheels

- Better steering

- Shorter braking distance

SemiAir is well suited to both commercial applications such as goods transport or trade use, and to leisure applications as an entry point for air suspension for motorhomes.

SemiAir is ideal if you are frequently towing or hauling heavy or often variable loads, or if you require greater ground clearance for the rear of your vehicle, or more stability while driving under load.

It is a relatively inexpensive solution which is fast to install and helps to protect your vehicle and load from damage.

The functionality allows the height of your vehicle (within the limits of the leaf spring suspension) to be adjusted by increasing/decreasing the air pressure in the air springs. This keeps your vehicle at a steady height above the road surface and reduces the impact of heavy loads.

It’s that time again! You’re itching to go camping so you collect your motorhome from storage and you can already see yourself relaxing beside a babbling stream. You plan your route to a beautiful destination and, with a fully packed motorhome, set off on your holiday.

Your unstable handling soon becomes obvious due to swaying in gusts of wind, less grip on the front wheels, too long a braking distance and bouncing when you go over a ramp.

Unfortunately the design of motorhomes is such that the manufacturer puts a lot of weight behind the rear axle and the longer the distance from the rear wheels the greater the effect that has on the stability of the vehicle. With some motorhomes having nearly 2 metres behind the rear wheels with garages that can take 800kg you can see that simple physics means this will put a lot of pressure on the standard van rear springs. We have seen some motorhomes come in with the springs being flat and that is brand new, not an old vehicle with mileage on it.

The right Dunlop air assist system will stabilise the motorhome significantly. Air suspension is unknown to many and consequently unloved. Over the years, however, Dunlop Air Assist has become something of an icon among air suspension systems and now well known in practically every part of the world. Anyone who has ever driven a vehicle with it, will never want to do without. The motorhome will be much more comfortable to drive, the ride height more consistent, you’ll be less affected by ramps and gusts of wind and be generally safer on the road.

The best kit for you will depend on how you use your vehicle and what you wish to achieve from it, and what you would wish to spend.

With a SemiAir kit you can quickly and relatively cheaply add auxiliary air bags to your rear suspension. This fits between the rear axle and chassis of your vehicle and assists the suspension already fitted.

Motorhome air suspension: Motorhomes operate at a maximum weight capacity almost all of the time, so the regular suspension can’t work as efficiently as you might like it to. You can replace the bump stops or auxiliary springs with an air suspension spring to take away some of the banging and increase stability when you are driving.