While the Sprinter is not a true off-road vehicle you can make it a decent people mover on dirt roads. The 4x4 functionality of our van is…..ok. There is only so much you can do when you don’t have true lockers or proper off-road suspension geometry and an extremely long wheelbase. In order to improve what we could we decided to upgrade the suspension, wheels, and tires.
We went with a Van Compass suspension kit, mud flat relocation kit, Black Rino wheels, and BFG KO2 tires. The Van Compass kit we went with is their new 4.3 Falcon kit that has 3 main driving modes and within each mode they have 8 minor adjustments. One mode is firm for street driving and towing. The middle mode is just that, a balanced setting between the two extremes. The last mode is for off-road. The minor adjustments of 1-8 simply make things progressively stiffer or softer within the mode you selected. You change the settings by simply turning two dials on each shock by hand which only takes seconds. Van Compass requires you to get your van corner weighted so that they can tune your system before they ship it out. Everything is bolt on and the quality is fantastic.
The drive improvements from the Van Compass system are impressive. In the stiffest setting there was less sway and more control. It also helped cut down on the cross wind pushing. We generally leave it in this setting around town and on highways. When we do mixed driving we drop to the middle setting. Once you know you will be on dirt for a while we go to the softest setting and it really helps the van become a bit more capable off-road. We keep the minor setting at 4 (in the middle) but over time we might play with that setting some. Unlike some of Van Compass’s other suspension kits this setup does not raise the van. I didn’t want to mess with the geometry of the van for this family adventure camper, but if you are looking for more clearance Van Compass does offer raised kits.
Van Compass says that the largest tires you can use without messing up the Sprinter’s electronic systems is 275 (stock tires are 245). We decided to go with 265/70/17 BFG KO2. These tires give us a bit more clearance, are three peak rated, drive well, and perform well off-road. Because the stock wheels are 16 we also had to upgrade the wheels to 17. We went with Black Rino Warlord matte black wheels. These require you to also upgrade the lug nuts/bolts because the stock bolts have a round head versus the standard cone head. It is also recommended you get wheel spacers. For that we went with Agile Off-road 16mm spacers. To fit these tires properly you need to use a Van Compass mud flap relocation kit to give you some proper clearance. This is especially needed if you plan on using chains for the snow.
This is a great modification to make your van more capable and look the part, but keep your expectations in check. A vehicle this large will never be a real rock crawler but these modifications will reduce your risk of getting stuck and make your dirt road and highway travels more pleasant.