SuperSprings International got its start in South Africa some 30 years ago, and since then we’ve become a globally acclaimed brand with a mission to make journeys better all over the world.

During a visit to California in 1998, our CEO Gerry Lamberti spent time with his sister Cathi who was running the SuperSprings International operation in the US. At that time, the company was relatively new in the American market and was struggling to break through. The company intrigued Gerry, but with a successful civic engineering business, he returned to his home country of South Africa.

The late 90’s and early 2000’s were extremely turbulent for South Africa and were proving continually difficult for entrepreneurs to succeed in business ventures. Eating at him, Gerry knew that SuperSprings International could be something special and with sobering considerations, Gerry and his wife Ashleigh decided to uproot with their family and take the risk. Southern California and a brand-new industry was the destination.

After emigrating in late 2002, Gerry spent many years refining the steel product – our namesake, the SuperSprings – and breaking into the work truck and commercial markets along with expanding our WD network. After continuing to see slow but steady adoption of the add-a-leaf alternative, word of this new suspension company was starting to grow, and the reputation of this American-made solution was on the rise. Truck manufacturers appreciated how the product could level loads, decrease body roll and increase a truck’s carrying capacity. The future looked bright for SuperSprings.

Some of the initial adopters of our bolt-on steel solution were Meyer, Keystone, NAPA (Balkamp) and Trans American. In addition, AAA assisted in the original sway reduction testing and found a 29% reduction in body roll, specifically on the Ford Explorer. This was an answer to a need with the Explorers at the time having major rollover issues.

In 2005 Gerry was approached by a potential customer looking to add a suspension solution that would create load-leveling, vibration reduction, and was also practically indestructible. The customer was the US border patrol and their adoption of airbags on their patrol vehicles had proven unsuccessful as a suspension solution.

While exhibiting at the SEMA automotive show in Las Vegas, Gerry encountered a material he hadn’t yet considered; microcellular polyurethane. The material reminded him of his favorite candy growing up in South Africa - the Nestle Aero. The bar is smooth but has a bubbly texture on the inside due to the chocolate being aerated before cooling.

This was it! Like the Aero bar, the microcellular polyurethane was engineered and formed in such a way as to incorporate all the features of the superior material while also capturing the air bubbles to allow for compression. The result is a suspension solution that would performs differently to anything else in its class and has been disrupting the market for over 15 years. The hunt to create a zero-maintenance solution that would take over the airbag industry was over – insert SumoSprings…

The US Border Patrol were the first to really put the SumoSprings through the ringer. With a contract to supply an entire fleet of Border Patrol trucks with SumoSprings, the agents drove the trucks as hard as they could, traveling off-road across broken terrain at high speeds while pursuing illegal border crossings. With some 3,000 trucks to test on, there wasn’t a single warranty return and with a desire to really see what the limits were, an agent jammed a screwdriver completely through his SumoSprings and left it in there with zero impact to performance.

Since then, SumoSprings have become a globally demanded product for trucks, trailers, motorhomes, and RV’s when it comes to a simple “fit-it-and-forget-it” suspension upgrade. Since their launch in 2008, SumoSprings have grown into a must-have solution across multiple lifestyles and industries. Our patent for the SumoSpring Maxim was secured in 2009 and then the Rebel patent in 2014.

Over the past decade, SumoSprings have become standard equipment for RV manufactures such as Winnebago, Tiffin, Coachmen, Thor, and PleasureWay to name a few. There’s now a growing demand in the overlanding markets too, with Toyota adding SumoSprings to their SEMA-built Tacoma – the TacoZilla.

Our story is far from over. From South Africa to Southern California, with offices now in Idaho and expanding internationally, were on a mission to become the best-known suspension brand in the world. And we’re well on our way.