airbag suspension

[kenfyoozed]

anyone running airbag suspension? i read an article in hot vws of an airbag system. they made a comment that the ride is smoother and quieter. and its fully adjustable. i checked the price and the entire kit is abot 1k$.

does anybody have any ideas about this? i think it would be sweet to be able to run the chassis at or about stock height and then when you park it at shows or whaterever, you can drop it all the way down. plus the ride is better, as all of the torsion bars are removed front and rear. its like the best of both worlds!!!

so what am i missing? pros cons?

thanks

neil

[hybrid_john]

Actually, I know a guy who installed an air ride suspension on his truck and he loves it, he said that it was the smoothest ride he's ever had ( almost Cadillac quality, and if you've ever driven a Caddy you'll know what I mean).
So I think that it would be a good idea for you to do this kind of mod... but are you racing you ride at all (slalomm, auto-x?) if your are or want to think about doing some more home work on the kit before you do! Other wise I would say do it should be worth a grand in the long run!

[kenfyoozed]

so no auto-x huh? why not? could you still run it hard on the street? or is power a mean monster to the air suspension?

neil

[hybrid_john]

actualy I have no idea if har dcornering would affect the air suspension or not but do you ever hear of any one using air suspension in auto-x? I haven't, thats why I said you should do some home work on the side and find out if the set-up can handle that kind of punishment! Maybe you should call the company and ask them...hope that helps clear things up a little

[boygenius]

Dump trucks use air bags for there rear suspension so air suspension is pretty durable. But I would think that the air suspension would be a little to soft for track use. Besides their is the matter of weight to consider. On the other hand if you mostly want the suspension to lower your ride for shows it's a pretty good idea. Think about it,
adjustable front beam= $300
adjustable spring plates= $200
lowered shocks= $40 for a pair.
lowered suspension sway bar= $150
lowered balljoints with labor= $160
That's about $850 dollars, pretty darn close to the price of the air ride kit. That and you can adjust it at the push of a button, no more crawling under your car to get into a parking lot.:silly:

[craazy Cooter]

Air bags are for ride quality, not handling. Air suspension is primarily used in the US on luxury yacht cars, and some undulating suvs. I would go with koni coil overs or something similar for auto x. Air is Either low and soft, or high and firm. Do you want to high ride all around the course?

[kenfyoozed]

i was thinking along the same lines. how smooth is the coil over suspension?

i want something smoother than stock.. and be able to abuse it. is this possible?

neil

[craazy Cooter]

NO!

[craazy Cooter]

Remember, with koni universal coilovers ($300 a piece) you can use different 2.5" coil springs. Soft firm solid whatever. JEGS has them. What is your location, kenfyoozed?

[kenfyoozed]

im on the alabama gulf coast. o i cant have my cake and eat it too?

compared to stock, is a coil over setup smoother?

neil

[craazy Cooter]

compared to stock beam, coilovers are smoother, I don't know, though, I have a beam.

[Bugs]

i think you would all be very surprised on how well airride can handle.

Will it be as tight as a coilover set? no. But it will still handle very well if setup correctly.

Alot of it comes down to how much are pressure you are running at your desired ride height. If you are running very low preasure at ride height, then you will have a VERY soft ride, and cornerning/handling will suffer. However, if the bags are setup in that the bags are under a decent PSI, at the desired ride height, its essentially the same as having a stiffer spring.

Way I was shown was to think of a airbag as a spring (which it will be used as). Low preasure = soft spring, higher preasure = firm spring. Its all in the installation as to how it rides at each height.

Just my 2cents

PS: they also did a test on HorsePowerTV once, and came to the conclusion that it may not be QUITE as good as a coilover setup, but it definatly holds its own. Especially for those who do mostly cruising, and some hard driving verses those who are all out track guys

[EvilAngel]

Reading this old thread (almost 2 years old), i wonder how do you set a specific PSI for ride height. Would this be dependant on the specific size or specs of airbag used?

Just wondering...