Does any company currently make an airstrut to totally replace the stock strut/spring front and rear on 3rd gens yet? I've heard very little about this new technology.

 

If you are talking about air ride, yes. I know Kandied91Z had air suspension from Air Ride Technologies and even though the struts aren't listed on the website yet (it says coming 2004, well 2004 is almost gone) I'm pretty sure he used 3rd gen specific struts.

For rears he used 4th gen bags, which are the same for our thirdgens. Check here for Kandied's ride. Do a search, and you'll dig up some dirt on air suspension. Search for "air ride" or "air bag" etc. And if you check my post a little further down I've asked a few (maybe more than a few ) air suspension questions, so you're welcome to post any questions there too.

 

I'm asking about the new airstruts, not just bags. I did a search on "airstruts" and only got 3 matches here on TGO. Ridetech says they will be released in 2004, yes the year is about up. My question remains, is there a vendor that has them available now and how do they perform if someone has them. If not, does anyone know when Ridetech will have them available?

 

call ART the catalog and site still says TBA.

Yes jeff has the strutbags on the front. They use the 12way QA1 Strut/bag setup.

 

I was under the impression the AirStruts don't need the stock springs or struts/shocks anymore? From what i understand you totally rempve the stock springs and shocks and only install the AirStrut. Am I wrong?

 

They have a picture here

http://www.ridetech.com/productinfo/airstrut.asp


Heres a good link also
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hlight=airbags

 

the first link is what I'm interested in. They are not available yet for some reason.

The second link isn't what I'm looking for.

 

slow down.... you've had 2 people answer your question already and you keep replying with they don't offer it or it isn't answering your question. pick up the phone and call air ride technologies, ask to speak with darren. if that's too much to do go here.

www.ridetech.com and check out their web message forums. darren and several of the other guys who work/build them all check in on a daily basis. answer your question there then.

they make them, i have them....

 

am i correct in my understanding that these air struts put the weight of the car on the upper strut mounts?

do they include bracing to strengthen the strut mount area?

 

^yea I was wondering the same thing, with no support for the strut towers how do they not poke thru?

 

why, are you planning on ditch jumping?

the only thing i've seen is the billet strut mounts tend to bend with the force that is accompanied using coilover type suspensions and this was after severe bumps.

no point in making this a strut tower strength debate as that question has been asked many times in other threads yet no one has shown proof of one failing yet so to answer your question, no they do not offer anything to brace/strengthen the area.

 

Of course kidding, Ill read the other threads

 

What do you mean slow down? I can't type fast.
My main question is still un-answered. Who else makes airstruts and are they available? I checked on ridetech website and the 3rd gen airstruts aren't available yet. Seeing how new these are I don't think anyone else makes them since a search only turned up 3 matches on the entire TGO forums.

 

Damm board ate my post.......

anyways heres the short version.

Just call like jeff and I said. Instead of posting saying they dont have em because the website says so is foolish.

Jeff had em on his Z. I'll have em on my vert when it comes out of hiding.

Nobody else that I know of makes Strutbags. and NOBODY uses the QA1 if they do make em.

as for the poping the mount out the top... never see it happen or even hear of it. Just like everyone says about the tubular k members on the street. You hear a dozen storied but have you seen any pictures or 1st hand talk of it......

 

Agreed. They DO make them, and now with TPI383, that makes two on this board (and hopefully soon three of us, as I'm planning a setup too... woho) that have them. Go to my link I first posted about kandied's (Jeff's) ride. Boom, there you go. Non-existent airstruts made for our cars.

 

Kandied, did your airstruts have the slim bags as pictured in the link above or the dual convoluted bags similar the bags 406 S10 used, only over a strut obviously.

 

i'm not trying to be rude but yes your inital question was answered. you asked if they are available, if a company makes them and yes they are available and just about all of the airride companies make them. AirRide Technologies or ART happens to be the company that makes the nicest set which also happens to be the company brand i used for all of my equipment. chassis tech and airlift also make them however they use standard strut housing similar to that of monroe. ART uses qa1 12 way billet struts which are slightly shorter, lighter if your into that and have more adjustment making a better overall ride.

you are correct that they currently are not posting the availability on their website for several reasons which have to do with some contracts between hal just to name one. while thirdgen.org is the premier website for everything thirdgen related you have to ask yourself how many people actually have air ride on their thirdgens, while i personally know over 15 that isn't very many and only 2 others are actually documented here on this site. with a 3rd being mine, i'm the only one with the struts that i know of. why is this? probably because in order to use the airstruts you would have to convert to a tubular front end setup for coilovers and most either don't have this or could care less to convert so they run standard bags. while air ride in general has been around for a long time it is only recently starting to get world wide recognition. the days of old where air ride was considered strictly for lowriders is slowly changing but until then most of the work/answers you seek will need to be dug up on many various sites. i researched air ride for 4 years before i finally went through with it. i'm very glad i did but i'm also glad i waited as a lot of advances have come along as well as the price has dropped drastically with all the various companies. with air ride becoming a standard suspension used on many high end vehicles it's slowly becoming accepted mainstream.

 

listen to the man here, it pretty much sums it up... i've talked with him various times about the various products and what to do. air ride makes the better air strut but it is a bit more expensive at more then twice what some of the other companies are asking. is it that much better? couldn't tell you, however i can say that it works exactly how i hoped it would and handles better then anything i've had on the car so for that piece of mind alone it was worth it.... as they become more mainstream/accepted i'm sure the price will drop much like other items. the fact they are using $800 qa1 struts which aren't even available for our cars yet is enough to see why the price is what it is at around $1,100 a pair.

i've only had them for a short time but the time i have had them i've used them quite a bit and they work excellent. everything i expected out of ART.

 

mine looks similar to that picture but only all billet and the strut is actually alot larger, much like the bilstein base for those who know the difference. yes it uses a similar sleeve like you are seeing but it's definately different all together. eventually i will get some pictures of it somehow but at the current time i have nothing. i personally have not seen a convoluted style air strut although they do make them just by looking over at ARTs website. there are different requirements for such though. i personally took my car down to them and had the complete setup custom built by them. the plan was to market a thirdgen kit, the only reason it isn't posted is because i had a coilover conversion front end so they couldn't build a true standard kit since most do have the standard k-member with spring perches.

reguardless everything they used on my car has been posted throughout the web. the setup works extremely well, that's all i can say as it was the best modification i did to the car and the first one i'm doing to the next.

as to say which is better as far as airstrut or stock setup with bags like the two other cars on here i can't say. i've driven other makes with bags all around and the front felt a little boat like with the bags up front but it isn't a true representation. ART said the airstrut gives a better sport feel then the standard bags up front but to be honest i'd have to drive both side by side to compare. all i can say though is having all areas of modifications the air ride works.

 

the reason i asked about the strut is because i emailed ART and the response they sent me was the air struts for the 93-03 camaro front strut and it uses the 255 convoluted bag over the strut and i emailed him back and he said the strut for the third gens will use the same bag, so i was curious. If you remember Jeff, I am curious as to how close the tires came to the bags on the struts, could you have fit a wheel with more backspacing or was there no space. Thanks

Just for reference the bags that 406 S10 Man used are the 255 bags, they are 6.5" in diameter.

 

Ah, good infomation. I didn't see that at all on their website. I thought it was a direct replacement for the stock springs/struts. Guess not......

Also, i thought i read you got early prototypes from ART, not a regular production versions which I was under teh impression wasn't released yet. I'm not ready to buy so i'm not going to bother calling ART and wasting their time. I am just gathering information right now and looking for options available instead of lowering springs. Handling is very important to me. Price is second.

 

Pick up the Jan.05 edition of Chevy High Perf.

I know its a 4thGen they tested ART on but you will realize how much a a diff ART setup makes over springs.

They had Steve Grissom a Bush Series racer put it to the test at Putnan Park Road Course.

well worth the reading.

 

good article, few more that will be out with CHP and superchevy soon.


as far as my air struts.... they were prototype i suppose because they were the first built for our cars so you could classify them that way. to be honest though they are very identical to what is used on the 4thgen just the brackets are slightly adjusted and the actual strut shaft is larger.

as far as the bag that's used do you know what the difference between the various convoluted options are? there are reasons for the many versions as far as double, tripple, etc. for such a situation i know i wouldn't want it.

 

so your strut bags are not the convoluted style, ok so here is another question how low is it at ride height, the 4th gen kit said it is 1.25 inches lower at ride height, and how much room is there between your airstruts and your wheels. Thanks in advance Kandied, you are a big help to everybody trying to do this.

 

with all due respect these questions have been asked countless times here and other forums. your ride height depends on how you setup the suspension. there are plenty of pictures on my site that show various heights of the vehicle.

www.cardomain.com/id/kandied91z

if you truly have a technical question that hasn't been answered in any of the other threads then pm or email me.

 

Kandied91z,

I'm sure you have been questioned over & over about your air struts. So I have to apoligize first for asking.

Air they adjustable for ride height & parking height?

I would love something that would ride at stock level height but something that I can lower while parking.

Also, can you adjust or lock the front and rear for different heights when parking?

I'm not worried about my front since I have narrow tires & know they will clear, but my rear has a nice wide tire & I am afraid that while lowering it my quarters could get damaged.


How do they ride? Handle? Corner?


I wasn't going to do much to my car except for a engine upgrade. But after seeing some of the cars here, I said what the hell. If it takes me several years to complete I don't care.
At least I'll have a decent contender when I'm done.

 

Here is a post that I started regarding handling with air suspension. This will address your questions concerning handling and ride height (yes it's adjustable). I think Kandied had to roll his fenders and modify the inner fenders in order to get the car real low the way he wanted it. Do a search for "air suspension" or "air bag" and you'll find some more information.