I know that an adjustable coilover setup has the potential to waaaay outperform an airbag setup; I did have a coilover set in my 240z and loved the handling and learned to live with the ride.
However...I'm much older now, I've got kids that ride in the back seat (if you can call it that), and I drive in a world populated by speed bumps, high curbs and potholes.
The idea of raising my car on the fly is rather appealing, as well as the fact that an airbag system should be a fairly comfortable ride has me thinking.
If any of you have driven both setups I'd love to hear your opinions on both!

 

I would also like to learn more. I have researched quite a bit buit all I can find are articles where people have turned them into lowrider suspensions. I know AirRide Technologies has some decent products. But I would interested to know what kind of handling I can get with different setups. Also like the idea of maybe raising it up in town and then maybe dropping it down while parked, or on the interstate. Just not on the missouri highways

Just kidding
Max

 

I've installed coil-overs on a few cars, never drove one. Rode in a few but they had them cranked all the way down so ride was ****-poor.

I installed, drove, and owned an s10 with air bags. Ride was better then factory at average height(high was stiff, low was ****-poor). It gave a little on handling but some of that could be that I had fronts on one valve, rears on another valve. So when you took a cornor, it transfered air side to side. If all 4 were on there own valve, I dont see where handling would be taken away to much.

 

well i'm in the middle of an airride swap, handling is supposed to be tight yet smooth, install is pretty straight forward, i wanted LOW but the roads in colorado are not low freindly i can bring it right up to the factory ride height, higher(for getting onto trailer or where its stored) or slam it down since you trim the bump stops in the back to 1.5" it clears my exaust and onto the bumpstops and it tucks tire, the valves are 4 way so there is no air transfer i have the rear done, having some issues with the front not teh components themselves but just issue and alot of stress for me (might have been a bad time to start the install), when it is done which i hope is VERY soon i'll let you know about handling, kandy would be the one to ask, i think he loves his, heres a pic of the back nice and low, i can actually trim teh stops a hair more and put it down lower but this way if i have any air issues i can drive it home on the bumpstops without tearing anything apart

 

well i promised i'd come back and let you know how she handled, got it out today, still have to fine tune my pressures for driving, i just set it up to be about an inch lower than stock and WOW, the ride is unbelievably smooth, yet i took a few good hard corners and did a little "tire warming" nascar style and she is very tight, less body roll than stock, it is very confident in hard cornering plus i cna lift it up and then drop it for hot chicks Of course i did install energy suspension sway bar busings and end link bushings while i was at it so that might help, my ex had a 04 escalade on 24's and the camaro rides smoother than the lade did, i would highly recommend the setup, as i said i still have to fine tune everything but with the stock strut/shocks combo it is a dream a big improvement over stock.....plus that bitching cool stance

 

Cool. Nice to get a actual review in the Air Ride. I may consider it too. The GTA could use a little better ride.

 

took it out last night and really gave it a bit of a beating, very impressed, i will say this i always kinda wondered if the magazines put on a little bit of icing when they worshipped the qualities, ya know make us look good we'll hook ya up.....but after actaully doing it to mine i am aware that is not the case, everything i've read in the past few years of the benefits of bags are true.....

Plus it gets a TON of attention, i feel like a celebrity driving around with that air ride technologies decal on the back window, partly because there are 4 of us in this small club that have it kandy, iroc2nv and slammedz and muah, like today i had it at ride height to run some errands stopped at the gas station, lot of people, slammed it went in to prepay came out adn i had a small crowd of people figuring out what i just did, one girl goes how do you drive it that low i go like this, hit teh button on the remote and brought it to ride height i cant wait till show season starts

 

Wow, thanks for the follow-up posts!
I still haven't decided wich way I'm going but your review does have me leaning towards the bags...however, I just got the Air Ride catalogue in the mail yesterday and the system does look a little complex, and would seem to take up a considerable amount of trunk space (this is a convertible).
What are your thoughts on the install?, any pics of your tank/pump/valve setup?
I barely have enough room as it is with my sub and amps in the trunk.

 

How much is the entire setup ? What's the total weight and what's the fabrication involved ?

 

weight wise i couldnt tell ya for sure but in reality maybe a pound or two heavier than the jack and spare tire....which i replaced with this , if you look at the diagrams in the catalog they do look a bit complex, its not bad at all, i am writing a tech article on the install, just havent finished it yet since i am the first person to do the install myself on a thirdgen, i ran into some issues with how airride says to do it so i figured i'd do my own....

Only fab involved was the brackets i made to hold my tank to the post where the spare tire would mount and the valves to the fender well...thats it really rest is plug and play....if you can use a drill you can install it...

I do have some pics of the heart of it, i gave everything enough room so nothing rattles or anything, if i ever gotta get teh compressor out its gonna take some time, but its worth it imo to have it all hidden,

The ride is nice, i cant even explain it its like your driving a camaro but your not, smooth and low

 

vaccum got a work out after this mess

 

this is the only visible part of it, you can hide it in the glove box or whatever, i wanted it where i could see my pressures, its a great place for it, you cna watch it out of the corner of your eye and make lil adjustments here and there

 

I'll wait for your tech article

I'm thinking of maybe doing airbags down the road some time, since adjustability would be nice, due to the way roads are here in San Diego, especially closer to the mountains and also entrances and exits to parking lots.

 

yea, around here for instance i roll about 95 psi up front and 60 in the rear, usually a few higher on the drivers side to comensate for my 220 pounds, if i go to my girls i run about 100-104 front and almost 70 in the rear since the roads are a little hairy, it is definately nice to be able to mess with your ride this way....and the looks and reactions make it all worth it

 

And you say it still handles real well, lot better than stock, close to race car feeling, but just not as harsh ?

 

Well i am a straight track guy but i seriously wanna take it out to a road course and see what it would compare to, i did replace my end links and sway bar bushing with energy suspension ones so that helped a bit in the feeling but it is very confident, VERY minimal body roll, at my usual ride heights which is about 1" lower than stock, i have toyed a little with launching it, car seems to respond very well to a lower psi just a few pounds off the bumpstops in the rear and will hook up real well, it is stiff and a real tight handler, yet it is very comfortable, it is definately not a harsh ride

 

Yeah post your impressions from driving it hard around corners once ya get t oit will ya

 

Could we get a list of Air Ride Part Numbers that you are using? Price? and what parts supplier you used?

Thanks.

 

If you look on the second page of "did someone say layed out rs??" on the ap and detailing board i listed all the part numbers, lots of info on there to....its kinda the airride q and a of thirdgen, all of it was 1992.10 shipped and insured to colorado, that included options--Remote feature--hat--shirt

I ordered direct from air ride technologies, they have been nothing but great to deal with, had a terminal on my sending unit snap off and they had no problem sending me a new one, has to be the best company i have dealt with

 

Sweet! Thanks for the Info.

 

The very act of having your coil spring located over your shock doesn't make your car handle better, or ride harsh. It just gives you a conveinent way of adjusting your ride height. The spring rate has everything to do with ride quality and handling. The problem with air springs is you have no idea what your spring rate is, and the air bag companies won't tell you. The other problem is that it changes drastically with air pressure, the third problem is that the spring rate is progressive, and at an unknown rate which isn't what you want on a performance car.

Your basically at the mercy of the air bag company when it comes to the spring rate of the air bag. With coilovers you can decide which spring you want, and change them if they're not to your liking.

 

One thing that comes to my mind when I think about airbags is what happens if they fail. I only consider this perspective because I know guys that have had this happen to them. Alot of people modify their bumpstops for maximum clearance so they can go as low as possible. If the airbag system fails the bumpstops become your last line of defense so to speak as far as bottoming out. So even worse if they're modified and the car completely bottoms out. This can cause a real problem for someone if it happened out of the blue and left you stuck on the side of the road. Its happened to people I know when their bag blew out or they lost psi for whatever reason. Real PITA to get the car towed since its so low. Not having a spare is another thing that can be a problem if you get a flat out of the blue in the middle of nowhere. I figgure I might as well bring these things up since some guys might be considering doing this for a daily driver. It wouldnt be as big of a deal if you're planning to do this to your toy. But if its for the daily driver I think its a good idea to consider. The airbag system probably wont fail, but there is always that possibility.

 

Well I've been thinking that until I can afford a REAL setup, i.e. real real good springs and shocks .. or.. a real good air bag system ... heck I'll do the ol' school way .. i.e. find springs at the junkyard that have the correct diameter .. but a lot stiffer.. and simply cut a coil or two off them

Sounds simple enough ? Actually hell no .,.. I'll have to know the actual spring rate and spring height of actual cars before I go there ... so I can tell how much my car can drop if I cut one coil off ... WITHOUT the ride being super soft dragging on the damn ground

 

Yep, I totally second what he said having first hand experience with airrides myself for better than 10 years. Better get ready to change the bags every 3 years for piece of mind ans safety.

Also, if anyoine thinks that they are going to get any kind of race car handling (or even anywhere close to the ballpark for that matter) with an airride setup then I encourage you to come try your cars at at autox or a roadcourse against mine- you will not even be close. This setup is fantastic for show car looks and being able to overcome obsticales when wanting to simply cruise the car at a lowered height, but the adjustments this guy is making everytime he raises and lowers it is throwing the alignment specs to heck and will cause poor handling and premature tire wear.

Very nice for a 100% pure weekend showcar cruiser- and thats it.

Irocbirdbuilder, you have a very nice looking car.

 

Did you get a complete front and rear kit?