well had it out last week and then this week on pretty good highway runs to shows, today we went out a ways to a show along with my buddies chevelle...also bagged.....

The Goodies
On a full air ride tech setup, 17x9.5 Zr1's and 275/40's on all 4 eagle f1's, energy suspension bushings...everything else susp wise bone stock

The Results
The more i drive it the more i fall in love car rode amazing, at 95 mph it did not feel at all like a camaro but rather a nice new caddy, its stiff, nice crisp responsive handling yet a very gentle, VERY COMFORTABLE ride, the 275's up front feel a bit wide for colorado roads as it wants to pull all over whereever the ruts in the road are, i'm thinking of a 245/40 for the front and probaly keep the 275 in the rear but want something a bit taller to fill the well a lil more, the 275/40/17 is an entire new world compared to the 225/60/16's the previous owner had on it, handling is crisper and it rides alot nicer, no rub whatsoever front or rear at ride height....

The conclusion
If you have considered bags or are tired of messing with spring shock combos this is the way to go, it is unreal how well this setup works and just how well it performs....i truely am floored

 

that's awesome! I've been looking into this since kandied got his so now theres something else to save up for. lol wonder if i can squat with 315's out back? hahaha

 

- last I knew Jeff had his stuff up for sale....

 

Right on. Sounds like a nice compromise for us with daily drivers that still want a little fun. Roads in my area have super bad rutts too. Those 255/50/16's really let you know. Some highway runs I can get a super tight grip on the steering wheel and then have a locked grip afterwards. Feel free to give us more updates. Did shocks come with that system?

 

irocbirdbuilder, do you ever get any bounce going down the highway. What I mean is on my air ride system the potholes and larger bumps on the highway DO feel softer and more comfortable but sometimes the places where there is repeated little bumps make the car bounce more than it should. I am still working on what psi to run, though.

What do you usually run yours at?
----------
No...although they don't tell you that before you purchase it!

 

You are not the first to make these arguements and nothing you said is wrong, just not always applicable.

For one an air ride setup replaces the coil springs, which is entirely different than air shocks and/or an air ride setup for leaf springs (such as your truck). These are VERY different in concept from load helper springs, and allow the car's suspension to work as it did before, the airbags do not limit or impede the travel and dampening of the struts, shocks or control arms.

You are right about the height affecting the alignment. Which is why one, specific, desired ride height is selected for driving, the car is aligned there and that is where it is driven.

As far as performance, they perform as well as any lowering spring that has a large amount of progressive rate and high rebound. Because when you think about it as the bag is compressed, the air pressure increases, increasing the spring rate. No they aren't going to outperform a super-stiff constant rate spring on the track.

Also, with the bobble effect during hard cornering, the TV show you saw probably didn't use a 4-way valve, which means air could transfer from side to side creating nasty diving and poor cornering.

I don't think you are incorrect, I just think you are missing the point. An Air ride setup means a smooth comfortable ride, even when the car is lowered. I have run 4 differnet sets of springs, and while about half could "out-perform" the air ride NONE where very smooth at all. An air ride setup also has the ability to get over speed bumps, into steep driveways, and slam the car when parked and I think you would be surprised how well they can handle with some new bushings and adjustable struts/shocks.

 

Have you ever been in a performance vehicle equipped with airride???? I see where you are coming from with the trucks.....i work with airride on trailers everyday and deal with em on the back of tractors.....teh technology air ride tech runs is way over those setups.....

First off...you get your desired ride height, mine is just about the stock ride height as i measured out before i tore anything apart....stock ride height is about 65psi in the rear and 105psi up front, i usually run my side a few pounds higher to compensate for my 200 pound build....

Now any adjusting is done when i go down the road is minimal a psi or two here or there, when you setup airride on these cars you have it aligned at YOUR RIDE HEIGHT
ie, i slam it at show, crank it up to get over dips and bumps safely at low speeds, run it back to 105 up front and 65 out back and bam your alignment also returns with the old wheels and tires i put almost 5k on the airride and alot of that being shows with some travel involved and the tires are wearing dead even

I have buddies who have been running the same tires on bagged trucks and cars for the past 3+ years and have worn even....if it is installed correctly you wont tear up tires

I am running these on a completly otherwise bone stock suspension only changes being the sway bar bushings up front, i still havent upgraded shocks yet and the handling is amazing, it is extremely tight and i get no old tore up suspension box chevy, car feels like its in teh ocean feeling to put it simple, the car rides stiffer than the stock coils did, yet it is comfortable.....

Look into your pro street cars, alot of them are running air setups due to the adjustability, i've been ot the track quite a bit and there are 57's and alot of mid 90's impalas getting into low 10
s if not more on air setups....
Whatever your opinion being until you experiance the kit YOURSELF on YOUR performance vehicle there is no rreason to bash the setup, because of how the load bags on your truck feel, if air is not your cup of tea then fine but i have alot of friends running this stuff on performance cars and none of them will go back to the old combos they ran, my side to side handling is incredible, 2 way valve setups you get a ton of lean side to side however with teh 4way, unless you know the car is air ride equipped you have no way of telling

Best money i have ever spent on the car

 

I don't think Dean is really trying to talk bad about the airbag setup, just giving his opinion that they might not be the best choice for someone that wants all out handling. My advice would be to not take it personally. Most of the posts in here about Airbags are similar to this one. The owner of the new setup is really happy with how it rides, so they let people know. Rides great, performs great, etc, etc. Then people that are into racing step in and give their opinion based on what they have experience with. The one thing we're always forgetting is to consider what people are comparing against. Comparing a new Airbag setup to a blown out worn 100+k mile suspension setup would undoubtably give different results than comparing it a setup with all new parts, or a modified setup like the stuff Dean has. So take it for what its worth.

 

Well said, 90% of the arguments on this site are because most people only see things from their perspective. Frankly i'de love my car to handle like Dean's but i need it to ride like it's on bags. I hate NY roads!! Partly why i now own a truck.

 

Yeah, Dean is actualy a really nice guy. I haven't had the chance to meet him in person, but I bounce ideas off him via e-mail all the time (lol, I am never sure what his username here is).

Anyway, to add to this discussion. Karl Hunter (of Hunter Motorsports), and I were having a discussion about this not to long ago. Here are Karl's thoughts on the matter.

 

I think everyone here insists on arguing because they feel any statements that do not directly support their own are trying to argue. I don't disagree with much that has been said either way.

My point is, if someone says an air bag setup is good for cornering or racing, then tell them where they can put there theory, in my opinion, they are wrong.

But I don't recall anyone here making that claim.

Also, air bags do create a variable spring rate, although it is higher the more air that is put in the bags, not lower. This does and will create the bobble effect over larger bumps. But I think people who are running the AirRide setup prefer the bobble over a stiff suspension or one that hits the bump stops. (Most of us probably got sick of female passengers complaining about the ride)

I went from a setup with new shocks/struts, long springs with a rate lower than V6 springs, and new rubber bushings; and the AirRide still rides better on rough roads.

So, as much as people try to make it one, there isn't really an argument here. If you want and fine tuned autocross suspension go with coil-overs or metal springs, poly bushings, adjustable shocks/struts. If you want a car that rides like a town-car, even when 1.5" lower than stock than air bags can be the answer. (and as much as I hate to admit it, a parked camaro does actually look good with all the air let out.)

---P.S. CoolRide has double convoluted up front, barrels in the back, Shockwave can be run with or without CoolRide setup.---

 

lol... i knew i stayed away from this site for some reason.

yes my struts were up for sale as i have two pairs now when i was considering putting them on my 91 vert but it was cheaper to do the standard bags up front.

$1300 for anyone that is looking. brand new qa1 12 ways with the strut bags from air ride. you'll need a coilover conversion front end though. rides very well, a little better then the standard bag setup up front but not much. more for the one who needs room for turbo setup or long tube header clearance.

glad to hear your air ride setup is working good..

 

That’s the claim that is being made constantly now… and there is no way, if nothing else, at lower ride heights the air bags get softer and at taller heights they get stiffer, the opposite of what you want and need.

Mating them to something like the QA1 adjustable shocks makes people that really don’t know what handing means and judge it by “stiffer ride, it moves around less… must be handling better” makes them feel better even though real world you’re just ending up severely undersprung and overdampened…

My wife generally likes the way my stiffly sprung third gens ride, but does prefer to be wearing a sports bra if I’m going to be driving aggressively.

Air ride can make a car look good and make it handle/ride well in a very narrow specific range of ride heights, but when it comes down to it most systems add a lot of weight (not all, I’ve seen some that are light, maybe even lighter then normal springs) and don’t work well outside of that range. As far as most people really into handling are concerned, in 99% of situations variable rate springs are NOT a good thing.

Funny, my ’83 TA was actually more stiffly sprung then your V6 and it was a pleasure to drive on the street… I’ve had others with the typical eibachs and whatever shocks get in the car and were totally amazed at how nice it was to drive and how it didn’t bounce you around but still stuck like glue and did just what you told it to. It was by far superior to the eibachs and koni yellows (front) and 4th gen decarbons (rear) that were on my formula when I bought that and although putting yellows on the back of that car made it better, and then adding the specific rate springs off the ’83 on the back still made it better, it’s still a little wonky, which I attribute to the big Iroc/WS6 bars that it has on it. I much preferred the 32solid/19mm bars on my ’83 with the really stiff springs then I do with the 36mm/24mm on the formula with not so stiff springs.

Dean, I’d bet a big part of why our cars are so driveable even with what would be considered REALY stiff springs compared to a lot of others is that we still have tires with sidewalls on them (my formula usually has 245/50/16’s on it or my old 83 wheels/tires on it which were either a set of G60 hoosier road race tires (about 245/60/15 on all four) or some 235/60/15 F and 255/60/15 R BFG R1’s. Occasionally I’ll run an old set of 255/50/16 R1’s on all 4’s when I’m in the mood and don’t think the cops will harass me.)

I’m not sure I agree there… I think that you can get away with one or the other… with some know-how and plain old work you can go very far without spending real money, and the biggest places to spend real money is shocks/struts and tires, past that youc an prêt much use an assortment of JY/ebay pieces or make stuff yourself.

Heh, a lot of this can be bypassed by judicious use of a welder, press and can of black spray paint. I prefer semigloss… it’s the most unobtrusive… not shiny enough to stick out but not flat like you’re hiding something.

OTOH, if you really do want to make it low key, judicious use of a grinder, torch, muriatic acid and water can make even brand new or freshly modified parts look OEM.

 

what all did you hav to buy to make it complete. I'm not familiar with it so i'm still looking into everything i need and airrides website sucks.

edit: nevermind i went back and did some searching and found the part numbers from when you first got it.

 

I'm not putting up a fight against ddr or anything(sorry not online too much anymore) He makes some very good points as do others...i think its basically what its being used for, ddr sounds to be more cornering, handling kind of racing, my car has been built for 3 purposes
1.Street driven with decent manners
2. Straight line racing
3. Show

I'm not into autocrossing or road courses, the car was built to go fast in a straight line, win awards and get driven to and from the previous stated....

FOr me its great, i have the adjustibility i need to race it and drive it around town without tearing it up, and i can stop traffic when i slam it, its all personal preference, i love my setup, alot of people that have ridden in it are now looking into for they're rides

When all is said and done with the motor this winter i will be doing more suspension work, when the rear goes in its getting all new energy suspension pieces, aluminum ds, big brakes etc, tehn a good set of shocks, etc, but as i said i'm not in a rush to do it as the car works very well for what i have built it for

 

Well, that being said how about some pics?

 

so would this be a good steet/strip set up for a third gen? and could you use tubular a-arms and a tubular k-member with the air ride set up?

 

Just search my name on apearance and detailing, theres tons of pics....or i try to get the best ones on my myspace....yea i got one www.myspace.com/baggedrs


SuperNOS, Imo this is an awesome setup for a street strip car, my experiance with it on the street is awesome, havent had it to the strip yet but playing around with it here and there seems to launch a little better letting a bit of pressure out of the rear.....only issue is the bags have to have pressure on them, for instance to jack the car up the bags have to be deflated as to not overextend them....so if you plan on launching hard enough to pull the tires off the ground then bags up front anyways wouldnt be my suggestion

 

id like 2 see how it does on the track