Suspension and Chassis Questions about your suspension? Need chassis advice?

air ride suspension

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Old Apr 29, 2012 | 09:50 PM
  #1  
system155's Avatar
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Car: 89 camaro iroc, 89 camaro rs
Engine: 350-iroc / 305 rs
Transmission: 700r4 / t5
air ride suspension

i wanted to lower my 89 camaro but i live in a place with lots of speed bumps. so i was think about putting a air ride suspension on it so i can still clear the bump and i can lower it.
dose any one have it on there car and if so how much did you pay and where form
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Old Apr 30, 2012 | 10:06 AM
  #2  
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Car: 89 Iroc
Engine: 305TPI
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Re: air ride suspension

http://www.ridetech.com/store/1982-9...d-level-1.html

Here is the basic setup. If you really want a full blown kit you are going to be looking at $3K or so to have it done right. Look around the site there are quite a few people that have done it.
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Old Nov 14, 2012 | 11:20 PM
  #3  
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Re: air ride suspension

but does it really improve the drive quality
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Old Nov 15, 2012 | 12:15 PM
  #4  
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Re: air ride suspension

Originally Posted by myfirstcamaro91
but does it really improve the drive quality
It does imporve ride quality. But in a comfort way, not a performace way.
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Old Apr 9, 2013 | 05:14 AM
  #5  
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Car: 1986 Firebird
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Re: air ride suspension

will the ridetech work with aftermarket parts such as A-arms?
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Old Apr 11, 2013 | 12:36 AM
  #6  
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Car: 1986 Firebird
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Re: air ride suspension

bump
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Old May 15, 2013 | 11:58 PM
  #7  
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Car: 1990 camero RS
Engine: 305 carb'd eldelbrock 1406
Transmission: 700r4 with tcc
Re: air ride suspension

My camaro rides like a horse and buggy, will air shocks improve the smoothness in ride quality?
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Old May 16, 2013 | 12:02 AM
  #8  
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Re: air ride suspension

it will ride like a friggin dream
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Old May 16, 2013 | 06:26 AM
  #9  
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Car: 1990 camero RS
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Re: air ride suspension

Originally Posted by Trevmust
it will ride like a friggin dream
It Will?! this is the only thing holding me back from making my camaro a daily driver. Im not doing the whole 3k computer operated thing, just the basic air shocks. Is this enough? And what brand/ kind are most recommended.
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Old May 16, 2013 | 10:42 AM
  #10  
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Re: air ride suspension

$1800 ridetech
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Old May 16, 2013 | 11:15 AM
  #11  
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Re: air ride suspension

Originally Posted by Trevmust
it will ride like a friggin dream

laughing, You mean like a lofty old Cadillac? Just buy a tuna boat if that's the performance level you seek. You stated that like you are an authority on this subject.
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Old May 16, 2013 | 11:31 AM
  #12  
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Re: air ride suspension

You want to see a friggin joke. Watch how much he has his hands full bouncing all overt the place and wildly/franticly sawing at the wheel. 26th of 50 cars in lap times with 520hp shoul tell uyou that air suspension is a nightmare, not a dream

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Old May 16, 2013 | 11:41 AM
  #13  
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Re: air ride suspension

worked on plenty of cars with air ride, so...
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Old May 16, 2013 | 11:48 AM
  #14  
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Re: air ride suspension

Originally Posted by Trevmust
worked on plenty of cars with air ride, so...
Yeah, well I was a NASCAR crew cheif dipshit
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Old May 16, 2013 | 11:55 AM
  #15  
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Car: 1986 Firebird
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Re: air ride suspension

i said ride, not handle you ****. Learn how to spell. ****ing moron.
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Old May 16, 2013 | 11:59 AM
  #16  
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Re: air ride suspension

Originally Posted by Trevmust
i said ride, not handle you ****. Learn how to spell. ****ing moron.
**** did you say?
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Old May 16, 2013 | 12:07 PM
  #17  
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Re: air ride suspension

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Old May 17, 2013 | 10:53 AM
  #18  
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Car: 1990 camero RS
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Transmission: 700r4 with tcc
Re: air ride suspension

Originally Posted by Trevmust
$1800 ridetech
Ive been looking at blisten b6 heavy duty air shocks. It would cost about a $1000 with labor. My biggest concern is spending all that money and it still ride the same or worse.
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Old May 17, 2013 | 11:14 AM
  #19  
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Axle/Gears: 3.73
Re: air ride suspension

Ridetech, AKA Air Ride Technologies builds a great Air ride set up, that has been proven time and time again to perform very well.
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Old May 17, 2013 | 11:16 AM
  #20  
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Re: air ride suspension

Originally Posted by SlickTrackGod
Yeah, well I was a NASCAR crew cheif dipshit
Comments like that do nothing to help your image here man.

What does a Crew Cheif do anyway?
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Old May 17, 2013 | 11:37 AM
  #21  
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Re: air ride suspension

Originally Posted by Krisgarrett34
Ive been looking at blisten b6 heavy duty air shocks. It would cost about a $1000 with labor. My biggest concern is spending all that money and it still ride the same or worse.
Air ride smooths out the ride. if you want performance handling air ride isn't really the answer. If you want performance get coil-overs, and just maybe put rubber isolators on everything hahaha.
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Old May 17, 2013 | 12:42 PM
  #22  
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From: Charlestown, IN
Car: 1971 Camaro
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Transmission: TKO600
Axle/Gears: 3.73
Re: air ride suspension

Originally Posted by Trevmust
Air ride smooths out the ride. if you want performance handling air ride isn't really the answer. If you want performance get coil-overs, and just maybe put rubber isolators on everything hahaha.
FALSE!


Ridetech has built and supplied air ride for many very fast track cars.

http://www.ridetech.com


There are air bag kits that do nothing but make your car sit low, then there are products like ridetechs that make a car Perform Better.

Works well enough to make an old truck handle better then many sports cars!
http://www.ridetech.com/info/wp-cont...gumby-2011.pdf
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Old May 17, 2013 | 01:34 PM
  #23  
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Car: 1986 Firebird
Engine: 5.0L V8
Transmission: T-5
Axle/Gears: 2.73
Re: air ride suspension

Ride tech is a hybrid system.
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Old May 17, 2013 | 01:37 PM
  #24  
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Axle/Gears: 3.73
Re: air ride suspension

Originally Posted by Trevmust
Ride tech is a hybrid system.
Its still AIR RIDE. Uses AIR Bags for springs, no Coils.


It is good well engineered Air Ride. Not ghetto chop shop stuff.
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Old May 17, 2013 | 03:27 PM
  #25  
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Car: 1988 z28 camaro
Engine: 305
Re: air ride suspension

ive had my air ride suspension for the past 2 years it costed me 2500$ took a full day to put togeather and another full day fabricating a nice looking setup. It was easy to install just had to do a little cutting so the air bad in the front doesnt rub. car rides like a dream very smooth ride now !!!
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Old May 17, 2013 | 03:45 PM
  #26  
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Car: 87 GTA Trans Am
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: 10 bolt posi 3.23
Re: air ride suspension

I don't think air ride will ever be for performance.

You can put a professional driver in a stock rice car with sticky tires and he will make 99%of us look like asshats. That does not mean a stock civic is a killer autocross car it just means the driver is that good.

The air bag will NEVER have a constant spring rate because as it compresses the rate goes up because the air compress inside.

It may ride like a dream and really good drivers may do well with it in autocross but I promise you put that same driver in the same car with properly set up spring suspension he will be faster and more in control.

I don't see air bags on any real racing cars (F1, Indy,,,,,,). They are lighter (I guess) so I wonder why?

Don't see them on any of the top super cars. Again why?

I am not afraid to spend money on things I think are worth it and I really looked at them but in the end the performance lose was why I did not buy them.
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Old May 17, 2013 | 04:34 PM
  #27  
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Car: 1971 Camaro
Engine: 427
Transmission: TKO600
Axle/Gears: 3.73
Re: air ride suspension

Of course it is not for full out pro racing, but to say air ride can not handle well is just silly.

If you want a car that handles well, rides good and has easy ride height adjustment, air ride I'd great, when done properly.

An air ride car can handle better then most people would ever push their cars.
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Old May 17, 2013 | 05:19 PM
  #28  
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Car: 87 GTA Trans Am
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Re: air ride suspension

Well that's all I was saying. It's not a performance thing its a ride thing.
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Old May 17, 2013 | 11:43 PM
  #29  
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Re: air ride suspension

Originally Posted by Johnny Blaze
FALSE!


Ridetech has built and supplied air ride for many very fast track cars.

http://www.ridetech.com


There are air bag kits that do nothing but make your car sit low, then there are products like ridetechs that make a car Perform Better.

Works well enough to make an old truck handle better then many sports cars!
http://www.ridetech.com/info/wp-cont...gumby-2011.pdf
Show me those piece of sh*t trac cars you are talking about and show me their lap times.

Ill show you a 5000 lb truck that will carry a 4000lb bed payload (the pic shows 2500lbs without breaking a sweat) and handed all four corvettes on street tires their *** in the last autox event I attended. Air ride sucks- and yes I am a professional driver (that means I get paid to drive cars fast on courses- just in case were all were not clear on the term "professional")

Johnny Blaze...Image? Like I give a rats *** about image when it comes to giving factual tech and credentials.

Crewcheif calls all the shots on a race team- all of them including driver strategy. Calculated fact that a win is 70% crewcheif/30% driver. The driver isn't anything without a good crewcheif.


Air ride sucks...period. You want to know how amny 6 digit show cars I have had the nauseating pleasure to bobble around in going to car shows etc? Way too many to count. I have driven on 10,000 systems and the only thing that will control them is massive dampering with very high dollar shocks to try and control the bobble enough not to rubber the tires on the fenders. it is a joke
Attached Thumbnails air ride suspension-heavy-chevy-hauler.jpg   air ride suspension-dean10.jpg  
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Old May 18, 2013 | 07:31 AM
  #30  
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Axle/Gears: 3.73
Re: air ride suspension

I have posted links to some of Ride Techs stuff already.

I have seen ridetech cars on autocross course.

I have seen ride tech cars with 18" wheels run 10's in the 1/4.

The fact is this is a forum for 3rd gen f bodies. Most of the people here have daily drivers or weekend cruisers.

Probably less then 1% of the members here have dedicated track cars.

The OP was asking about drivability.


The Fact of the matter is A proper Air Ride set up can handle very well.

To say that air ride is just for smooth ride and will make your car float and handle like a boat is simply not true in this day and age.

The technology is there to make air ride perform just as well as a coil set up in most situations, including auto cross, or road course racing.


Is it the ultamite Full race set up? Probably not.

Is it seen on full race track cars? Probably not. Probably because it would not be legal in many sactioning bodies.


Is it great for a multipuropse car? Yes.

That said, I do not own air ride nor do I work for Ride Tech.


Most people know how to spell their job title, "Cheif"
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Old May 18, 2013 | 09:48 AM
  #31  
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Re: air ride suspension

I purposely write it that way- You wouldn't understand why it's the "ultamite" (i'll use your wonderful example of education and spelling since you chose to use mine) way to write the word (in all seriouslness, I write it that way becassue I am Cherokee but enough about my personal business.

Air ride does not give a decent quality ride for a regular street car. It BOBBLES. DO you understand the meaning of the term bobble? Have you driven a car with Air ride? Might be smooth on flat roads- but so is coil spring suspension- but god help you when you bobble across dips and bumps and it shhfts the whIt of the car aroudn like a bowl of jello. that's basically it, you are sitting the weight of the car on 4 bowls of jello...period.
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Old May 18, 2013 | 10:17 AM
  #32  
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Re: air ride suspension

Ill give you a little link to LateralG forum where the owner of Ridetech is asking a client how he feels about his new setup- yes his second try on the same car. His response is still about the first setup bouncing him like a lowered ricers car does- he also states how since only 2010 it has popped on him. They sold him on the new "shockwave setup" becasue it need the high dollar double adjustable shocks and he is going to need alot of tech imput just to try and taylor the ride to a decent quality so he can at least drive it across town to a car show. He states it is nothing like his Vette

The besdt quote of all explaining the second "new and improved" shockwave system in his response to the owner is...and I quote..."i'm pretty sure the REMAINING BOUNCE could be fixed with some real seating and maybe dialing in the adjustments"

how's it go ont he internet? LMAO

Well Im Laughing My *** Off. Go ahead, waste your money on hype advertising- Ill tell ya I warmned ya- I love saying I told you so.

http://www.lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=39295
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Old May 19, 2013 | 08:52 PM
  #33  
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Car: 88 rs
Engine: ls1
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Re: air ride suspension

One thing to remember about air ride is you can't change the rate you can only change the preload. With a spring if you if you need it to be stiffer you go up a hundred pounds on the rate. With the air bag you add more pressure but it also alters the preload and can make the car want to top out the suspension. The proper way would be to make the bag slightly larger in diameter to increase rate but that's not to practical. So who ever makes the kit for a given car has to compromise and make a rate that is somewhere in the middle of the road. So it limits your fine tuning.
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Old Jul 24, 2013 | 11:18 AM
  #34  
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Re: air ride suspension

I too am looking into air ride setups. I NEED something that can go up and down to get out of my driveway. I will be taking my car to shows and pounding on it a bit on the highway, thats about it. Does anyone know any alternatives to air ride that may be cheaper/better/different???
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