Air Rides Options

[yellowchinaman]

Anyone here running air rides?
I have BC BR coilovers and having looked around ive seen a few people in the US managed to swap out the BC springs and installed air bags I stead.
Im seriously considering this mod but id like to ask if anyone has experience in using the more modern air rides for feedback on functionality?
Im not asking for opinions from what people think or have read or wanting a debate on good or bad. Im more interested on knowing how does it feel compared to springs, can you adjust the rebound stiffness by the pressure or does the pressure only dictates the ride height? How long have you used it for and how robust are they?

[Tigawoods]

6gc people are too cheap to buy air.

I think there were are couple people back in the early 2000's that had it on their show cars

[yellowchinaman]

Yeah I think cost is a real big issue here.

[bloodMoney]

I had air suspension on my wagon last year. We adapted BC with Airlift bags and to be honest, I liked the ride more than standard Coilovers.

I used all airlift components, including the V2 controller which is strictly pressure based, but the new V3 is pressure based with an upgrade option for height based leveling.

The nice thing that I really liked about it was the fact that you could "increase" the spring rate by increasing bag pressure, so in that aspect the bag pressure served dual function, spring rate and height. I didn't track the wagon at all, so the bags were only inflated to about 60psi and that gave me a comfortable ride for DD duties (at 100psi, I maxed out my height and it felt like I had replaced my springs with hockey pucks).

[yellowchinaman]

That sounds positive. Ive seen a lot of conversion using UAS bags on the BCs. The kit is approx 2.5 -3k though. My only thoughts is the limited space in the upper rear struts and that they may rub.

[Box]

If air ride is good enough for this:

It's good enough for a Celica.

[bloodMoney]

That sounds positive. Ive seen a lot of conversion using UAS bags on the BCs. The kit is approx 2.5 -3k though. My only thoughts is the limited space in the upper rear struts and that they may rub.

I would like to do it on a Celica purely because they are rarely done with air. As far as the limited space goes, you can look at Airlift Sleeve style bags. The benefit of the UAS system over Airlift is that UAS bags are completely sealed, separate from the strut housing; while the Airlift bags use o-rings to seal to the BC cartridge. Just another air leak path to consider if you are going to build your system. I had a few leak problems on mine, but after I pulled them apart and cleaned/greased the seals, they were great.

I would totally recommend at least trying this path if anything, just for the experience.