Air Ride
 

I'd like to get peoples opinions on the different manufactures of Air products. I am seriously considering putting the Impala on bags. What are the Pro's and Con's of having a bagged car? What are the differences between manufacturers? I have been quoted 6 grand for a system (Air ride tech), and I have been quoted $1200 for a system (cannot remember mfg. name).

I guess I am more into the simple approach and don't really need auto leveling, and other 'add-on' features.

Please let me know your first hand experiences with different manufacturers, as well as your suggestions regarding bagging the Impy!!!

:lateral:

I don't want to speak for the folks at Air Ride, but I will offer my opinion. I have had good luck with their stuff. The items that I tried to skimp on and bought from others have been where I spent most of my time.

I'm also pretty sure the Air Ride folks can get you set up for much less than $6K - especially on an Impala (what year?). I've also had good experiences with Air Ride customer service and tech. I would try to give them a shout and tell them what your budget is and see what they can do.

Their are other companies out there that make parts that I'm sure would work just fine - these are just my experiences.

Brandon

Thanks for your posting, Brandon! I appreciate the info!!

Oh, BTW... The car is a '61!

yeah it could be almost 6000, but you buying a arms and rear suspension stuff, not just the air ride stuff. So your getting new ball joints and bushings, new rear control arm bushings. plus all the compressors and stuff for a solid bolt in product. You could bag your car with the old cups and and airbag stuff, but it will take a mont of sundays to get everything like the air ride will bolt on for ya in a decent amount of time.

If you need some help on the price email what you need and I can get you a super competitive price.

Rodger

Ahhhhhhhh - '61 - my favorite of the early 60's Chevs

I kick myself for not buying a '61 Biscayne when I had the chance.

Post some pics if you have some.

Later,

Brandon

Here is a link to a few pics of it at the Car Craft Summer Nationals. I was fortunate enough to be able to showcase it at the Tracktime Motorsports Zaino display:

http://mnfbody.com/showthread.php?t=...ht=1961+impala

I apologize that I do not have smaller pics to post on this forum.

I personnally don't have Air-ride however I know a quality full-service restoration shop (one that wants and drives its customers to do what's right) - They recommend Air-ride highly. I have spoken with three of their customers and beyond the quality of the whole car they like/love air-ride. If you haven't already ... you should hit a Goodguys, Super Chevy, or some other event that they have a booth. You can feel and touch their products, sometimes they have a mock car and with out a doubt they can direct you to a customer's car.

Once again .. I'm just using old fashioned shocks and springs :(

Wow- that car is beautiful!

most cars that leave our shop seem to be on air ride these days but after fitting quite a few kits i am on the fence as to whether or not i would install it in my own car, if you are fitting the basic analogue gauge and switches type then there is not much to go wrong and are fairly reliable, i am in the process of doing a 64 impala at the moment and the new control arms look good and fit well but we have several unhappy customers with the digital setups even though they are more expensive, recently we fitted a road scraper type kit on an s10 with twin compressors and tanks with big lines and solenoids to lift or dump quicker and boy have we had problems, the front sway bar mounts on the arms are welded on at the wrong angles so the first time the air was dumped it bent the sway bar bolts into a 'j' shape!! not a big deal to put right but where is the quality control ? these are crucial to a safe vehicle , there were also 4 out of 5 pressure sensors that were faulty and were sending a low pressure signal to the controller which kept the compressors on permanently until they burnt out, i am not knocking air rides warranty though as they will replace parts and really try to help sort the problems , its not all their fault as i would think electrical items and solenoids are bought in from other suppliers.As an installer though we have to eat all the costs for putting the new parts on and have over 600 bucks into the s10 alone! I just think that for 6 g's you could have a pretty trick set of coilovers and have enough left for new suspension arms etc, see if you can take a ride in a vehicle with air to see if you can justify the expense, as the ride never seems to be as smooth as you might think it would be for the cost, but it does look damn cool to dump the car down when parked.
Once again i will say , i am not having a go at air ride just that i have been witness to some scary looking failures of several brands and none seem to have a lasting quality about them especially as a daily driver type vehicle.

If you are looking for the best of the best then yes, 6g is about right. But you could get a really nice kit for a fair amount less. For example:
SKW1021sa-LUCA Front Shockwaves w/ upper & lower StrongArms $1599
ARR20600-LUCA Rear CoolRide w/ upper and lower StrongArms $899
ARC4100e2 RidePro E2 Comp. kit $1695
Total $4193.

For the extra 2g you would also get the Double adjustable shocks front and rear, front and rear MuscleBar sway bars and the LevelPro compressor system.

We do offer kits that will work with the factory arms as well, but like Ironworks said; if you have to replace the ball joints and bushing anyways you might as well get the tubular stuff.

Here's the difference I've seen.

Air Ride Technologies takes their stuff onto the track and beats the snot out of it. And they turn in VERY good lap times.

The other guys.. not so much...

pro's list for bags are endless
cool look
ground clearance
easy to load car on trailer


con's list , none , unless you talk to someone who has used a "cheap " kit and did not install it correctly !

bags do not blow ,break,go bad , unless installed or operated incorrect .


go air ride company talk to darren or tony

Thanks very much everybody for the info. I guess it pretty much comes down to the old attage, "You get what you pay for"!!!!!!

Part of me was hoping that I could order a $1500 kit, install it this winter, and play all summer. I know that the right way to do it is to buy quality stuff, and do the job right.

The car maybe see's 1500 or 2000 miles a year so it is a little hard to justify dropping another 4k on it. On the other hand you can't put a price on reliability. I know I would take for granted every time that the system worked properly (especially on a crowded public place), and would be very frustrated and embarrassed if it failed (again in a crowded public place)!!!

look at a " cool ride kit " for it fron air ride . that uses factory controll arms and for a driver i have had great luck with that kit .

If you were to get the CoolRide kits and use all of the factory arms with the ARC4100e2 compressor kit you would be looking at around $2750.

You can also run the 'cool-ride' set-up w/o all the 'high-end' controlling software to save alot.

ART offers lower-end 4whl compressor systems that do most of the same functions, but are manually controlled. Soooo.... they don't have the same 3-position automatic height adjustment, but is it really a requirement on a vehicle that see's limited use?

impy.
 

first off, i love your car!!! i had air ride on my 63 nova. was the best thing i ever did to that car. i had shockwaves front and rear. no problems whatsoever. car rode like a dream!! infinite adjustability. i will have air ride on every car that i own from now on!! art is the way to go. you won't be disappointed.

Thanks for the info everybody! I will do a little on-line research and check out the cool ride system.

Anybody had problems with air leaks? Burnt out compressors? Any stories of failed components on a bag system that might leave one stranded, or unable to lift part (all) of a car?

Also- Thanks for the compliments on the car! Even though it is not really a G-machine, I am glad that it is appreciated on this site with so many other wonderful works of art.
:lateral:

I've had my car on the road all summer with no problems. I have a very small leak in my system. It is either between the compressor and tank, or the tank and valves. It take it almost 2 days to completely leak down. It is a non issue though while the power is on the compressor because if it did leak down very far while driving the compressor would kick back on.

I was very careful when sealing the fittings and routing my lines. I have had great luck with the DOT air line.

Air Ride Tech is the way to go if you are looking for a kit that fits well and functions properly. For the last 6 years I have been installing various brands of air suspension kits as well as fabricating my own. If it's not a cost issue, I would go with Air Ride Tech.
If you would like any more info or need any assistance, you can contact me.
Ryan Pobanz
909-938-9887
[email protected]

Air Ride Tech is definatly the way to go. I have the level pro street challenge kit in my car and it works very well. I met the Air Ride crew at RTH3 and they are a great bunch of guys. :thumbsup:

I have installed and uninstalled Air Ride.

1947 Street Rod, used the Ride Pro E set up, one of the first person to buy the orginal set up, i hate it, never works right. I have sent hours and hours on the phone with them, they keep telling me its a ground, i rewired the hole air set up with the guy on the phones, didnt change. I have put a new black box on, never changed. Talked to the guys a NSRA and goodguys, not much help.

I have redone some stuff since this pic.
http://s-seriesforum.com/albums/albu..._004.sized.jpg


1962 Impala, i put my own kit together and never had a problem, car has been all over with this set up.

http://s-seriesforum.com/albums/albu..._007.sized.jpg

2 450 Comprossers
8 GC Valves
All 1/2 set up
2 5 gal tanks
Air Lift 2b6 bags
KYB shocks
Poly bushings everywere.

We drive the car hellout if this car, and handles like a dream, owner takes it to his house boat in the summer once a month, and does 85-90MPH all the time.


Im doing a 1949 Ford pick up right now, that getting my own kit that im putting together.

Im not real happy with Air Rides customer service, There products arent the best out there.


And for Darren, tony, brent if you read this, and want to try to change some stuff, feel free to send me a PM or email.

Im not tryin to start anything.

Matt, that's an awesome car. There are definitely a lot of fans of it here on the site, whether it's a 'g-machine' or not. In my opinion, if a car is cool, it's cool, regardless of build style. :thumbsup:

I'm looking forward to seeing it this spring.

Thanks Scott! I have been excited for you to see it! I am tentatively planning to catch up with the Power Tour in June when it goes through southern Minnesota. Perhaps that will be a good time to connect. Also, there is an open invitation for you to come and tour our shop in Minneapolis. Let me know the next time you are in the Twin Cities!

Matt

The new "AirPod" looks very cool http://www.ridetech.com/airpod.asp

I agree with Steve, AirRide really is the way to go, and they've proved their kits on the track. We are very happy with their kit on our Chevelle. I'll also post a photo of my old Impala, which was also on air. I like it because I could run larger diameter wheels, and could set the ride height where it was best during driving, or at a show. And nothing's cooler than the right stance on an old Impala, tucking big diameter wheels!:yes:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...oWheels009.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...oWheels002.jpg

You can see some of their products here: http://www.driverzinc.com/accessories.html or their website: www.ridetech.com

Bad94,
I think that I know your problem with the 47. Give me a call when you have time. 812-481-4706

The Airpod looks like a nice piece!

Driverz - that Impala is INCREDIBLE!!

I appreciate hearing the Pro's and Con's of different systems, everybody!

whether you go with a control arm kit or if you use your factory arms is up to you. Out of the box the plane jane cool ride kit will do amazing things for the 58-64 cars.... gravey bolt in install too... no cutting no welding no nothing. One thing to keep in mind is that on the 58-64 X frame cars, you need to make sure that you use a four wheel independent control system. The X frame cars like to lean.........;)

posting some more air ride pics...

http://lh3.google.com/jason.carpedie...inal%20007.jpg

I have to agree although I have not purchased my air ride kit yet the guys over there are nothing but top notch when it comes to answering questions and offering up great suggestions,they are in the process of developing a kit for the 67-70 Impala it is up on their rack right now. I am pretty excited although I have not rode in an air ride car people that I have spoken to have nothing but great things to say, I will agree that faulty installation is the common denominator to problematic issues. I HAVE A 69 CAPRICE THAT IS AWAITING ONE OF THEIR SYSTEMS (oops sorry for the yellin just so damn excited, plus I have speed dependent volumn on my MAC:lol: ). Although you can find lesser systems out there the old addage of "you get what you pay for" is pretty evident. The guys at ART are :thumbsup:

wow. a couple of years ago this would have been a very short thread that dismissed air suspension altogether. Looks like people have been paying attention to our fun at the track. From all of us that get to go to "work" at Air Ride Technologies...thank you!
BTW...you have only seen the beginning.

Tony - Thanks for the info! Could you educate me a little bit regarding the four wheel independant control system and how that would be a benefit? I figured as long as I could dump the front, then the rear independently, that would suffice. Now you have my technical curiosities flowing!!!

Matt, keep us posted on what you decide to do. It could make for a cool online tech/install article for Lateral-g. :thumbsup:

If you ran a 2 way only system, the air can transfer from air spring to airspring during cornering. 4 wheel independent systems run seperate fill valves for each airspring so there can be no air transfer from side to side. The 58-64 Chevs have an X frame and can accentuate the problem.

While my Continental doesn't quite fit the bill for Lateral-G, it is bagged and I've had it for over a year now with the setup so I can comment a bit. A car that is setup to be a cruiser will do just fine with bags, they are floaty and a bit bouncy. A decent shock setup is a must to counteract that.

That being said, I would never consider bagging my 69 camaro until I could drive a muscle car with a nice proper bag setup on a track.

I can't imagine throwing a car with bags on it around a track but I'd be willing to try it, in someone elses car. :willy: :rofl:

http://lh5.google.com/daign2002/RrIG...0/IMG_2303.JPG
http://lh6.google.com/daign2002/RrIG...0/IMG_2304.JPG
http://lh6.google.com/daign2002/RrIG...0/IMG_2305.JPG

Rogue,
Although swapping out a set of coils for air springs will considerably help the ride quality and handling, it will not make it a road racer. You must also upgrade shocks, sway bars, control arms, tires, etc. to really make a car corner well. And like Tony said, make sure you use a 4 way valve. On an extremely heavy car like yours using a 2 way system will allow tons of body roll. Literally.... tons! :)

We are hosting Auto Cross's at many of the GoodGuys events next year. Stop by and we'll give you a ride. I heard that we have scheduled a Steet Challenge Auto Cross for the Costa Mesa, GG show in March. So all of you West Coast guys will get your shot!

:woot: that is great news, i have a 70 impala and want to do airride, and was looking at doing the cool ride system maybe next summer but if they do the full on kit with control arms etc i may have to go that route, do you know if they are doing the control arms and everything for these cars?

We are working on the arms for the 65-70 Impala right now. I'll post some pics as soon as the design is finalized.

Okay Darren hurry up, my mouth is starting to water!!:yes: