Air Ride

[Radlark]

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 ). 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

[bret]

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.

[SpeedyV10]

Originally Posted by Tony@AirRideTech

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.........

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!!!

[XcYZ]

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

[Tony@AirRideTech]

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.

[rogue]

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.

[darren@ridetech]

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!

[JUSTANOVA]

Originally Posted by Radlark

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 ). 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

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?

[darren@ridetech]

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.

[Radlark]

Originally Posted by darren@ridetech

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!!