air ride

[olzx]

anyone know anywhere what does this and what sorta price im looking at? thanks in advance

[jamiea7x]

pretty sure you cant buy kits off the shelf..so itll be custom whoever you get to do it... and itll be atleast 1.5k+ id imagine

[BenLAST]

Kits are about £1400. Fitting, add another £700-£1000 on top.

And trust me, you will not be able to fit it yourself unless you are very able.

EDIT: I hope you don't want to do it to your GTI.

Edited December 14, 2009 by BenLAST

[HAIRBear]

EDIT: I hope you don't want to do it to your GTI.

erm, why not?

[BenLAST]

You buy a GTI for the thrill of driving it? Why put airbags on it and ruin the handling...

[Matty.]

Where/Who says it ruins the handling?

I know of alot of cars with air ride, doesnt ruin the handling at all on it

Think one of the guys im thinking of is on here actually, i know his gf is as she has a GTI. Bluey Ibiza, uks only air ride ibiza.

Very similar handling to coilovers & its something ive always wanted to get when i can afford it

Edited December 14, 2009 by Matty.

[BenLAST]

Everything i've heard of regarding handling, everyone has said it feels "boaty", and loose on the rear.

Still, if i had a GTI, theres no way i'd put bags on it, unless it was an out and out show car.

[Matty.]

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3597737

[BenLAST]

Thats a point well made, but to get that, you looking at big bucks.

The stand alone kit that you can get is not a patch on anything custom, obviously.

Edited December 14, 2009 by BenLAST

[Matty.]

Any kit that you can buy online or off the shelf is a bog standard universal kit with the shocks etc matched to fit most/all cars

If you choose the air ride option its 100% always recommended to go custom, as custom means you can get it how you like. If it doesnt sit low enough, get it sorted there and then. If you fancy a bigger tank then get it there and then.

Its always gonna be big bucks when you go down the air ride route, hence why its not that common really. As it can only be done right if moneys not really an issue

[Matty Boy]

there is a guy near me that is planing to do it to his gti, he goes to all the shows in the car with his brother who has a audi s3 duno if any1 has see it.

[Matty.]

Narrow it down a bit lol, a gti that goes to shows with an s3?

Sounds like most vag shows all through the world

[99hjhm]

To many Matty's on this forum.

Whats your location Matty Boy??

[CasperGTI]

there is a guy near me that is planing to do it to his gti, he goes to all the shows in the car with his brother who has a audi s3 duno if any1 has see it.

White one? and his brother has a white new style S3? That would be harry.

[cafcross]

That white GTI is porn...

Always at Prept....love it!

[Matty.]

Ooft that things nice!

[TomStevo]

Bags are actually fairly simple to fit, the hard part is the struts which is essentially same as fitting coilovers, apparently someone who is mechanically minded and can fit coilovers no problem can fit bags no problem, and price depends on spec, wethe you go for just front back managment or front back side to side, wether you go for uprated rear shocks on back or jus run current shocks with the bag replacing the spring, wether you fit em your self or not

for the dogs doo daas fully fitted you lookin at almost 2.5-3k do for basic kits and you will do it for about 1-1.5k if you fit your self

[PaperWeight1]

As Tom says, the bag kits I've seen haven't looked too hard to fit and I know several people who've DIY'd.

Hydro's are a little more work but still DIY if you have the time and some tools.

As for the ride, neither are a patch in terms of performance compared with similarly priced coilovers/dampers and springs. No where near.

Even £1k spent on dampers and springs or coilovers will outperform bags and hydros easily.

[TomStevo]

in regards to the ride it depends on the quality of the kit and components used, TUK customs can supply BagYard air bags, there and australian company and are suppose to be the best out there atm

there kits are supplied with Bilstein shocks and their bags apparently have similart characteristics to a spring, i enquired with them about it and they say that the BagYard kits will handle very similar to what it will to with the Ta Technik coilies, which admittidly arent the best out there lol but they are reasonable, you only get bad handeling if you get a cheap kit with crap bags and shocks

bagyard can supply a kit for the lupos, with bilstein shocks upfront which are needed, the rear ones are optional as you can run any shock if you want but can supply the bilstein ones, he priced it up for me at around £3000 for the dogs, tht was the front struts with bags, rear bags, rear bilstein shocks, full front back side to side managment which includes all this vvvvvvvvvvvvvvv fully fitted

1 x 5 gallon tank

8 x 3/8″ valves

2 x Viair 400c chrome compressors

2 x viair 200 PSI Dual Needle Gauges with Chrome Bezels

1 x viair Chrome Bezel single needle gauge

1 switchbox

2 Water traps

All Fittings - D.O.T. Approved Air Nickel plated D.O.T. push to connect fittings (no plastic),110-145 PSI Pressure Switch

3/8″ line

1/4″ line

here is a little bit from Bag Yard about their bags

We exclusively use ContiTech sleeve bags. These provide a constant spring rate in every drive position with a very low natural frequency. This causes constant driving characteristics at any height, especially in lower positions its a big advantage.

When choosing struts we rely on Bilstein Gas Pressure Monotube Shock Absorbers. For front struts commonly upside-down. The advantages are clear in the monotube design. With this system the resulting thermal energy in the shocks is dissipated directly to the environment.

Thruogh the large effective area of the degressive monotube-racing piston (1.34 sq. in effective area) only low streaming pressure results. At the same time, high damper forces are available and provide constantly high performance shock absorbers.

[TomStevo]

and to fit that kit, if you have the tools and skill to fit coilies, you could fit that kit over a long weekend i recon, 3-4 days easily but tbh id rather pay another £6-700 and have it fitted propperly by professionals, who know the best places to run all the air lines ect

[cafcross]

Youve got to remember gauge fitting and then possible frame notching.

[TomStevo]

fitting a gauge aint really a huge dilema and you dont evan really need one in ''cockpik'' anyway, and notching frame is easy if you can weld or no someone that can

[BenLAST]

I will probably be fitting a kit myself mid next year. Will be fiberglassing up some parts for tweeters and gauges.

Only thing i'm worried about is camber. When down, i want camber to tuck the tops of the wheels in so it can go pretty much to the floor, which is why i want a professional to fit it. Hmmm, dilemas.

[TomStevo]

To do that ad imagine you would just need to set some negative camber, then when you drop it it will also gain more negative camber, I think it would just be a matter of playin about with the camber to get it right, very easy to set - camber your self front and rear, 2 bolts at front and shims at back

[BenLAST]

Thats not a problem adjusting the camber. When it's down though, i want a lot more camber than what it has now on the front, and to be honest, its only about 2inches from the floor anyways so can see it gaining much more. Plus tyre wear, o we love tyre wear.