Commonly debated question...

Its the common suspension setup debate...

1. Air bag suspension
2. Hydraulic suspension
3. Air shock setup

Reason why I bring this up, is because I never brought up the question of what the maintenance would be like for these systems.

I was at a local car audio upgrade shop, and they've got air bag system setups. My father was talking to the guy, and then I got brought into the conversation. Both my father and representative mutually agreed that air shocks would be the most optimal for a suspension. Next, hydraulics, then air bag.

But we must reserve the idea of personal opinion. ALthough, what he said did make a bit of sense. With air bag systems, I guess the bags don't do very well in the cold, water gets in the bags, and you have to frequently have to drain them. The lines, I guess even despite replacing the rubber DOT line with stainless stell braided airline, they still puncture, and you run a high risk of losing your suspension due to an airline puncture. Puncture in the bags are also very common, and the soap and water technique is not favored.

He prefers to quit installing the bag system. He said they did a setup on a system and it went out on him. He wanted to sue the place after not even reading the thick stack of paperwork. The guy says that I would be better off getting hydraulics than air bags because its easier to detect leaks.

Although, I heard by my own ear that both setups are just about equal in maintenance and cost.

Then we figured the next best thing would be airshocks. He felt they were the most reliable in suspension. But then I face the problem of having a static body drop. My city is NOT made for lowrider trucks! If I lowered it as much as possible in this city, I would last probably less than a week.

I figured now, I could buy airshocks for now and put in my 4" blocks, monoleaf it, shave the stops, crank the torsions down or get spindles. From my understanding cant you adjust your height with the airshocks? And would'nt I need an air management system to keep pressure?

Alright, I thought, I would stop here and let you guys soak in my confusion, so that you might give me some feedback.

Each person has thier own opinion on air vs hydros


1) Hydros when a line breaks its VERY very messy . You get hydro fluid all over the place . It does happen no matter what ppl say .How good your system is it can and will happen .

2) Air - even the best setups have small problems here and there .. as long as you don't go cheap on parts you should have a quality system .If something were to happen say a air line busts -- no mess - just cut another pc to fit and your on your way again .

3) mono leaf & blocks & air shocks.- Is a good way to lower your truck if you want the lowered look and still want the function of your truck bed and ability to haul things in your truck .



thing is what do/would you use the truck for a show truck or a truck to do odd jobs around the home .. that also helps you determine what you want to do with the truck . Cause a show truck is just not practical for going to home depot to get 20 sheets of drywall now is it?? Theres my thoughts in this hopefully i helped you out with ideas.


michael.
bagged89mazda.

Ok here my take on these suspension systems from worst to best. Keep in
mind that I have had air shocks and bags but not hydros. My only take on hydro's come from friends and the people who own hydro cars that I have spoken with.

Air Shocks- Limited lift and shitty ride. Basically its just a big static drop with about 2-3 inches of lift, but once you air up the shocks it still feels like your riding on the bump stops. If you run a proper setup you still have to run a compressor, tank, valves, etc so cost lower but still considerable to bags. You can still blow a line, shock, etc, the only saving grace is that it will only drop as far as your static drop.

Hydro's- Depends on your setup but crazy fun, huge lift, 3 wheelin', fast. Down sides are battery's (have to charge and the extra weight), leaks, blown lines (messy). The cost for a basic setup is just about the same as a basic setup for bags give or take $500. About 80% of the guys that I know with hydro's love them with only a few switching to bags. There main reason is ride quality and less breakdowns.

Bags- Awesome lift, dependable, basically maintance free. I ran the same setup before changing it this year for 3 years and didn't have one problem. I drained the tank about 2 times a summer, left 40 LBS in the bags while it was stored in the winter and that was it. Now with saying that I just blew a pass. rear bag on friday night. As far as safety I have limit straps (suspension travels further than the bag so it stops the bag from ripping) and check valves (so if a line blows). When it blew I was doing about 90 KMH the one corner just dropped to the ground and I dragged it about 400 feet untill I could pull over. In no way was it out of control. I roasted the tire and the bag but everything else was good. A friend came with another bag and a spare tire and in 15 minutes I was back on the road.

Having a proper setup and it being properly installed with safety in mind, any of these setups is just as good as the other. It just depends on what you want it to do and how much you want to spend. Everything else is just an opinion.

easy way to fix this. Hardline most of your setup., then use real good quality rubber hose to the cylinders. you'll have less problems. and make sure everything is tight and you used enough teflon tape.

but hardlining everything gets expensive reaaaaaaaaaaaal quick

Naw not really. i did my truck in hardline was about the same as doing the hose. Plus it looks alot nicer.

i was thinking of air ride, running all the lines from the tank to the valves, to the valves to the bags and such

proper installation on any suspension is the key, but as for what to use it is up to you.....keep in mind cost, & what you will be using the truck for.

air shocks.....
upside: minimal expense, not many modifications or a lota work needed to make it work, still can acutally use the truck as a truck
downside: minimal adjustability....2-5 in max depending on shock, rides like a log wagon when fully air'd up.

shockwave's (airbag & shock combo).....
upside: way more lift than regular airshocks will work on a static dropped truck with slight mod's & can still haul stuff & pull a trailer
downside: cost, these are quite expensive to buy, & if it busts not too many places are gonna have a spare to get you back on the road quickly.

fully bagged suspension.....
upside: adjustablility, lightweight, ride like a caddy....
downside: initial costs...they can freeze up in cold weather (can be solved with a moisture seperator on the compressor), failure of componets can leave you out of a ride for a minute, limited payload & towing abilities

juice......
upside: quick, massive lift & or bounce.....
downside: weight, cost of installation & upkeep, keeping the battery's charged, cost of replacement batteries, messy cleanup if you bust a
line or cylinder, very limited payload & towing capabilites

Im all for Bags.

same here, BUT!

I still wouldnt mind having a classic 64, 2 door impala on juice with chromed out pumps and such