Air Bags, Air Springs & Air Over Shocks

When we started Switch Suspension years ago, air bags were our thing. Today, not much has changed, except that we offer a whole ton of different air bags and accessories for you and your ride. Speaking of, how do you know what's going to work for what you're building? What's the best air bag for your car or truck?

The first place to start is with your vehicle. Some cars, trucks and SUVs have specific needs for your air bags. For example, a 2018 Mercedes Benz C300 takes an traditional convoluted air bag out back, but uses an air bag on a strut up front. This is true for hundreds of other vehicles, so once you know what you're installing our air bags on, that will give you a good head start on moving forward.

So if you need air bags on your struts, that's one thing, and those usually come as a package deal. But what about if you don't need anything like that for your ride? Then your air bags of choice are up to a few different things, primarily size and lift.

We sell air bags of all different sizes and shapes, which means there's probably an application that will work for you in your ride. But you have to figure out what that size is first. You can do that by either buying multiple sizes of air bags and test fit them, or ask a member of our support staff.

Some vehicles can run multiple sizes of air bags. For example, you could run a larger air bag in the front of a full size Chevy truck, or one that's slightly smaller if you don't want to clearance as much of your frame. Both are options, it just depends on what you want to do.

The same applies to the rear end of most trucks, where pretty much anything goes. You can put all sorts of air bags on the rear end of your ride. You can put them on link bars and get extra lift and better ride quality. You can install a pair of air bags above or behind the axle. Or create a cantilever setup that gives you a ton of lift and a decent ride. There's lots of flexibility with the rear end of a pickup.

You also should consider what you plan on doing with your air bags. Now that may seem like a weird thing to think about. Of course you want to lift your car, truck or SUV up and down, that's clear. But do you want a cruiser that rides like a dream? Are you planning on hopping your vehicle with a nitrogen tank in the back? Are you worried about stiffness? Do you have a digital leveling system in mind? These are all questions you should ask before you buy your air bags, because they will change the ones you buy. Beefer air bags work great with hoppers, but on a cruiser? You might want to stick to something that's not quite as stiff. And if you plan on burying your wheels in your fenderwells and need a lot of lift to turn, having air bags that feel softer when filled will help as well.

You've got a ton of different options for your air bags, but fortunately, we stock a lot of them. If you have any questions or concerns about what you need or what will work best for your ride, reach out via phone or email. We have people on hand who have done these things themselves and can help you out with your questions. We're here for you and can't wait to see what you do with your air bags.