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We get a lot of requests for air bag installs from people, and sometimes they’re worried about how it’s going to ride. “Is it going to be super floaty?” they’ll ask. And sure, air bags can be super floaty — if that’s what you’re looking for.
But what if you want a car that’ll carve through the backroads like butter? Or one to take on the track on the weekends? You can do that all with the right airbag setup, and we know it first hand. We’ve taken our own bagged rides on a few courses, and it’s been a blast.
Dial In Your Handling
Air bags are both like and unlike your car or truck’s stock coil springs. They’re alike in that they both have a spring rate. This is the amount of weight it takes to compress the spring or air bag one inch. But the coils have a static spring rate, while an air bag’s is variable. This means the more air you put into the air bag, the higher the spring rate goes and vice versa.
When you’re building a car to handle and control well, you want to get the right spring rate coil for your specific needs. But that also means once you buy and install the springs, you have what you have. If you ever want to tweak things one direction or another, you have to buy new ones.
With air bags, you just install them once and you’re good. Need a higher spring rate? Add air. Need less? Take air away. You can fine tune your suspension within an inch of its life on the fly, whenever you like. That’s pretty amazing.
Adding Good Shocks Ups the Performance
Good shocks can make or break your car’s handling ability. You can get a set that’s off the shelf and work great, but if you want to dial things in further, you need adjustable shocks. These can control the dampening (usually with a dial on the body of the unit) so you can fine tune the stiffness.
Now combine the adjustable spring rate of the air bags with a set of adjustable shocks and you’ve got a combination that’s flexible enough for street use, but also performs like a dream on the track. That’s a killer combination for anyone who wants to do a few laps on an autocross circuit or just cruise to the mall with a few friends. You can’t get that with coil springs.
Let Us Help You
Of course, if you’ve never installed air suspension before or you don’t know how the whole thing works, don’t worry: we’ve got you. Our team knows air bags, shocks and how to get your ride handling the way you want. If you’ve got a question, ask. We’ll give you the best answer we have and help you select the parts you need for your build. Just email, give us a call or stop by the shop.
