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On the surface, it should be a pretty easy decision to make: Do you want your car or truck lowered or sitting on the ground? And yeah, it can be an easy decision to make if you’ve been down both roads before. But what if you haven’t? Or if it’s your first time out and you don’t know which one to choose? Now it becomes a lot tougher decision to make.
Fortunately, we have all the answers. Well, maybe not all of them. Just this one. So let’s answer your question with more questions.
How reliable do you need your ride to be?
We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: No adjustable suspension is 100% maintenance free or reliable. Yes, many of our customers go for long stretches of time without a single problem, but occasionally things happen. Maybe they drug through an air line or a valve got water in it, junking up the system. Look, we deal with these things every day. And as much as things have improved over the past twenty years, no suspension that cycles up and down as frequently as airbags do will be 100% perfect over its lifespan.
Know what is reliable? Static drops. If you just lower your car or truck, you never have to worry about something going wrong. Sure, a shock might wear out, but that happens with your mom’s stock Camry. All you have to do with a static drop is get in and turn the key, and you’re golden.
Now there is one exception to this rule, and that’s if you hammer your truck. We’re talking so that your crossmember is always hovering above the ground and your undercarriage tries to act like a cheese grater with every speed bump. In those cases, yeah, things can go wrong — but it’s usually just because you’re so low, not anything technically wrong with the suspension. Just keep that in mind.
How much money do you have?
We sell a wide variety of static drop kits, coilovers and airbag setups, and they’re usually in that order of escalating price. Static drops can be super cheap; coils for a car can be around $200, and it’s not much more for a truck. But with coilovers and airbags, they’re going to be pricier, no matter which way you cut it.
Which means that if you want to do anything to your ride, you first have to look at the amount of money you have to spend. If you want to lay your truck out with airbags and you’ve got $500 to your name, it’s going to be an uphill battle to make that dream a reality. But what if you’ve got the money to do either? Well then that brings us to our third point:
What do you want to do with your ride?
Drivers are different than show vehicles, just like work trucks are different than Smart cars. Now we here at the shop have had both lowered and lifted rides, bagged and juiced vehicles, and we know what it’s like to live with them all. Some people buy drivers to get by so their custom car or truck can sit, and others just drive one vehicle all the time, bagged or not.
So again, what do you want to do with your vehicle? If it’s all about performance or handling, consider coilovers or just lowering it. If you want to drag frame or body, then go with airbags. And if you just want to even it out for looks, then lower it. Look, there’s no rule that says you have to bag your vehicle, and one could argue that static rides are making a big comeback. Just decide what’s best for you and go from there.
You’ve got some tough choices.
Now with all that said, let’s bring up something important. Some people want to bag their vehicle but they just don’t have the money for it today. Instead, they lower it so they can make some progress — and there’s nothing wrong with that. But if that’s the road you’re going down, let us make a suggestion.
First, buy the lowering components that you’ll need anyway if you’re going to bag it. For example, a truck will likely need dropped spindles, so get those, and maybe bridge it instead of buying a c-notch, because otherwise that’s wasted money.
Whatever you do, make sure that you’re moving forward with your master plan. And even if that doesn’t mean bags, just keep things on the same path. If it’s cool to you, that’s all that matters.
