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We do a lot of suspension work here at Switch, and while we do have customers who know what they want, there are those who come to our shop and just want to bag their ride. Of course, they have questions about how it works and what kind of maintenance it needs, but the big one we get is about ride quality.
Nobody wants to put a lot of money into their suspension just for it to break their back while cruising down the road. So what is the best riding airbag? Let’s get into it and find out.
Let’s start with defining “best riding”
Deciding what “good” feels like is completely subjective. Our opinion, as a group of people who own and have owned airbaged vehicles is going to be different from someone who never has. But that’s why when we’re asked, “What is the best riding airbag?” we follow it up with questions of our own.
First, “What do you want it to ride like?” Time was, airbags had one general feeling about them, and that was usually described as “cushy.” But today you can get struts with airbags and adjustable shocks built in, giving you either a smooth and comfortable ride or one that can keep your sportscar planted in the corners. So do you want an airbag that rides smooth like a brand new Cadillac, or one that’s ready for the track like a Porsche GT3 RS?
Second, “What kind of car do you have?” This is arguably the first question we should ask, because what you want to bag is going to determine what kind of bag options you have. For example, we know someone with a 2020 Mercedes E-Class, and he wanted to bag it. That meant he could run with a kit from Universal Air, which uses sleeve-style bags with an adjustable strut up front, or front struts from AirLift Performance, which have a traditional convoluted bag placed over an adjustable threaded-body strut. That was basically his option.
Now if you had a 1995 Chevrolet Silverado, we could get you a ton of different airbags to choose from. AirLift, Firestone, Slam Specialties — all great options with their own ride characteristics. It’s a very different suspension from a car, sure. But it also means that what kind of vehicle you have is going to help shape what kind of options you have.
How low do you want to drive?
Let’s get technical here for a second. An airbag is essentially an adjustable rate spring, which oversimplifies things a bit, but you get the idea. The lower you drive, the less air pressure you will have in your bags. That means your vehicle will act like it’s on springs that are too soft for the weight of your vehicle, and may have a bit of a floaty feeling, depending on your shocks (more on that in a second). So if you want to drive in hovercraft mode all day, it’s going to be pretty soft.
Let’s go back to that Mercedes/Silverado comparison again. The Mercedes needs a certain amount of air pressure just to clear the wheels and turn. They can’t do hovercraft mode all the time unless they want to risk their fenders. That’s less of a problem with a Silverado, which has mammoth wheel wells and room for more if you cut them out.
But again, what is the best riding airbag?
We’ll tell you a secret: Fact is, it’s not always the airbag that’s the issue. It’s the shocks.
The airbags installed on your ride support the weight of the vehicle — that’s it. If you were to drive without shock absorbers, you would hate your life. You would float all over the place and braking would be excessively difficult.
Shock absorbers dampen the ride, which gives you that extra control. Problem is, you can’t just test out shocks before you buy them. Sometimes you can get a set of shocks that just don’t ride that great. The solution is to buy an adjustable shock absorber. These allow you to fine tune the ride on your car, truck or SUV, no matter the ride height. So that guy we know with the Mercedes? If it’s riding too rough, he can just tweak the shocks to make it softer, or vice versa if it’s too soft.
Look, fact is there is not a “best” riding airbag out there that we can definitively say works for all vehicles everywhere. There’s just too many variables and it’s too subjective. But what we can say is that with the right bag and shock combination, you can get the best riding suspension for your needs. Just give us a call or drop us a line. We’ll answer your questions, ask a few of our own and set you up right.
