Air ride or coilovers??

[Gc94]

i am wanting to lower my car in the future, but I don't know what way I want to lower it. I love the look of a car on air ride but the cost is putting me off. I can get the airlift v2 air ride set up supplied and fitted for £3400..

Now onto coilovers, I've looked at a few sets but most only lower too 55/60mm.. But After a bit of research I found a company that supplies modified h&r coilovers that can lower up to 120mm and these come in at £1400..

So I'm in two minds on what to get.. If any one has either fitted to there car, some feedback would be great..

Thanks Garry

 

[KristoffV6]

IMO it shouldn't really come down to cost. It's more about how you want to use the car.

Coilovers give a firmer ride than air bags, but (despite recent claims by Airlift) I'd still say there were better suited to track and fast road focused cars than an air system is. They are also pretty much fit, set-up once, and forget. No need to take account of constantly changing camber angles like with air ride.

Air ride gives you a nicer (softer) ride and a sills-on-the-floor stance if you want it. The downsides (other than it's cost) are is that it's still an emerging technology. It's not in my eyes totally proven yet in terms of reliability. I've worked on cars in the past with manual (paddle based) air ride and it was highly unreliable. The new Airlft Kits (basically bag-overs) with electronic management are far superior, but you are still adding a complex air based system to you car.

There's no reason why they shouldn't work great, many new cars have air ride as standard after all these days, but with an aftermarket kit the quality of the install is everything. Airlines can easily rub on things if not installed with care and leaks are a massive pain in the a*se once they start.

You also need to be aware that that each time you change the ride hight you alter the camber. What most people do is pick a standard setting (say 40mm drop over standard) where they will run 90% of the time, and have the camber set for that height. Any time you deviate from that height, your camber is out and you are increasing tyre wear. Most of the time you are rolling 'tucked' though will be at low speed around town so maybe not much of an issue.

I am currently looking to buy an s5 and it will be put on air once I've got it (I've currently got an A4 cab). But for many it's still the question of reliability more than cost that is stopping people going for it I think.

 

[KristoffV6]

Oh a couple more points that I wanted to make, being on air and set up to run at a sensible drop for all normal driving, means that you take stain off the driveshafts and other components that are not too happy working outside their normal operating angles etc... Debate rages on in regards to how much this is an issue but I've gone through plenty of driveshafts in lowered cars over the years, I'm convinced its due to running with them at stupid angles.

You also reduce the chance of sump related damage. Running 55mm/60mm drop full time on UK streets is hardcore, and not something I'll be doing with my s5. I still want it to look slammed at shows and in maccy D's car park though ( ) hence why I'm going for air.

 

[Gc94]

Thanks for advice mate I will have a think and look into it further