Airrex Suspension is going to have me peeing blood

[Epic Fail]

This must be due kharma for a lame user name I picked. Anyway, I'd been toying around with the idea of going bagged for over a year now, and jumped on the Airrex package being sold here. I met up with the guy, everything looks good, no complaints about any of that.

But once installed,by an installer (I won't name) that rushed the job and did absolutely no tuning or adjustments, I'm left with a car that hits so effing hard, I think my teeth are going to get knocked out. The installer passively blamed this all on " all my serious aftermarket suspension stuff".

I've aired out the bags as low as I can without the tires coming close to bottoming out in the wheel well. The strut height wasn't adjusted from the previous owners car when it was installed on mine. My suspension mods are not crazy, I just have BMR LCA's, UCA, Panhard bar, up front the remnants of my original Eibach Pro System Plus ( sway bar).

I went from BC coilovers, looking for a smoother ride, and to be able to quickly get the car up off the ground for ramp clearance.

Does anyone have any first hand experience with the best way to optimize the ride characteristics of an Airrex system? I am nearly certain that I got airborne a few times coming home from the install. It's barely better completely aired out. I'm certainly never going to get a speeding ticket, I almost drive like your grandmother now.

I'll be taking it back in to a different installer who's done more work on domestic muscle cars, who's also very familiar with Airrex, hoping for the best. But I thougth I'd also ask for any tips or suggestions.

My main question is whether increasing the strut mounting height will allow for a slightly more comfortable ride? It's intolerable on anything but the smoothest of freeway lanes.

 

[Redline8k]

are the struts adjustable for damping? When I had my airlift kit on my scion they were 21 way adjustable in the front and 12 in the back I think. you could always call the old user and airrex. I'm sure its just a matter of adjustments. air is nice once its all setup...

 

[Epic Fail]

The front are, and I've got them as soft as I can make them. The rear, I'm not sure. I've asked the manufacturer for a pdf manual of the specific kit for my car, but haven't heard back yet. They did say that a car like the Mustang is going to get a less "Cadillac/Limo" like ride than an import. But I see a lot of other heavy, GT sized cars with them too and don't see these complaints pop up much.

I'm literally altering my routes home (it's my daily driver) to avoid road seams, cracks and the like. I've cracked my head twice on my ceiling. Driving now is insanely unpleasant. I'm hoping a well reputed place in San Jose can help me, otherwise, I swear I'll put stock springs and dampers back on the damn thing.

 

[My1stGT]

I have an Airide system I can adjust the shocks to be very smooth or very stiff like you describe. I really like the system so I assume your shocks just are no calibrated right for the set up.

 

[Epic Fail]

I have an Airide system I can adjust the shocks to be very smooth or very stiff like you describe. I really like the system so I assume your shocks just are no calibrated right for the set up.

I didn't want to make my first post unreadably long, but the other quirk is that the passenger side rear pressure reading is always off compared to the drivers side. It seems like a digital/ signal glitch more so than a pnuematic one. All 4 corners raise and lower at the same speed, the pump doesn't run on forever, and the readout occasionally is accurate.

My buddy had an AirLift Suspension in his 2014 Mustang with all the same aftermarket suspension components ( I literally bought it off him, he was going back to stock to sell) and his ride was better than his previous coilover set in terms of responsiveness and comfort.

 

[Epic Fail]

And in case that sounds confusing, I bought all his BMR gear, blowfish bracket and the exhaust components, not his AirLift Suspension. Ironically, I was drawn the thought of the simplicity of having a pre-fabbed box (Airrex) versus a more complicated installation.

 

[Ortasscotty]

I have had my air lift kit on my car for over 30k and only have this issue completely aird up. Hit me up at 4088051331 and I can try and trouble shout you

 

[noldevin]

It sounds like you have them basically as low as you can and as soft as you can. You're probably bottoming out or hitting bump stops. Raise it or stiffen it some. Or both.

 

[Epic Fail]

So I had the problem diagnosed last week but waited till I actually had the car back tonight and well tested before commenting. The issue will make some people laugh no doubt. If you recall my follow up post commenting on how I noticed the passenger rear pressure never reading quite right from the moment I picked the car up; well that was the main clue. I contacted a very highly regarded shop in San Jose (Sprint Auto Works/becausebags) and set up a time for them to check it out.

Within 30 minutes he had the problem figured out (and that's without a lift, since all the lifts were occupied at the time). The original shop who installed it, routed the air lines too close to the exhaust and the passenger rear air bag's line was melted shut. The right rear bag literally never saw air from about a minute or two after it was installed. The reason that both sides of the car appeared to lift evenly was my aftermarket suspension/sway bar was literally lifting the right side all the way over from the left side. The left rear bag was carrying the whole load and the bushing between the shock and the car itself had completely blown out.

My car was bottoming out metal to metal. And the front sway bar was making contact when it was lowered too.

The car handles and rides better than it ever has, better than it did when it had coilovers. Everything on the kit works perfect now.

 

[kdaly]

Glad to hear, i actually felt bad for you after spending that kinda money and not being happy.

 

[Epic Fail]

The odd thing is how much better all the BMR components seem to work putting power down, versus the previous setup I had with the Eibach springs in the rear. When I added the BMR gear 2 months ago, I seriously felt no difference at all. But with the Airrex system, it all seems to work extremely well.