Considering Air Suspension

[michaeljtrent]

I have been toying with the idea of going to a full air suspension setup for my car but am not educated enough to really know the cost/benefit side of it, so I'm reaching out to the experts for advice.

This car is my daily driver so it has to be reliable on a day to day basis. The roads I drive on are total sh*t (thus the consideration for air suspension), which raises my first question. Is it any smoother than stock? I have the TP/PP and the adjustable shocks are great for smooth roads, but on a daily basis, the "comfort" setting is anything but comfortable.

I have looked at AccuAir and a few others, but I'd like to find a system that is comfortable, but doesn't wreck the track credibility of the car. Given, I will probably never take it to a track, but I don't want to go full comfort and have it handle like a school bus in the corners. I know, I want to have my cake and eat it too.

The full high setting on these systems is also a big contributor as I would (hopefully) be able to stop going at every garage entrance at an angle and would also help getting her up on ramps for oil changes etc.

Thoughts?

 

[07 Black Beauty]

MovingZen has an air ride suspension on his 14, he'd be the guy to talk to.

 

[Ky GT500]

Yep,,,Zen be one to talk to.

 

[Sharad]

I have been toying with the idea of going to a full air suspension setup for my car but am not educated enough to really know the cost/benefit side of it, so I'm reaching out to the experts for advice.

This car is my daily driver so it has to be reliable on a day to day basis. The roads I drive on are total sh*t (thus the consideration for air suspension), which raises my first question. Is it any smoother than stock? I have the TP/PP and the adjustable shocks are great for smooth roads, but on a daily basis, the "comfort" setting is anything but comfortable.

I have looked at AccuAir and a few others, but I'd like to find a system that is comfortable, but doesn't wreck the track credibility of the car. Given, I will probably never take it to a track, but I don't want to go full comfort and have it handle like a school bus in the corners. I know, I want to have my cake and eat it too.

The full high setting on these systems is also a big contributor as I would (hopefully) be able to stop going at every garage entrance at an angle and would also help getting her up on ramps for oil changes etc.

Thoughts?

Michael, it sounds like we have similar needs and I recently installed a full Air Lift Performance AutoPilot V2 kit on my car, so I'll give you my take on all of this-

My 2011 5.0 is a daily driver. It's my do-it-all car. It ran 10.89 @ 128 at PBIR (in full street trim at 3870lbs). It actually has a full HANDLING suspension setup, and has been pushed to the limits at Sebring International Raceway. (TrackGuys bumped me up to the Solo run group this year. It was awesome!) At the same time, I take my kids to school in it every day. I needed performance WITHOUT sacrificing drivability.

I was previously on Koni Yellows with Eibach Pro Kit springs. I was satisfied with the performance and ride quality, but I wanted MOAR LOWWWW! I researched the air bag setups on the market and I zeroed in on Air Lift Performance because it required less modification to the car than the other kit I looked at. I talked to several people who daily drive on Air Lift and they reported no reliability issues, even on cars driven in freezing temps during the winter. I began a dialogue with Jeremy Hart at Air Lift and we settled on a test drive at the Carlisle Ford Nationals. The Air Lift demo Mustang is a 3V GT with a Vortech. It has the same Baer 6P brakes I'm running, and even has the same size 20x10 rims at all four corners. So other than horsepower (mine makes more), it was a good apples to apples comparison. When I hopped in the driver's seat, the ride height was very similar to my Eibach Pro Kit drop. But the ride quality was OUTSTANDING. My car was stiff over rough surfaces, but the Air Lift car at the same height was very smooth, which kept the car planted as I pushed it hard on a highway ramp. (my car would've skipped over the bumps and gotten out of shape) I asked Jeremy how low could we go and still drive. He dropped it another inch (a hair lower than the Eibach Sportline drop) and I continued to drive. The car was STILL much smoother than my car, at a lower height! I was sold.

I installed the system on my 5.0, and I'm daily driving on it now. Being a daily driver, kidmobile, and grocery getter, I didn't want to use up any trunk space. Here's how I installed the system in the spare tire well:

My car came with a spare, but it didn't fit over the Baer brakes so I ditched it. IIRC, you have a GT500, so you don't have a spare anyway.


Here's the ride height I drive around on. It's lower than my Koni/Eibach setup was, but the ride quality is still good:

There are 8 Pre Sets in the handheld controller. This isn't "all the way up", but it's the height I use for clearing obstacles. (like pulling into this gravel lot)

And now the money shots:

Here's the important part-

I'm all about performance. I wanted a system which would still be good for drag racing and road racing, not just "stance". The Air Lift dampers are 30-way adjustable. If you run the shocks medium and the struts soft, then raise the car up to a reasonable level, you have a setup which works well on the drag strip. My friend Jeff Scofield just ran 9.50s in the quarter mile with Air Lift on his GT500. I plan to take a shot at the 9-second zone in mine soon. However, I'm more of a handling guy. One pleasant surprise for me was that the Air Lift dampers go WAY stiffer than the Koni Yellows. (which is ironic, since I've heard people complain that the Yellows are too stiff) I drive around with the Air Lift dampers at full stiff, and it corners nice and flat! (I'm also on full suspension, including Eibach swaybars)

In conclusion, the Air Lift Performance Auto Pilot V2 has excellent ride quality, works well on the drag strip, handles amazingly well, and is plenty reliable. Really the only drawback (if you want to call it that) is the money. It's not INexpensive, but in my opinion it is a good value. MAP is $3150, which isn't much more than brand name coilovers. (and they don't give you ride height adjustment on the fly) Based on your desire for good ride quality and ground clearance when necessary, I'd say you would drive around with the dampers on full soft and somewhere around a 1" drop from factory ride height, then raise it up on particularly bad roads. I'm certain you would be VERY pleased with the setup.

I'll check back on this thread periodically in case you have any specific questions for me.

PS- I don't work for Air Lift. I'm just obsessed with Mustangs, and I'm very happy with my Air Lift kit.

 

[michaeljtrent]

Thanks for the info guys and wow, Sharad, if you don't work for AirLift, maybe you should. I almost stopped reading that halfway through and just went and bought it.

I do like the spare well setup but if I recall correctly, I thought I read you have to get a smaller tank (4gal?) to fit it in there. With a dual comp setup the size of the tank wouldn't be super important.

I say all of this because my initial thought when buying my car (you are right it is a 500) was that I would buy it, have fun for a few years while I'm still young (29), then sell it and get something more civilized. I freaking love this car though so if I can make it ride more like my brother's (14 GT) I would be very tempted to just keep it.

 

[Sharad]

Thanks for the info guys and wow, Sharad, if you don't work for AirLift, maybe you should. I almost stopped reading that halfway through and just went and bought it.

I do like the spare well setup but if I recall correctly, I thought I read you have to get a smaller tank (4gal?) to fit it in there. With a dual comp setup the size of the tank wouldn't be super important.

I say all of this because my initial thought when buying my car (you are right it is a 500) was that I would buy it, have fun for a few years while I'm still young (29), then sell it and get something more civilized. I freaking love this car though so if I can make it ride more like my brother's (14 GT) I would be very tempted to just keep it.

LOL! Yeah, I really don't work for Air Lift, but I'm obsessed with LOW, and I feel like I finally found the ideal setup! :coolman:

Yes, the standard tank is 5 Gal, and I went to a 2.5 Gal tank in order to fit everything in the tire well. However, the pump rarely ever runs, and when it does it's only for a few seconds, right after I raise the car up from being laid out.

If your GT500 is mostly stock it's probably more civilized than my car, and in my opinion the Air Lift kit would make it darn near perfect. (because there's so much adjustability, you can transform your car from a stock comfy cruiser to a drag setup to a handling setup, all in a matter of minutes)

 

[MovingZen]

01mingreyvert has air also, maybe he'll chime in with his experience.
The quick answer is: fully adjustable. I can go from very comfortable to very tight at different ride heights. I'm running Air Lift Performance S197 digital kit and I like it a lot. The dampeners are 30 click adjustable so you have a pretty good range of comfort or performance. Lower air pressures and easier dampener setting can give you a very comfortable ride. The car will absorb hits and rebound smoothly. I went up to mustang week with high dampener settings and got bounced around on the back roads pretty good. After standing around for a few hours my back was pretty tight so I turned the rebound down and the same roads were a very easy ride on the way home. Compared to the stock ride on normal setting, the air lift kit wins. It's considerably more comfortable when I want it to be. Compared to the bilesteins on sport with lowering springs the car handles better with less body roll. imo the system is better all the way around, and I love being able to get in and out of my driveway without scraping the front.
The downside: you can't change the rebound with the touch of a button. You must stop the car and go to all four corners to make the adjustments to the dampeners manually.
Here is my initial post: Air Lift Performance

01mingreyvert's post - More Air Lift

Air lift is a vendor on the s197 forums, you have to register to get in but you can ask anything you want in there.

I've never had coilovers but Air Lift says the handling this kit gives rivals high end coilovers. I do have other suspension work also- BMR upper and lower adjustable control arms, BMR adj. panhard bar and LCA relocation brackets. If there's anything else you want to know just ask :beer:

 

[Lethalchem]

Considering a drop typically requires an alignment, how do you address this? Aligning it at one setting would negate the ability to drive around at other heights for any significant amount of time wouldn't it?

 

[dom418]

It would be less expensive to buy a 64' impala

 

[Sharad]

Considering a drop typically requires an alignment, how do you address this? Aligning it at one setting would negate the ability to drive around at other heights for any significant amount of time wouldn't it?

Align the car for the height you drive the most. The specs don't change THAT much as you change height. You don't need to worry about irregular tire wear when the car is aired out in a parking lot. ;-)

It would be less expensive to buy a 64' impala

64 Impala doesn't look this good. (and doesn't run this well either)

 

[01mingreyvert]

Thanks Zen for posting my link. Pretty much what the guys said. Love my Airlift kit and there are so many mustangs running their kit now its crazy. Any questions feel free to ask.

 

[Lethalchem]

You don't need to worry about irregular tire wear when the car is aired out in a parking lot. ;-)

I don't buy anything to look good in a parking lot.

 

[MovingZen]

I don't buy anything to look good in a parking lot.

It's adjustable, it can do both: look good if you want or perform if you want.
Just align it at the height you drive. I don't drive it sitting on the ground, and it rarely stays at the jacked up height for more than a few minutes at slow speeds. 99% of the time the car is at the aligned height, the rest of the time it is sitting still or barely moving.

 

[Sharad]

I don't buy anything to look good in a parking lot.

I do. Like I said, it's my do-it-all car. :coolman:

 

[07 Black Beauty]

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?1047610-Airlift-Suspension-GROUP-BUY

This guy is trying to get a group buy on the Airlift suspension.

 

[MovingZen]

Sharad, do you know of anyone running a watts link with their air lift kit?

 

[1FASFKR]

Sharad, do you know of anyone running a watts link with their air lift kit?

First, nice ride!

I don't see why a Watts Link would be a problem. There's plenty of adjustability with Cortex and Griggs systems. I would think the suspension travel from full lift to no lift shouldn't be problem.

 

[michaeljtrent]

Thanks for the huge wealth of information guys. This is insanely helpful. Can't help but love these forums!

 

[junkyard08]

Im glad I stumbled upon this thread. I have some questions on it as well. I have a stock 14 GT with the track package. Im still new to the world of modding mustangs so forgive me if this is a dumb question. I plan on buying an airlift setup in the next couple months. Besides an adjustable panhard bar, what else is really needed to run this setup properly?

Sharad, I will be running the exact wheel setup as you have in your picture. The RTR wheels.

 

[tkeinia]

is air ok to run on with 19x10 front and rear? what tire size?