how much travel do you get for air?

[thetoystore]

wanting to go with air on an upcomeing car and am couroius how much suspention travel you get out of airridetech shockwaves. so how low is your car when aired out verses at ride height then again at max

[LowBuckX]

you get enough to be way to low to drive and way to high to look cool.... Im no help...lol

[darren@ridetech]

Most cars will have about 5-6" of travel at the wheel. Ride height being at about mid travel. On most cars we will set ride height up to be about 2" lower than factory.

What kind of vehicle is it?

[thetoystore]

69 camaro. checkered front subframe. want this to car to lay the body on the ground (or atleast very close) then about 5-6in high for ride height

[darren@ridetech]

Ride height on any suspension must be around mid travel. So if you want ride height to be about 5-6 off the ground then you would need at least 8-9" of travel.

[bret]

69 camaro. checkered front subframe. want this to car to lay the body on the ground (or atleast very close) then about 5-6in high for ride height

In the real world you need to retain at least 1" of ground clearance when fully deflated. You will have 2-3" of rise to acheive a ride height of 3-4". You can navigate nearly any obstacle with a 4.5" ride height...most of them at 4". Although it is possible to raise the car momentarily another 1-2" to avoid an obstacle, in reality you can't do that fast enough to avoid anything except a known issue such as your own steep driveway. road hazards pop up much too quickly to be able to react to effectively.

[thetoystore]

bret i'm a huge fan of your car just got done reading about it and thanx for your input.
so the shockwaves have a max of 6in of lift? does not seem like alot? i've bagged many customs and rods with slams or firestones and they got almost 9-10 of lift? know i'm asking alot but just try'n to see what is possible

[thetoystore]

bret is ther any way i can give you a call and get you to help me set what all i'll need to buy

[bret]

We offer several lengths of ShockWaves ranging from 2.6" travel to over 6" of travel. That said, there are a couple things to remember when thinking of ShockWave travel versus suspension travel: First, the travel of the ShockWave is typically multiplied by the geometry of the suspension. This means that even if we use a very short 2.6 travel ShockWave that you will have well over 4" of actual suspension travel measured at the wheel because of the way that the Shockwave is mounted into the suspension. This is especially true in an independent front suspension. In a solid axle rear suspension the geometry is more linear so we typically use a longer travel ShockWave like a 4" or 5" travel. The availability of mounting space is but one of the design criteria for Shockwave selection.
The second thing to remember is that excessive suspension travel can cause other problems such as ball joint bind, steering bind, pinion angle change, as well as tire clearance,, driveshaft, and ground clearance issues.
Also, remember that EVERY suspension will have a "sweet spot" within which it will provide minimal [or at least predictable] geomtery change and therefore superior performance. When the extents of that sweet spot are exceeded the geometry can go to hell in a hurry. I have seen suspension designs that may only have .015" of bumpsteer in a 5" travel range and 1/2" of bumpsteer from inches 5 to 6!
In the real world a 4000 lb vehicle needs between 4" and 6" of total suspension travel to have a civized ride quality. 2/3 of that needs to be compression travel.
I have seen vehicles set up with airsprings that acheive the 9" to 10" of travel that you refer to. The design criteria for these vehicles is optimized for maximum suspension travel [or "lift", as you refer to it]. While that is a valid objective for some customers, I am assuming that your design criteria is to optimize the cornering and handling perfomance of your vehicle [which is why you would be on this site in the first place]. Trying to acheive excessive suspension travel would incur the list of problems that I referred to above. That is why you will see real racecars limit the suspension travel to just a couple of inches [even with a suspension designed and built from scratch].
There are some vehicles that require tremedous amounts of suspension travel...offroad vehicles come to mind...to optimize their performance. If you are building a 6000 lb vehicle that may see huge road hazards [2 ft. boulders and/or holes] then you must consider that criteria in your design. If you stick to normal real world road conditions 4" to 6" of travel will work beautifully. If you go the other way [short travel of maybe 3" to 4"] then you will sacrifice ride quality and ground clearance.

I will certainly help you with your particular project ot the extent that I can,,,the problem is that I must travel frequently and it can be frustrating for you to catch me in the office. Anyone at our office can give you this information [maybe not as eloquently as me:)] Don't be afraid to ask questions...it separates us from the chimps!

Hope this helps...

[darren@ridetech]

Just give me a call with some dimensions and I'll get you the correct part #'s and such. My direct # is 812-481-4706.

[thetoystore]

thanx for the help a phone call wll be comeing soon