For those thinking of Air Ride suspensions.. we installed one..

[Steve1968LS2]

On the every lovely '76 Camaro..

See my brief review here:

https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=11561

And look for the complete story with the exact numbers in an upcoming issue of PHR.

Normally I have to be all secretive but I got the ok to give a few tidbits since it has been a hot topic in the suspension forum.



I will admit I was slighly surprised by the whole deal.

[Travis B]

that is great steve........did you get to ride in the car????? Bags make driving a car very fun from adjusting height for loading it on the tralier to hammering it at the fairground.....glad you guys tested it!

[Steve1968LS2]

that is great steve........did you get to ride in the car????? Bags make driving a car very fun from adjusting height for loading it on the tralier to hammering it at the fairground.....glad you guys tested it!

Yep.. did about 50 miles on the freeway and some at the track. The Camaro looks pretty bitchen slammed on the ground.. being able to life it up made it easy to get on the lift..

You adjust each corner independently. I sorta wish you could adjust both fronts at the same time or both rears or if they had a speedbump button that would raise them all.. lol..

air ride does have some new controlers coming out soon but the current one is pretty easy to operate. Oh, we also got the wireless remote controls which are great for doing a photo shoot.

One thing wrong with the system was that it was not installed on MY car.. lol

[Travis B]

Yep.. did about 50 miles on the freeway and some at the track. The Camaro looks pretty bitchen slammed on the ground.. being able to life it up made it easy to get on the lift..

You adjust each corner independently. I sorta wish you could adjust both fronts at the same time or both rears or if they had a speedbump button that would raise them all.. lol..

air ride does have some new controlers coming out soon but the current one is pretty easy to operate. Oh, we also got the wireless remote controls which are great for doing a photo shoot.

One thing wrong with the system was that it was not installed on MY car.. lol

I didn't know they had sway bars......looks like darren will have a PM....it isn't in my catalog either!

I see a lot of people driving there car around crooked because of the 4 way system all you have to do is hit both front buttons at once and both rears at once then fine tune from there....

[formula]

any word on which exact issue we'll see the article in??

thank you guys so much, by the way....it's so nice to have somebody testing all the cutting edge stuff so that we, the poor college kids who have to save for years to build up enough discretionary income to have some fun with our projects, dont end up throwing money away...

[Steve1968LS2]

any word on which exact issue we'll see the article in??

thank you guys so much, by the way....it's so nice to have somebody testing all the cutting edge stuff so that we, the poor college kids who have to save for years to build up enough discretionary income to have some fun with our projects, dont end up throwing money away...

March.. I got "volunteered" to write it.. lol..

[USAZR1]

Glad you got to try one of these systems out,Steve.
In a hard turn,a two-way system will transfer air to the side not under the hard load. A four-way system keeps that problem from occurring.

Email me before purchasing the digital control set-up.

[Steve1968LS2]

Glad you got to try one of these systems out,Steve.
In a hard turn,a two-way system will transfer air to the side not under the hard load. A four-way system keeps that problem from occurring.

Email me before purchasing the digital control set-up.

Yea, I think you had probs with the digital controler.. right?

For the 200ft skidpad we thought of raising the one side (inside) to try and compensate for the lean .. lol.. we came to the conclusion that would be cheating though.. I wonder if it would have worked..

[USAZR1]

Yea, I think you had probs with the digital controller.. right?

I finally gave up on the digital controller. Spent way too much time and money trying to make it work.

[kennyd]

I finally gave up on the digital controller. Spent way too much time and money trying to make it work.

which system did you have trouble with ? ride pro-e or the intelliride

[Nine Ball]

Steve, how did the system drop all that weight? Help me out here:

-losing leaf springs
-adding 4-bar components
-air bags are heavier than regular shocks
-adding air tank, motor, controls

Do all those components really weigh that much less than a pair of leaf springs? Or, am I missing something here. I figured an air ride setup would add weight to a car.

[Travis B]

Steve, how did the system drop all that weight? Help me out here:

-losing leaf springs
-adding 4-bar components
-air bags are heavier than regular shocks
-adding air tank, motor, controls

Do all those components really weigh that much less than a pair of leaf springs? Or, am I missing something here. I figured an air ride setup would add weight to a car.

The airspings them selves are very light probably a few lbs heavier than regular shocks for leaf sprung vehicles. The tank and compressor don't weight hardly anthing plus it is all sprung weight! The whole setup is actually very light! Just guessing I would say the compressor weights 2to3 lbs tank(5 gallon) maybe 8lbs.......

[Nine Ball]

Good info, I was considering going with their setup on my 69 Convertible, but was assuming it would add weight. Losing weight is a good bonus!

[Steve1968LS2]

Steve, how did the system drop all that weight? Help me out here:

-losing leaf springs
-adding 4-bar components
-air bags are heavier than regular shocks
-adding air tank, motor, controls

Do all those components really weigh that much less than a pair of leaf springs? Or, am I missing something here. I figured an air ride setup would add weight to a car.

Front air-bags are heavier than front shocks but much lighter than front shocks AND front coil springs. We also removed part of the front subframe to get bag clearance. The tubular front lower control arms were lighter than stock. Oh, the hollow front sway should have shaved some weight as well.

The back leaf springs weigh a TON.. the brackets that replaced them are not that heavy. We also ditched the lower shock plates and small parts like the bump stops since the airbags have internal stops. Of the 90lbs lost I think about 8-10 of that was from shortening the exhaust. The air tank is not very heavy nor are the solenoids and such.

I was sorta surprised as well but we weighed the car the day of the install and the day of the track test on the same truck scale. We weighed each axle and the whole car minus driver. About the same amount of gas was in the car and the same tires/wheels. In fact, now that I think of it, there was some stuff in the trunk for the track test on the second weighing that wasn't there on the first one.. about 5lbs or so.

I was surprised as well. Now im sure the truck scale is not a super accurate deal but it should be consistent in regards to a change in weight. It is a certified scale. I was surprised as well.

[darren@ridetech]

The front shockwaves weigh about 8lbs each. The rear AirBar is about 80lbs. The compressor kit is about 20-25lbs. total.

[Steve1968LS2]

The front shockwaves weigh about 8lbs each. The rear AirBar is about 80lbs. The compressor kit is about 20-25lbs. total.

One thing I want to do is go weight a leaf spring and a coil spring to see what they weigh.

So it is 80lbs for the whole rear 2nd gen air bar deal (minus the shocks)??

[darren@ridetech]

That is including the Shockwaves.

[USAZR1]

which system did you have trouble with ? ride pro-e or the intelliride

Ride Pro-E

[yody]

Kudos to steve and PHR for allowing us to get these sneak peaks of the system! Isn't there a post in the suspension forum about this too? I'll look out for the issue in the mail!

[Mean 69]

Isn't there a post in the suspension forum about this too?

No, there's two. I guess PHR REALLY likes the airbags and wants to let people know!

I'll second the kudos.....
M