Anyone know a good shop to do air bags in the Bay Area?

How soon you looking to bag it, D? Let's do it!

Yeah but I had some questions... Hopefully eric can hop in here and answer some too.

Does it hurt the suspension at all?
Hows the ride?
I drive almost 100 miles a day, do you recommend it for a daily driver?
What kinda price am I looking at?
Can you adjust the height? and how hard is it to do that?
How loud is the compressor?
How long will the install take?

Lastly, for VAN.. can you do the airbag set up? Seeing how you dropped the s14 motor in Eds car, maybe you can do the bags.. All depepnding of course..

:D

if you drive a 100 miles a day i wouldn't do it. it will put a big strain the suspension and give you a lot of problems

van can help you do it. i will help answer questions, but keep in mind there are varying opinions on this matter. for instance, van doesn't like to use cylinders, which is what i used for my front suspension.


Does it hurt the suspension at all?
Hows the ride?
I drive almost 100 miles a day, do you recommend it for a daily driver?
What kinda price am I looking at?
Can you adjust the height? and how hard is it to do that?
How loud is the compressor?
How long will the install take?


it will not hurt the suspension if done properly. handling will still be good but you are going to want to go easy on the car in hard corners since you don't want to risk anything breaking. so far i haven't had anything major happen since i've done my setup...about 8000 miles or so.

the ride is fine, except when it's all the way up or down; in those positions it rides like a stagecoach.

i drive about 100 miles a day too. no problems.

you are looking at around $1000-$2000 for part depending on quality of parts used, and what kind of valves, compressors and tank(s) are use; and anywhere from free to $3000 for labor, depending who does it and how much fabrication is required.

height can be setup when the air is being installed. you have a set amount of travel so you can either make it go from kind of low to pretty high, or stock height to super low, like mine is, or anywhere in between. after it's all installed, it's hard to raise and lower the height of the car outside of the parameters of the airbags/cylinders/etc.

compressors are different as far as size and loudness. i have 2 small thomas compressors that work well and are pretty quiet. they are under the car in the back so they aren't too loud, but you can hear them when driving. they aren't on all the time. there is a cutoff switch that turns the compressors on when the air pressure gets too low and off when it reaches a set psi. without that, you can install a manual switch but that sucks because you don't want to deal with shutting it on and off by hand.

the install will take from 3 days to 3 weeks, depending if you have all the parts and if you have a qualified person doing the install. i did it with my friend and it took 2 1/5 days, but he said at his old shop they required 7-10 days to install and do all the testing, and it cost about $4000 for a complete system for a civic or s-10 on average. the place was called LSD in south orange county.

if you are going to do it DONT CHEAP OUT!
do not buy cheap valves, fittings, etc.
I recommend Parker valves and fittings and only D.O.T. aproved tubing.
anything that you can get at home depot does not belong on your suspension.
also, solder all wires. crimp on connectors can fail, leaving you stranded.

and do not buy anything from AIM!

if you drive a 100 miles a day i wouldn't do it. it will put a big strain the suspension and give you a lot of problems

i agree. however, i do it but i have the best valves and fittings from japan on my car. and i know how to fix things when/if they go wrong. if you don't know what you are getting into with the air thing, you are going to be so frustrated at one point or another.

Hey guys thanks for all the info. I'm still debating on what to do. There are no coilovers here yet, and I don't want to wait. Yenno how that goes tho. If I can find a place that will do really good work. Or if Van will answer *cough*cough* :D Then I'll make up my mind.

BTW.. I think I just finally realized that the box isn't a racecar.. :cry:

I gotta admit that I have no prior experience to running an air suspension setup on an automotive application. I have an understanding of the principles involved, and am still going to run it on my roadster (which will be requiring way more custom work to get it all in!!), but like I said... I'm still an air suspension newbie. It does seem simple enough in theory, and after all is said and done, it is just a simple mechanical and electrical upgrade. Need....shop....space....soon....!

if you drive a 100 miles a day i wouldn't do it. it will put a big strain the suspension and give you a lot of problems

i agree. however, i do it but i have the best valves and fittings from japan on my car. and i know how to fix things when/if they go wrong. if you don't know what you are getting into with the air thing, you are going to be so frustrated at one point or another.

air bags are the main concern and that is what he is talking about using. air cylinders should be fine, but it will really determine on the quality of work and how the person drives. air bags are horrible for daily driving 100 miles. they willl leak and it is not fun to blow a bag and then be stranded.

don't overlook the work required to mount all the parts. without proper understanding of welding and strength of certain types of metals, you could have not only a difficult time with the install, but a very dangerous vehicle if any should go wrong and break under stress. i used 4" cylinders. i was going to use 3" but i wanted to go the extra mile to make sure they could handle several times the load i was going to be putting on the car. cylinders are cool because they use 1/3 the air of bags and they are fast!

please ask questions if you have them. i am happy to help. i'm sure randy is too. in fact, i heard randy is installing free airbags for TSW members! $40 if you are not a member. PM him for more info.

i really just want to make sure that you guys are safe. safety comes way before looks, especially on a daily driver. if you make sure the car is safe, you can worry about the other stuff later.

good air bags will not break if nothing rubs them. they should last years if not abused. the problem is that most people with bags severly abuse them, and on truck applications they often rub on things, which will cause them to break prematurely.

also, SMC makes good fittings. they are expensive but they will last if you use the new metal ones. why someone would want to save a few bucks by using cheap plastic or metal fittings is beyond me. your life is basically riding on the air suspension. why risk it?

still, it would not hurt to have an extra bag in your car for long trips. extra fittings would be a good idea as well. cylinders rarely go out, bit it can happen.

i've had to drive home all the way down one time when i had a fitting go bad on me. it was my fault though. the fitting was up against the bottom of the car and when i bottomed out the tank a few times, it pushed the fitting up on the car and eventually it wore out and started leaking. i have changed the design and now it's working fine. i also had another incident where i had a hose too close to my exhaust and it melted a hole in the line. i had extra tubing with me so it was not a big deal. plus, my car is designed so i can ride all the way down if i have to, so even if everything breaks at once, i can still drive the car. i feel this is important and is one of the reasons i switched from 19s to 16s. for safety reasons, not just looks or lowness.

the only other problem i had was a wire breaking, but that was also my fault for not connecting it properly. it has since been fixed, although i think i am going to go under my car in the next couple days to check everything and make sure all the wiring is up to spec and doing ok. you have to maintain these kinds of things before something goes wrong.

I still haven't found a good air bag shop around here. I met some guy that did bags on his..check this out.. F350 dully. :shock: ... He doesn't work for a shop or anything and he doesn't want to do bags for me either :( .. But it's still an option... ____ I might even just say whatever and do the springs like everyone else.

How are your bags holding up? Anything else go wrong *knock on wood*? What kind of maintanance is associated with the suspension?

Thanks,

Daniel

Have no fear! Our complete bag kits should be done just in time for christmas!!! :D

:shock: :D

there you go. complete kits. finally.

as long as you wire it up right and use good quality parts and put them together tightly and the right way, it will be fine. i have just had minor things but it's all stuff that was my fault.

sounds like i'll go with coilovers

i'm going to go with coilovers too, as soon as someone gets lower than me. but until then, i'm keeping the air.

there is a shop in san jose that does bags this guy makes the mounts for anything we will make the car hop what ever you want it to do he is the best at that

the name of the shop is sic motorsports he is on sunset and alum rock in san jose

Eric, how low does your scion lay as of now with your 16s?

Air shocks would be great up here in the North East. I see lowering springs are big in Cali. ;) But we don't have the best roads here for it due to weather. I think the air shocks would do great here. What do you guys think. I hope someone developes them for the Scion officially.

bump bump bump - b2k :lol:

dsidescion:
Whats the price going to be on the airbag system for the xb installed or just the parts needed?

Eric:
I was looking into air ride Tech's cylinders and bags for my car, what do you think of this company, any good?

I just finished part of my stereo system and now saving up some money for rims and bags. After tha I hope to start going to a few shows and maybe find some sort of sponsorship. I finally have over a 1000 miles on my car and I love it more each day. In my area of Santa Maria I have seen a lot of xa's running around town mostly older people like some with gray hair. Nice to see older folks getting involved in scion's but please save some for us younger ones. Till then all have a great time and hope to see everyone soon. Maybe longer then I hope need to finish moving my grandmother into a home :( she is 91. She does like the XB though. reminds her of an old english taxi she was born in England... well Hope to be back posting on scionlife. If i don't see anyone or get a chance please have a safe and wonderful holidays comming up.

Santa I been good can I get my rims and air this christmas?? maybe he will reply back :o

We're laying out the brackets for the front cylinders and rear bags for Boxzilla right now. Eric is right- a properly installed air suspension won't really be any worse than a set of coilovers as far as maintenance goes, and the ride can be tailored to your taste. The main trick is to use quality components- brass DOT approved fittings, DOT air lines, and quality bags and/or cylinders. Whoever said to avoid AIM was righ on the money- my company used to deal with them and it was a nightmare.
The front suspension of our beloved Scions presents a unique dilemma, as the strut body turns with the wheel and all side loads from steering are transmitted through the strut as well- Honduhs are EASY to put air ride on by comparison!
I'm not sure where Eric got his cylinders, but I have mine coming from a company in Canada called Brisland's. We've used theirs on vehicles ranging from a 2003 Celica to a 92 Cadillac STS, and they've held up great. You will sacrifice some lift versus a strut bag, but the reliability will be much better. Email or PM me if you guys have specific questions regarding the project or prices, and we'll be sure to post pics as they come available.

-Phil and Vicki
www.fbimini.com

Have no fear! Our complete bag kits should be done just in time for christmas!!! :D

cool! any info way the setup includes?

Have no fear! Our complete bag kits should be done just in time for christmas!!! :D

Yeah, when will they be available? I'm interested. Also if any one knows where to get the componets, please PM me contacts and pricing if possible. ThanX

Any word on the air?

very interested, lets get on the move!

i was wondering if using cylinders on all 4 corners would work? or do you recommend using bags in the rear? how much fabrication has to be done for cylinders in the front?

yah yah yah....me want air...but don't want to have to do any mods or welding...just want the bolt on kit! :wink:

Anyone know when a kit is going to be available?

Mark

seriously, do some research before deciding that you want air. Drive a car on air, ride on the freeway, etc. I had a car that i fabbed my own air suspension and it was rough. Especially if you want it really low. Then you will have to blow it pretty much all the way up, just so it doesnt scrape. That will make it ride bad. You can see that car here: http://home.earthlink.net/~randode/caprice.html

If any one wants air bags or any other parts there is a shop i know in san jose that will do everything they do good work but they will do some work you wont even think of the name of the shop is SIC MOTORSPORTS ON SUNSET in san jose