BloodlessBox

I'm not sure how and what setup everyone else drives...but mines bagged and i drive like a maniac....i got my Airlift bags (don't really care if you like em or not, don't want to hear your opinion) those are the ones I like and they handle great and I have had 0 problems with them...if you put them on right and know how to "use" your air while driving, then it will still handle like a champ......as for that mutant coilover bag strut thing.....looks like a waste of time and $$.....

swartzautoman

iTrader: (3)

um, yeah.
BloodlessBox........... nice fake user name you made up.


dampner adjustment is only for adjusting stiff / soft responce of the shock / strut and will do nothing for ride highth.

L33TFooMaster

I had thought about this too. You would think if you could include some kind of "control system" to make the suspension react on the fly as you drive that it would handle really well. Wouldn't this make it more of an "active suspension"?

How would you even go about making something like that? You'd need sensors to detects bumps and lean and such, I guess. What do the people with bagged boxes think of this idea?

BloodlessBox

[quote="swartzautoman"]um, yeah.
BloodlessBox........... nice fake user name you made up.


What?? Fake user name??? ummm...look me up on any scion website, scikotics, club xb, i was just commenting back on the question at hand, and if you read some of the other airride posts, you will see me saying the exact same thing.....anyway, to your "fake user name" comment....all s/n are made up.......

L33TFooMaster

I'm not really interested in starting a flame war, nor am I interested in anybody's reputation. BloodlessBox brought up an interesting idea about using air ride like an active suspension. Anybody know anything more about it? I'd like to get input from someone who has a bagged box.

ogerdgonz

They have an active air ride suspension out there but it would be custom for the xB and would be more than even the air runner kit.

The bag on coil over set up is going to give you great performance only if you get adjustable coil overs to use.

As long as you get the right size bags for our car you are not going to have to many problems and it will perform well. If you get the Easystreet they are 9 way dampening adjustable, if you go with the Air Stunner or UAS bags on a strut they are the same thing. An air bag on a strut it is just Randode uses I believe KYB struts valved for our car, to make his Air Stunner and the UAS set up uses what ever strut you choose.

As for the JDM "Air Cobra" system they do not bolt right onto our cars and they do not allow you to go as low as other kits.

L33TFooMaster

TBH, I think I'd rather make a control unit myself. I'm not saying I know what I'm doing (cuz I don't... yet?), but it would be something I'd want to learn and I think it'd be completely awesome to be able to say that you have a homebrew custom control unit for your air suspension.

swartzautoman

iTrader: (3)

i like the idea of having an adjustable ride highth,
thats why i went with coilovers w/ dampners to fine tune the feal.

air is something ive always been interested it but ive also always been nevus of it too.
its tempting because its the smoothest ride and its very easaly adjustable on the fly, when ever and were ever i want.
the draw backs are................... ive never owned any and realy don't know how to use it.
i know the basics, but i don't know what to get ,who to get it from, or the best way to set it up?
how much PSI can i run and under what situatations?
what should i avoid and why.
its alot to learn, and im not ready to just jump into it.
thats why i think that the bag in the (already existing) void on top of my adjustable strut (Tein SS+P) would be a good entry level way to get my feet wet.


why axactly would the "mutant coilover bag strut thing" be a bad idea?

ogerdgonz

If you do not know about air, gyros, pressure switches, ride height sensors, computer programming, circuit board making, and suspension geometry it is a very bad idea to build your own active suspension control system.

Unless of course you do not value your life and those of anyone around you when your system fails in the initial R&D stages.

Air is not as scary as people think. The bag sets the ride height mainly in the front and the strut does the same thing it always does. So if you have a high performance strut and can adjust the valving (dampening) you will get a nice ride out of it. Of course if you ride aired out or fully aired up the performance is affected.

In the rear the bag is just like the spring and as long as there is some air in there and you have good shocks the rear will behave similar to the stock set up. Probably absorb more of the bumps since the bag gives a little easier then the spring.

L33TFooMaster

You make it sound like an impossibility. There are a few key phrases in my statement: "I think", "I'm not saying I know what I'm doing", "something I'd want to learn".

I've made circuit boards before, programming is no issue (my major is computer science) and the rest is all sensors and switches. The only thing I really said was that I think it would be an awesome project. I did NOT say "Oh, I'm dropping everything right now to go kill myself on a project I know nothing about."

Forgive me if I had a sense of adventure. You're right, "shop custom" is the only reason to be broke, I should do nothing myself.



Moving right along -- can anybody give any constructive information about it? My thought process goes something like this:

You go around a turn to the left, the car leans to the right. The car would sense this and stiffen the dampeners on the right of the car. The tricky part is figuring out how much to stiffen them, correct?

swartzautoman

iTrader: (3)

QUOTE "You go around a turn to the left, the car leans to the right. The car would sense this and stiffen the dampeners on the right of the car. The tricky part is figuring out how much to stiffen them, correct?"


that make every bit of sence to me, that is what anactive suspension does.

ogerdgonz

The concept of active suspension is not hard you already have it figured out. The amount of air needed would be to even the car out. It would require a gyro or bubble sensor and when it was out of position would kick in the compressor until the car was back at the level position. At the same time you may have to be able to let air out of the other side of the car in order to maintain that side's proper height.

It is not impossible anything can be done with time and money. This is just not one of the things I would start with if you do not know some of the key items.

L33TFooMaster

Good Info!!

This is something that really drives my interest! Do you really think that they compressor would have to be running to make the adjustments? I'd imagine that we'd really only need to run the compressor to keep enough pressure in the tank, or do you think it'd take that much air?

I know a lot of what I just said is all related to the compressors and the tank, but I'm still learning about it. How much pressure is normally in an air spring anyway?

DPIQ

I think Lotus tried this in the 70's or 80's or 90's. It took a lot of energy if I recall correctly.

ogerdgonz

There are many active suspensions out there. The compressor probably would not have to come on but it all depends on the tank. In the active suspensions used by Lincoln and other luxury automobiles they do not have a tank they only have compressors to make adjustments.