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Air Ride Bag Speed

2K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  Tony@AirRideTech 
#1 ·
Does anyone run 3/8 fast air valves and 3/8 air line and achieve a really fast up and down on their air ride setup??
 
#3 ·
air ride

hey i use to have 3/8 line and valves on my 49 pickup and at 175psi. probly could go from empty to full in 3-5 seconds but when i put 150psi. probly 7-10 seconds. with 175 psi i could get the front of the pickup to hop kinda good but with 150 psi not so good hope this helps. ask me more and i might can help :mwink:

aron
 
#4 ·
goose... it took between 3 and 10 seconds to fill the bag with 3/8 line and valves? i find that kinda hard to believe, i have 1/2" line and valves on my fairlane and the bags fill in MUCH less than a second, and one of my friends has a truck with all 3/8" and his setup is just as fast as mine because he runs 200 psi and i only run 145, but at the same pressures the 3/8 is noticeably slower than 1/2", but it doesn't take several seconds to lift. I'd say if you had a choice just go 1/2" since most of the stuff is only a little bit cheaper than if you go 3/8, and it can be much faster than 3/8, but if you're not looking to hop and go crazy 3/8 will do just fine. what kind of car is this going on? good luck on the install, let me know if you have any more questions!
 
#6 ·
goose,
the back might raise slower than the front because of the weight of the engine, but still it shouldn't take seconds to lift, nevermind 10 seconds. my first setup was 1/4" line with manual valves and it took maybe 10 or 15 seconds to raise, and that was rediculously slow. the shorter lines would help a little but it woudln't be that noticeable, and the four link wouldn't make it slower. do you have 4 valves or 8? if you have two bags plumbed off of one valve it would make your fill time way slower too.
 
#8 ·
Only running 4 valves, and T'ing off to the bags will slow it way down. I run 3/8" line with eight 3/8" valves on my truck, at 150 psi, and I think it has nice speed to it. It's about as fast as you can get it without snapping your head back when it lifts. To give you an idea on speed, 3/8" smc valves, 1/2" line, and 175psi in the a 5 gallon tank, will hop the front wheels on a 4 cylinder S10 an inch or two.
 
#9 ·
There are a bunch of different factors to sppeding up or slowing down an air system. In reality... a 1/4" system that has been optimized will raise most vehicles to ride height within 3 seconds. Other factors are going to be how much pressure and volume it takes to get the vehicle to ride height. If the system was designed with bad geometry or you are using the wrong airspring, it will take more volume and pressure to raise it to ride height. Another thing that a lot of people do when letting the vehicle down is that they let ALL of the air out when in fact the vehicle is on the bumpstops when there is still air in the system. In my opinion.... anything fast than say about 2 seconds is getting to the point of uncontrollable. If you cant control the exact amount of sir going into the system.... you have past the point of air ride and you should have just installed hydraulics anyway. Your ride quality, handling and alignment can vary down to only a couple pounds... so if you have a system that will put a 100 psi ( figuratively ) in the suspension at the minutest touch of the button, you cant control it........
 
#10 ·
tony,
i have to disagree with you on this one, it's all about learning how to control your speed and learning to hit the switches. I can just hit my switch and hold it and the front of my car will pop right up uncontrollably like you said, kind of like a hydraulic setup. but, after a little while getting used to the switches and how they respond, i can pretty much tap the switch a few times and get it exactly at where my alignment is, just as precise as with my 1/4" system that i had. and it has the advantages of hydraulics and air... the ride is way better than stock, it's real fast, and it's not hard to control once you get used to it. plus it gets rid of all the weight in the trunk of a hydraulic setup, and you don't need a frame wrap. i guess i'm just trying to say a fast system isn't an unsafe one as long as you know how to use it :thumbup:
 
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