what kind of hydraulics?

[bingkewl]

i've heard that the best hydraulics are air. is this true?

what price range are you looking for if you wanna put hydraulics under your car?

[Moppie]

If you have air in your hydraulics you have a very serious, and expensive problem.

[curtis73]

Air is pretty wonderful if its done right. For a long time it was believed that air improved ride while killing handling, but as many tests have confirmed a properly done air ride can improve handling.

Its also remarkably affordable for what it is.

[bingkewl]

Originally Posted by Moppie

If you have air in your hydraulics you have a very serious, and expensive problem.

isn't there a choice between air and spring?

[UncleBob]

Originally Posted by bingkewl

isn't there a choice between air and spring?

moppie was making a funny. "hydraulics" by definition, is fluid-based. air is pneumatic

[bingkewl]

Originally Posted by UncleBob

moppie was making a funny. "hydraulics" by definition, is fluid-based. air is pneumatic

right right. but there are two kinds of hrdraulic systems for your car. there's the regular type they have on trackors and what not, and than there's "air" type, which i've heard is the "best".

[curtis73]

No. Air is not a form of hydraulics. You're confusing the terms. Hydraulics is where it uses fluids pumped in and out of a cylinder to do work. Air systems are pneumatic, meaning they pump air in and out do do work. Saying that air is a type of hydraulics doesn't make sense because its not.

[dave92cherokee]

To answer your original question the price depends on the vehicle as some require more parts and complex kits and others don't. For a complete air ride suspension system done right you're looking at a price range of 1000 to 5000 roughly. Haven't looked at them for a while but that's about where they were sitting last i looked.

[curtis73]

I'll give you air suspension in a nutshell. Its a very small nutshell since I don't know much, but here it goes.

You want to do a very good job of determining what ride height you want. Airbags work their best when at a certain ride height regardless of their pressure. Many times folks buy an air system for their stock suspension, then use it to drop or raise the vehicle, then complain about the ride quality and handling. You want to keep the springs at the advertised ride height for best handling and ride, then if you want to pop it up for a speed bump, or pop it down for looks you can.

Air springs are sold at an advertised ride height... that is to say the overall length of the unit from perch to perch. If you buy a kit for [let's say] a 73 Buick Riviera, it will most likely be engineered to bolt onto a stock suspension and provide a stock ride height. If you want to lower it by letting air out, that's fine, but your ride quality will suffer. So, if you want the car to ride 2" lower, do it by using drop spindles or smaller tires for the best results.

The only other advice i can give is that you'll be much happier (probably) if you step up to the 4-way control. If you just have a single valve for the front and one for the rear, what happens is the air can bleed from one side to the other in a corner. You'll enter the corner fine, but as you turn the air will squeeze out of the outside bag into the inside bag and change the handling in the middle of the turn. Using a 4-way setup isolates each spring so the air stays where it should in each bag. 4-valve systems aren't that much more expensive so I think its a worthy thing.

[bingkewl]

ty ty, very helpful. so to put it in peter rabit terms, if i want my ride to lower and rise, i best use 4-way control, and best keep it at the "advertised rde height" when driving so i don't lose my handling. for this job i'm looking at anywhere from 1k to 5k. and what i want is not "hyrdaulics" (which is fluid based) but "pneumatic" (which is air based).

did i get that, or am i just as lost as i was to begin with?

[curtis73]

You got it