Air Suspension in comp vehicle

[fatassgq]

Just out of curiousity what do people think about air suspension in a comp style vehicle?
I personally don't like it but have seen Brett Grinrods truck and it looks like it performs well.
What are the pro's and cons as I have not seen many trucks running this sort of setup.

The only thing I really like the idea of is leveling in off camber situations. But I remember someone saying it is too slow for competition?

Oppinions????

[Strange Rover]

Generally the spring rates are too low IMO in the general working range and then they get really, really stiff as you start to compress to the limit (although you can cntrol this by dumping air)

Self leving on off camber stuff doesent really help. It might make you feel more comfortable but if you raise the cog to level yourself then you are more likely to tip over. On off camber stuff you just want to be as low as possible and there are easier ways of doing this (like a winch on the front axle).

Sam

[fatassgq]

Yeah I never thought about the rate of the 'spring' air bag as it fills.
Makes sense though. IMO it would end up being just another bunch of switches you had to think about instead of just driving

[beebee]

IMO it is too costly and sophisticated (obviously for me as I can't spell it) for a comp vehicle. In a comp vehicle, simplicity and dependability goes a long way. Look how often air lockers stuff up let alone a whole airbag system.

I asked airbag man about the increasing spring rate as you compress a bag but they reckon that it is negligible and can be designed around. Unfortunately the one thing that they can't get rid of is the annoying hiss of air constantly escaping.

But by all means try it but be prepared to have lots of fun setting it up

[fatassgq]

Yeah wasn't really wanting to do it myself, just curious cause you don't see many trucks with this set up.
I felt the same thing about complexity. And can't see the benifits over coils for example but was trying to be shown some good points aswell.

Just to satisfy the curiousity!!!!

[big red]

dont think you are allowed to run it in a few comps either

[-Scott-]

I thought about trying a "poor man's" version of this using Polyairs inside soft long travel springs on the rear of the Paj. Keep the bags isolated on-road, then connected for general off-road use, to assist articulation (same principle as the Rangie Air Suspension, but who'd believe I had the idea first?) On a side slope, isolate the two bags then dump the air from the up hill side, to lower the cog.

I wasn't looking to use this for competition, more for general play. I spoke to my friendly SMC rep and was given a rough quote of $250 for holdback valves (must maintain minimum of 5psi in the Polyairs) plus three valves (2 x inflate/deflate, one interconnect/isolate.) This excludes the polyairs and compressor (obviously...)

Gave up on it as a silly idea, primarily because I expect the Polyairs would hole at the wrong time and leave me with too soft suspension.

Cheers,

Scott