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Jay Bamrah

Does air suspension ruin road feedback

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so many myths with air, just a question for the air suspension boys out there. Does it numb road feel through the car/steering wheel? In comparison to stock suspension not in comparison to performance coils 

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I’ve no experience of them but there are always plenty of people selling used Gt86 Air suspension, so on that basis I doubt its much good. I assume they go back to springs.

Personally I wouldn’t want to lose my boot to all the gubbins for it and also the extra weight of it all.

Great I suppose if you’re only interested in road use, posing, #stance and shows etc But you don’t get track cars with air ride for good reason.

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I've had air on my car for a couple of years now, i've had a track car in the past (Vx220 Turbo) and have also tracked my gt86 in stock form however these days it's a show/road car.

Specifically in regards to road-feel it feels litterally identical in reality to a low end set of coilovers such as BC BR series, Tein Flex A/Z, etc in that you feel everything you would normally through the steering and body of the car, however the response of it does change depending on the pressure you tend to drive around at.

If you drive at a medium pressure (Most common) it'll feel the same as the above, stiff-ish on bumps, more compliant to road surfaces than stock, etc.

If you drive at a low pressure (adjusting the shock body to be longer) it will feel spongier, softer, you'll be riding on the actual rebound and compression of the struts much more.

If you drive at a high pressure (adjusting the shock body to be shorter) it will feel like you're driving on bricks.

All of these apply to normal coilovers, just replace the word "pressure" with spring rate.

 

Weight wise it's a bit negligable, the actual suspension struts themselves are lighter than a set of coilovers as of course an air spring is considerably lighter than a steel coil spring however the added weight of compressor, tank, etc does offset that and perhaps make it a couple of kg heavier... just install a lighter battery in the car.

Reliability wise like literally ANYTHING when it comes to the car hobby it all depends on the install. In the 2 years that i've had mine I've had one eletrical part of the system fail on me, it was replaced free of charge under it's lifetime warranty by Airlift and it wasn't due to a fault of the install which I did myself - Coincedentally i've also had a set of coilovers utterly fail.. litterally the shrut body totally sheering in half kind of fail in <18 months.. so these things happen with typical suspension as well.

 

 

I'll probably end up tracking my car more in the coming years but it will by no means become a dedicated track car. At the end of the day if you're a mega track driver, you make sure to check your tyre pressures after each session, you probably own a hans device and sparco racing boots then air suspension isn't for you, but if you're the occasional track driver, maybe you're still on stock wheels, and you don't threat about how you can shave off 5 10th's from your lap time but you also like the idea of being able to drive a low car while still being able to go over any speed bump, get up any multi story car park, drive in any boggy grassy field at a car show, etc then just get air suspension if that's what you want or consider air cups if you want coilovers with a "nose lift" feature like modern supercars.

 

Also.. in regards to the "you dont see track cars with air suspension" point - you don't often see dedicated track cars with seat belts, airbags, air conditioning or even windscreens in some cases and.. well those are pretty good features to have on a road car if you ask me!

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16 minutes ago, Samwise said:

you don't often see dedicated track cars with seat belts, airbags, air conditioning or even windscreens in some cases

Oh yes you do. There are varying degrees of dedicated track car and most I see at track days still have AC and Airbags.

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5 minutes ago, Leeky said:

Oh yes you do. Quite the opposite in fact. 

Yeah, unfortunately the harsh reality of it is that there's some VERY unsafe "Track cars" out there.

 

It's a pretty big no-no to have airbags fitted/enabled in a car when using full face helmets for example. They usually cause far more damage or injury than prevent.

Likewise if you're going to use harnesses without a hans device you're also pretty screwed in the event of a crash or if you're only going to fit 4 point harnesses and not a proper 5/6 point to stop submarining

You've either got to have all the race car safety or none or it and rely solely on the road car aspects of it, you can't mix and match them as it just becomes more dangerous than before.

 

If the "track car" consists of a set of cheapy coilovers, some slightly sticky Michilin pilotsport 4's and perhaps some RBF600 brake fluid and you maybe even drive it to work 2-3 times a week all year round... it's not really a dedicated track car.

 

Then again litterally none of the above comes in to the discussion of Air suspension. If OP might be concerned about losing steering feel and litterally have zero intentions of ever rolling a tyre on a track surface.

If the response to "I want to buy air suspension" is something as silly as "Then you shouldn't have bought a GT86" then my arguement to that is "Why didn't you buy a lotus?"

if this same thread were posted on a lotus forum well.. then it would need to be met with a swift backhand.

 

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Im afraid I don't agree. And I mean no disrespect but I think you are confusing a dedicated track car with a race car.

If I go buy a new car straight from the dealer and use it only for track days then thats a dedicated track car. You don’t have to modify it at all.

Porsche 911 GT3’s have Airbags and track days are full of them.

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This is the exact reason I have a used(like new) air setup in the garage ready for my Mini R56. In the uk there is so many opinions flying around RE air, where 90% of those people have never driven a car with it installed.  I’m looking to form my own opinions by installing it and giving it a go, if it’s rubbish I sell it for what I paid for it, but at least I know based on my own experience rather than someone else’s opinion.  Air isn’t all about stretched tyres and 3 piece wheels.  And if it’s any good I will be going for the same setup on my BRZ 

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On 10/8/2021 at 2:59 PM, Tweedbean said:

This is the exact reason I have a used(like new) air setup in the garage ready for my Mini R56. In the uk there is so many opinions flying around RE air, where 90% of those people have never driven a car with it installed.  I’m looking to form my own opinions by installing it and giving it a go, if it’s rubbish I sell it for what I paid for it, but at least I know based on my own experience rather than someone else’s opinion.  Air isn’t all about stretched tyres and 3 piece wheels.  And if it’s any good I will be going for the same setup on my BRZ 

Can you reply once you fit it I would like to hear your opinion 

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On 10/11/2021 at 8:16 PM, Jay Bamrah said:

Can you reply once you fit it I would like to hear your opinion 

Hi I haven't forgotten about this post, I was planning on waiting until I moved to my new house before working on the car, however the house move has been delayed so I've ended up fitting it last weekend.  I am in the process of editing the install video for my youtube channel and will also be doing a first drive reaction video as I can honestly compare it to the previous setups I have had on the same car as previously it had BC coilovers and I have also driven it on stock suspension so I genuinely have something to compare it to unlike others that guess what its like from what they have read somewhere.  On first impressions its a thumbs up, but I want to drive it more before I share my thoughts.  

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21 minutes ago, Tweedbean said:

Hi I haven't forgotten about this post, I was planning on waiting until I moved to my new house before working on the car, however the house move has been delayed so I've ended up fitting it last weekend.  I am in the process of editing the install video for my youtube channel and will also be doing a first drive reaction video as I can honestly compare it to the previous setups I have had on the same car as previously it had BC coilovers and I have also driven it on stock suspension so I genuinely have something to compare it to unlike others that guess what its like from what they have read somewhere.  On first impressions its a thumbs up, but I want to drive it more before I share my thoughts.  

Send me the YouTube link when it’s up pls 

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