the both have there pro's and con's, in my opinion, hydro's with all the accumulators and chargers they are better in my opinion, but air ride is simpler to install. if you get it right they both ride good ,but if you get it wrong then they both suck.............oh ya, many batteries and oil = fire, another consideration.
AIR RIDE - rides on a cloud of air less room lost to components almost no maintenance once installed correctly limited hopping unless dbl ported and big valves/line if running scuba/bottle only, heavy switch finger = $$$$ refills HYDROZ - coils provide jittry, ride less give batteries/pumps take lots of room daily charging batteries gets old sometimes maintenance of inner seals sometimes a pain in the ass prone to electrical sparkage/fires with heavy hitting always good for hopping very quiet and good for sneak attack switch hitting/dragging both have pros and cons, hydroz have been around alot longer, but bags have progressed by "leaps and bounds" LITERALLY!!!<!-- google_ad_section_end -->
thanks all. just getting some ideas. still not sure whether i want anything adjustable or if i should just lower it. I'm not interested in hopping just want to have the option of slamming it at will.
I love hydraulics. I think they are cool...and definately the more "traditional" set up. With that said, airride has many more benefits. One of the major benefits is the maintenance and the amount of space required. if you just want up and down i would go air. less space, less work, and alot more resources for info/research.
busted line with air= air all over your car busted line with hydros= hydraulic fluid on your car both can hop..air just takes alot more..I dont really care for hydros but they can be cool for 3 wheelin and hoppin up crensaw blvd
what kind of car you talking about? if set up right, hydros will ride way better then air bags. before all the anti-hydro police show up here, which are about worse then the air bag police, i have both set ups and have build all kinds of cars/trucks with both.
i had a non hamb daily driver with juice...it was a light car originally set to hop with 1.5 ton springs in each corner....with accumulators it rode decent (like i said, it was set up to hop originally)..Im still a hydros guy. Its all in maintanance with hydros....well anything i guess.one other pro i didnt see yet is height...a cylinder even on top of an axle with lift higher than a bag of similar setting
been there a bunch of times...haha i got tired of bottoming out on everything....yet i use to drag that daily every chance i could...weird-good thing it was a disposable car...haha
That how I run , on the deck. I only lift it to clear obstacles. Then its back to the ground. well not this far
You opened up a can of worms w/this.Going to get more opinions than you can count. Both do have pros and cons that is for sure. I did my 1'st bag job in 94, but before that I did alot of juice stuff, and you can make juice cars ride better than bags w/no problems. Most juice guys just don't take the time or know what the hell they are doing when it comes to ride quality, (And that can be said for alot of bagged rides as well). Most juice guys just want to hop or "3 wheel". Both of those are like a jerk off contest...something I just don't care about, and never want to see. Seen more junk air ride stuff than junk juice stuff to be honest. Then again I'm a picky sum a bitch when it comes to adjustable suspension. You can do some really cool stuff w/either it just depends on how you set it up.
Well you said yourself you don't really want to hop. If you just want to cruise around with a low car go with bags. And yes bags do ride nicer in most of the time.
do a nice cantilever setup or bag on bar setup and your ride quality will be awesome bag on bar is rougher but can be smooth with the right attention...been baggin and juicing rides for 10yrs in my opinion bags are nicer cleaner smoother
If ride quality is all your after, besides being able to slam it, bags are the cheaper of the two wit the least amount of maintenance. Just remember if you want to drag, you have to set up the system so the bag still has some air in it when dragging. Letting bags ride on the bump stops will cost you a lot in bag replacements!
I have had several rides with juice and a few with bags. They both have their advantages. If good parts are used and set up properly, either work very well and will need next to no maintenance.
I can't say anything for Hydro as I have never built or used them. Bags are light and clean. I know you said no hopping is in the plan, however... Depending on the lines and valves etc... you can set up a can on Nos inline and since the NOS expands faster than the air it will make it pop up faster. But- depending on the size of line, valves, and weight of car... the difference between a just faster raise or some hop. So far I have only hooked up the nos addition to a scuba tank setup- but in theory it should work fine with a compressor setup as well- if done correctly. I am a scuba diver so I used to get the tanks filled for free at a local dive shop. Then the guy closed his shop and retired and he offered me the compressor- just stopped doing tank setups so he sold it... stupid on my part. Keep kicking myself for that one.
Check these guys out for Hydro's. Can answer lots of questions and build very high quality stuff made to ride nice and be maintenance free, not hop your lowlow. yo!!
it pisses me off, i think that each type belongs on certain things, i just always picture hydos on 60's cars and bags on early 50's cars and such. i just think of bill hines and the buddah buggy, classic aircraft hydro setup. and somebody like gambino using airbags. i personally like hydros but thats just me. they feel more traditional.