Seeing that it has been over a year since installing my air suspension I figured it was time to give an update on the setup and my thoughts on the driving experience.
Air Force Suspension
There have been zero issues with the struts/bags other than the popping sound coming from the front right strut. I feel this can be fixed but based on the fact that LeighANidas has the same issue with a different setup, it’s not an Air Force Suspension specific problem. I checked all of the components every six months for loosening hardware, wear and tear, etc. and everything checked out ok.
A few areas of the design that could be improved upon are:
- The location of dampening force adjustment is located on top of the strut and changed with an allen key. Neither the front nor rear is adjustable after being installed. It would be nice if the adjustment was moved to the bottom of the shock like some other coilovers that I have seen.
- There is a cutout for the air fitting on the lower portion of the rear bag mount but there is not enough clearance for a wrench to tighten the fitting when the bag is installed on the car. In order to install the fitting the bag had to be off the car and placed the on its side.
- The upper mount of the rear bag is held into place with set screws. This was a very difficult task having minimal clearance for the allen wrench when tightening these during install.
Accuair e-Level / i-Level
All of the components are of high quality. The eXo mounts made mounting the air compressors, ECU, and VU4 manifold a breeze. The touch pad doesn’t feel cheap and has nice button feel. Response is immediate when changing preset heights and manually changing each corner. The i-Level’s connectivity is perfect some days but hit or miss on others. Having this feature made it easier when setting up ride heights because you can change the height outside of the car while taking your measurements.
Having the ability to adjust ride height has its advantages but sometimes find it to be annoying. I no longer keep the controller on the preset driving height after having some issues with the car exhausting too much air in one corner while trimming and/or driving, (this led to some impromptu fender work with my 4 iron during a photoshoot last weekend). This may be due to the sensor arms not having the full desired travel range but cannot say for sure. They recommend 2.75” but mine is closer to 2.00-2.25”. Currently set my ride height starting with my preset and then dial it in by using bag pressure readings. Having been on air for over a year I know what height my car is by looking at bag pressures and beleive it or not having a full tank or empty tank of gas changes these numbers.
Highly recommend purchasing the Zaetech Digital Pressure Gauge since the e-Level system only monitors ride height. You can hit a preset height but have a large pressure difference between each front bag and/or each rear bag, which I like to call “cross loading” resulting in a not so comfortable ride. When the pressures are closer to one another the ride is very nice.
Driving Impressions
The suspension is a bit softer than stock and does not have much rebound when going over large bumps. Mine is a 2010 with the stiffer/rougher suspension compared to the redesigned suspension on 2012 and up first gens, so I cannot say how it compares to the improved stock suspension. Most people have no idea the car is on air because the ride is so smooth. Not sure if it is just this car or any car where the bag mounts to the lower control arm but this makes for interesting car movement at times. In certain situations when driving over wet lines in the road or when the roads are starting to get icy it feels like it takes a split second for the movement to be translated from the RLCA through the bag into the upper mount, sort of like a sideways whiplash effect. This movement occurs on both stock and
aftermarket wheels.
Overall I am very pleased with bypassing coilovers and going straight to air suspension. Best thing is that the car looks perfect when aired out.
