Make a donation

Author Topic: Air suspension help needed please  (Read 2004 times)

Offline dazza p

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 4
  • -Receive: 0
  • Posts: 126
    • Email
Air suspension help needed please
« on: April 25, 2014, 07:52:45 pm »
Guys n gals I'm looking into purchasing air suspension in the very near future, looking for some helpful info on them, like kits V2 elevel what you guys would recommend, whither to run two compressors or not, size of tank. Sorry for sounding a little stoopid on this  :ashamed:



Darren
« Last Edit: April 27, 2014, 10:49:35 pm by dazza p »

Offline dazza p

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 4
  • -Receive: 0
  • Posts: 126
    • Email
Re: Air suspension help needed please
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2014, 10:47:17 pm »
Any help on this guys please



Darren

Offline xjay1337

  • Just look at my post count
  • ******
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 15
  • -Receive: 377
  • Posts: 4916
  • My Ride: http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,88399.0.html
Re: Air suspension help needed please
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2014, 11:13:00 pm »
Either E level or Paddle kit depending on your budget. V2 seems pointless to me.
5 gallon tank is pretty standard size and fine for most people... always go for dual compressors, one is so slow in comparison.. nothing worse than compressors going on and on for ever.

Most important thing is to install it all and do a thorough leak down test.
Mine does not drop perceptibly after a week solid. Ensure hoses are securely mounted and not in the way of wheels etc.

It's all down to your budget ultimately as to what you go for.

Have a look online there's lots of information as it's a pretty common platform for air ride.

Offline ekaJ

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 15
  • -Receive: 2
  • Posts: 119
    • Email
Re: Air suspension help needed please
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2014, 12:17:02 am »
I disagree about V2 being pointless.

It is far better than using manual paddles, not quite as advanced as the E-Level but is a perfect middle of the road product.

The presets are so useful and all the info is displayed on one controller rather than having annoying guages.

Offline xjay1337

  • Just look at my post count
  • ******
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 15
  • -Receive: 377
  • Posts: 4916
  • My Ride: http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,88399.0.html
Re: Air suspension help needed please
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2014, 12:36:41 am »
The only real benefit is presets.
It's still a pressure based system. So you still need to manually set up different heights for different uses (eg heavily loaded boot and what not).

£1600 for a basic paddle kit or £2250 for a basic v2 kit, £600 for some presets when you can just set your own pressures manually? It's a half measure, either go the whole hog and buy E-level or save the money and get the basic kit.

Air gauges are a very, very good thing IMO. I have E level and want some pressure gauges because that is one downside of E-level, you don't know your pressures. However, all being well, you don't ever need to.

The other option is accuair switchspeed which is E-level minus the ride height sensor stuff... so you still get your 3 presets and a nice touchpad to adjust it all on.

The V2 manifold looks pretty shonky as well to be honest. It's like a Gamecube.



Offline arris

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 1
  • -Receive: 7
  • Posts: 369
    • Email
Re: Air suspension help needed please
« Reply #5 on: May 05, 2014, 07:57:36 am »
I have v2 and disagree.

I think it's ideal having pre-sets and rise on start.

I thought switch speed didn't have presets?

Fair enough e-level is height based, but amount of people having issues and fact you for one have the auto leveling while driving turned on kinda makes it seem pointless spending the extra.

Regards to having to set up your presets on v2 it takes what 10 minutes on a a job as big as fitting air ride is hardly a lot of effort.

I also didn't like the fact of elevel not showing me pressures.

Offline dazza p

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 4
  • -Receive: 0
  • Posts: 126
    • Email
Re: Air suspension help needed please
« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2014, 08:52:22 pm »
Cheers guys, bit of controversy here on this. E level I was also looking at but have heard people having issues with it, jay did you not have problems breaking sensors ?




Darren

Offline Joshy

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 1
  • -Receive: 6
  • Posts: 295
Re: Air suspension help needed please
« Reply #7 on: May 05, 2014, 09:16:55 pm »
I think Elevel and V2 are both brilliant, depending on your situation. I rarely have more than 1 person with me at any time, so it seemed pointless spending the extra money on the Accuair management as i don't think i'd need the height based stuff, and i probably wouldn't benefit from it as much as someone who has a car where the load changes regularly.

The V2 seemed the perfect option for me. The 8 presets seems like a good idea for me as like i said, i rarely have more than 1 passenger with me. 1, for all down, 1 for ride height, 1 for speed bump height. That leaves 5 presets for whatever you want. So in theory i could have a driving height one thats set for when my car is loaded ect. I'd say the only downside to the V2 (in my opinion) is that the controller isn't that great. The Accuair controller is definitely the better of the two, but for the extra money in my case, it definitely wasn't worth it.

After having just switches and gauges in my corsa, presets are the way forward. I got really annoyed at trying to get the pressures right in each bag by looking at my gauges before i set off.

Offline dazza p

  • Always Involved
  • ****
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 4
  • -Receive: 0
  • Posts: 126
    • Email
Re: Air suspension help needed please
« Reply #8 on: May 05, 2014, 10:11:23 pm »
I think Elevel and V2 are both brilliant, depending on your situation. I rarely have more than 1 person with me at any time, so it seemed pointless spending the extra money on the Accuair management as i don't think i'd need the height based stuff, and i probably wouldn't benefit from it as much as someone who has a car where the load changes regularly.

The V2 seemed the perfect option for me. The 8 presets seems like a good idea for me as like i said, i rarely have more than 1 passenger with me. 1, for all down, 1 for ride height, 1 for speed bump height. That leaves 5 presets for whatever you want. So in theory i could have a driving height one thats set for when my car is loaded ect. I'd say the only downside to the V2 (in my opinion) is that the controller isn't that great. The Accuair controller is definitely the better of the two, but for the extra money in my case, it definitely wasn't worth it.

After having just switches and gauges in my corsa, presets are the way forward. I got really annoyed at trying to get the pressures right in each bag by looking at my gauges before i set off.


Cheers, sound a bit like myself on the passanger front I've very rarely got anymore than one passanger


Darren

Offline xjay1337

  • Just look at my post count
  • ******
  • Thank You
  • -Given: 15
  • -Receive: 377
  • Posts: 4916
  • My Ride: http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,88399.0.html
Re: Air suspension help needed please
« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2014, 12:02:54 am »
I have v2 and disagree.

I think it's ideal having pre-sets and rise on start.

I thought switch speed didn't have presets?

Fair enough e-level is height based, but amount of people having issues and fact you for one have the auto leveling while driving turned on kinda makes it seem pointless spending the extra.

Regards to having to set up your presets on v2 it takes what 10 minutes on a a job as big as fitting air ride is hardly a lot of effort.

I also didn't like the fact of elevel not showing me pressures.


Again is it worth £600 extra?

You are right switch speed doesn't have presets it controls the speed of the valves, got confused in my tired state.

I have only had issues with breaking a few sensors due to unfortunately hitting things under the car. This is not a fault of the kit this is just what happens when you run a car hard everyday like i do.
 I've had the kit fitted for 11 months now and done 15k with it so far... aside from 2 broken sensors, which can be said of anything, it's been faultless.

like i said the pressures is a nice thing to have but with everything being well you do not need to know your pressures because what matters is vehicle height and pressures are not an accurate indication of height. however even i can admit it's a nice-to-have mainly for incase of a ride height sensor breaking.

I have the active monitor turned off personally because i don't personally want it continuously adjusting. but i know that no matter what my loading or no matter how much weight i have i can guarantee that my car will be at a certain height time and time again and that is worth it.

i stick by what i said, i went for e-level because i could afford it, if i was buying air again and perhaps couldn't stretch i'd buy a paddle kit with the biggest lines/valves to make it quick as normal paddle valves can be a bit slow and tricky to set.

the v2 system just looks a bit tacky in my opinion that's no offense to people who have it but personally the manifold, controller etc look naff.

 honestly i'd probably go with switch speed and upgrade to e-level as it's a nice easy upgrade. switchspeed benefits from a nice control panel and both 2 and 4 way control (individual and both front and rear) so you can set your pressures quickly.

at end of day if you can afford it buy e level if you can't buy a system that you want. makes no ends to me