This is the front airbag or air spring assembly prior to being installed. The lower steel plate will ride on the front lower A-arm, while the upper mount will be attached to the K-member. The air spring obviously mounts in between the two. |
To properly install the front air springs, it was necessary to remove the coil spring from the struts. According to Air Ride, its air spring kit is compatible with any bolt-in Mustang struts, however, you may have to replace the front struts to find the best combination of ride and handling. |
After removing the driver-side coilover spring and strut, we installed the lower mounting plate. This required us to drill three holes into the lower A-arm. The fourth hole is for the antiroll bar end link. |
We attached the upper bracket to the airbag along with the supplied fitting and mounting stud. |
Baggin' It
Some may be wondering if airbag or air springs are potentially dangerous. Not so, says Bret Voelkel, president of Air Ride Technologies. "Our airbags are made to our specs by Firestone, the world's largest air spring manufacturer. They are used on large semi-trucks, off-road equipment, luxury cars, and also in industrial machinery, conveyer systems, and load stabilizers. We recently sold an air spring to replace a unit that had been in service for 17 years. It was replaced because the end plate had rusted out. Failure can happen, but it's extremely rare. We require the vehicle to have at least 2 inches of ground clearance when the air spring is fully deflated."
And with that myth quelled, we can move on to the performance of such a system.
Associate Editor Steve Baur has sampled a few Air Ride-equipped vehicles in the past, and he had this to say in our March '05 issue: "Air Ride Technologies is probably known best for dropping classic and musclecars, and we got to sample a few of those. Our favorite was the '69 Mustang that belonged to Voelkel. His mean-looking musclecar sported a 351 with a ProCharger, a Tremec five-speed trans, and of course, an air suspension.
"The vintage Pony was the first car we sampled out on the track, and not having had a previous opportunity to push an older Mustang in the turns like we planned to there, we didn't know what to expect. If you weren't looking at the dash, though, you never would have noticed you were in a 34-year-old car. It handled just as good as the current models. Cornering was flat, firm, and without a lot of drama, which allowed me to focus on car control and finding the next apex."
He continued, "Over the course of the day, we were able to make numerous road course laps, as well as run slalom and 60-0 braking tests. The thing we noticed most about the air suspension was how flat the cars (and trucks) cornered. The suspension's obligatory drop in ride height lowered the center of gravity, which helped greatly, and rebound and damping were extremely smooth but firm. The vehicles had a cloud-like ride, but were unwavering when it came to turning. After the event, we confessed to being born again. The air suspensions really do work in a high performance/racing application."
Voelkel added, "Changing air pressure and shock valving alters spring rate and how soft or firm the car will ride. There's adjustability to optimize street and track driving, and you can get the best of both worlds because you can change the rates so easily. If you have enough time and patience, you can tune a coil-spring or leaf-spring suspension, but it takes a lot more work to do it. The fact that you can lower the car and improve the looks is a happy coincidence."