from the looks of it. being that is has that plug and play box that has the compressor and valves in it. i believe that is the AIM setup. AIM being the brand/company that makes the kit. and i would not even suggest AIM products to my worst enemy. they are terrible quality and they have horrible customer service.

 

Kenny, do you know of any good bay area shops that would do some real good legit work installing these kits? I have a friend with a 2007 BMW 550i that wants to bag his car. I know this isn't a bimmer forum but you seem very knowledgeable with air suspension so i'd thought i'd ask you. He's aware of the maintenance work but is willing to pay to get it installed and get maintenance work done right for reasonable prices. Also any recommendations on which kit to get?

 

the kit i would recommend is the one i put together in the second post.

the closest shops that i can recommend from personal experience are down in fresno area. i have never worked with any of the shops in the bay area. when i was real big into air ride there wasnt really any bay area shops that knew much about doing installs or that did them correctly. so i never did business with them regardless of it being an install or just buying a part

 

what causes leaks?
is it just poor installation? or over time bags, lines, etc really start to leak?

 

poor installation will definatly cause leaks. if you dont seat the airline all the way into the fittings or if the ends of the airline werent cut perfectly straight.

also after a long while the valves can start to leak from calcium buildup. which is caused because when the compressors fill the tank up it creates moisture in the air that its pumping into the tank and you can push water through the lines and the water will then settle and dry up on the valve internals which causes calcium buildup and wont let the valve close all the way. and in some cases it can even cause them to stick open or closed. they do sell valve rebuild kits though for super cheap. or you can just take them apart and clean them real good.

also most of the compressors these days have check valves on the end of the leader hoses that come off of them so that air doesnt push back out of the tank into the compressor. and those check valves do go bad after a while so you might fill the tank up and in the morning the tank will be empty. then you look for air leaks in all the fittings and cant find any. its most likely that check valve. the way to check that is to fill the tank up using the compressor and then unscrew the leader hose from the compressor leaving it attatched to the tank. hold your thumb over the open end for about 30 seconds and then remove it. if you hear a burst of air come out of the leader hose then the check valve is bad. this wont happen though for about 1.5-2 years of use and it also depends on what pressure switch you are using. if you are using a 200psi pressure switch then it will happen faster than if you are using a 145 or a 160 pressure switch

bags themselves leaking is very common. on a really old bag that has been weathered can start to crack because the rubber will start to get warn out. but that wont really cause a leak. more of a full out bag failure. but that could take years. and if the bag is rubbing on something then it can cause rips or leaks. if you notice the bag is rubbing on ANYTHING, even if its not metal, CHANGE THE BAG AND FIX WHATEVER IS MAKING IT RUB. do not think oh it doesnt look to bad it will be fine. because i promise you have a bag failure at some point and it will most likely be while you are driving. which is very dangerous. there really isnt anything that the bags should be rubbing on though on the G. if it is rubbing on something then it was installed wrong.

 

can you save space by installing a smaller tank?
Pros vs Cons of having a smaller tank?

 

^ you save space, but have less 'play time' before the compressor(s) have to kick on to refill the tank.

 

^ what he said....


you could easily run a 3 gallon tank and be fine. and if you have compressors that have a 100% duty cycle then it really doesnt matter if they kick on a lot.

pros

its smaller and you save space
its cheaper

cons

you run out of air quicker and your compressors have to kick on sooner(not really a big deal though, i wouldnt be concerned about it)

 

Thanks for the info. What makes the car raise and lower fast? I dont care for the "hop" i would want it to be smooth when raising and lowering.

 

valve and air line sizes make the speed.

big valves/line = fast
small valves/line = slow

for the G i would say 1/4 inch valves and line.

if you want to hop. which i dont see why anyone would do that in a G then run 1/2 valves and lines and 200psi pressure switch.

 

all my valves were installed next to the bags, but the car still felt soft when taking turns

 

^ shocks with adjustable dampening can help out as well.

 

What are people doing to damping the noise and vibration from the compressor? I have two viair 400c, and it’s crazy loud!

 

i had mounted mine on wood + amplifier pro from second skin, you can still hear it though but not as bad

 

turn the music up.