Air or Coil Springs

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Jafeb

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I have a 96 Mark VIII for 6 months & I need to replace my front air struts... I'm a little torn between Air Springs & Coil Springs... I was told the ride would be different & I won't like the coil springs..... But I really don't want to deal with air springs.... Any suggestions?
 
actually i heard the same stories. but since switching to the coils. there really is no difference, only the auto adjusting. if you ever do the conversion. your going to say to yourself just like i did, "wow... rides exactly the same". do it im telling you will not regret it. plus your saving an ass load of money at the sametime. i wish i did this a year ago.
 
I didn't notice much difference with the coils except my car finally sits at a constant height and I'm pretty sure it corners better. There's a particular road by my house that I feel more comfortable going through the corners, like the car rolls a little less. I guess the coils could be a little stiffer, but it's by no means bad. BTW I have the 1.5 drop kit.
 
Somewhere, on some other make/model forum, someone is asking if he should stay with his OEM coils, or switch to Air Ride. And in that same thread, someone is telling the guy to switch to Air Ride because "It's Better" "It's great", etc.

I too have given this a lot of thought, and then came to the conclussion that the my Mark came with air ride, and it will stay so. I don't care what you guys who have done the conversion say... Steel springs DO NOT make the car ride the same as Air springs. I'm sure you all's butto'ride meter tells you it's the same ride (or better) because you subconciously tell yourself its the same so you can feel better about your conversion, but I'm willing to bet its not the same ride.

If you can't afford to replace your air springs and compressor once every (in your case) 11 years, you can't afford to pay for the repairs on these cars. In case you havent gotten the memo, these cars are expensive to work on and to maintain.

But, to each his own, I guess.
 
I have the stock air ride suspension in my 93. My friend also has a 93 but with the lowered coil springs and man I tell you what I love the way his car drives compared to mine. I vote coils
 
I have coil's on my vii. Cant really tell to much of a difference. My friend has coil springs on his VIII. Lowering kit, he liked the way mine drove and handled so much he went out and got the same thing (but for the VIII) when his system failed.

I like coil springs, but its funny...i'm parting out my VII and probably buying a mark8..i do NOT want to swap out the air suspension this time around.

I had alot of trouble trying to the vii to hook with steel springs and a tremec, on pretty good tires. From what i hear, the air suspension is awesome at hooking up.

Maybe it doesnt so much boil down to what is "right" or what is "wrong" what was once "engineered" or "re-engineered" its all a matter of preferece.

Whos driving it, what are they doing with it, and where do they want it to be?

Thats all that matters. Everything else is just random babble back and forth from the "purists" or the "converts"
 
It is indeed a budget thing. Of course the ride will be the same, your replacing an aged sir strut and a worn shock absorber with a new inferior system.

Lets put it this way. Those who have replaced with NEW OEM air struts have all said how much BETTER it is than the old ones. How it handles better and the bumps are gone. This is because not only to the bags wear, but more importantly the integral shock absorber is also shot.

Oddly those who go to coil usually say it feels the same. Those who go with lowered coil kits say it handles better though - but nothing about the ride quality. Should they not all exclaim how much smoother or better it is. Its because its not better, but it is a bit cheaper.

The ultimate experiment would be to install new air struts, drive for a week then swap in new coils and truly get an idea of how things are. Generally replacing anything old and worn with anything new *should* be a marked improvement and generally those who say coils are better are stating the obvious since they have new shock absorbers.

And like said above, its not like you do this every year or even every five years. Odds are you will do this once and not even own the car the next time they need replacement. That is if you go with new OEM and not some off brand crap or remans.

So then the primary motive is how much ya wanna spend, not only now but later. A pair of new OEM struts, about $600. Install and your done. Compressor could fail later, etc. With coils you are done with really no future costs like the compressor.

Keep in mind too that although the rear bags last a long time, a lot longer than the fronts, you may need to replace them. If you go with coils in the fronts and your rears leak, what do you do? Your air-ride is now disabled permanently since it will error-out when trying to level the front. You rear bags will never fill up again - one leak and you will have to coil those too. It really is best to go coil on all four - factor that into the conversion cost".

I like the air-ride, the auto-leveling and the Module VIII I have installed that lets me raise and lower at will while keeping all the automatic air-ride functions intake - like highway lowering. Do I have problems at times? yes Is it a novelty? Maybe
 
Having driven and ridden in air and coil gen 1s... I don't think there's enough of a difference in ride quality or handling to care. I haven't driven a lowered coil car. To me it boils down to "do I want a nifty air ride suspension, or do I never want to screw with fixing an air ride suspension again?" I chose the latter for my car, but if I had more money to play with I'd choose the former.
 
I can tell you for a fact that coil springs do not match up to new struts, especially when it comes to the front.

I think it is indeed a case of coil springs being compared to blown air struts. If you are replacing 9-14 year old air struts and not getting a huge improvement in ride quality, then there is no improvement really. Just something that ain't broke anymore.

I love the ride of a properly maintained air ride, and I also do a lot of long distance travel in my cars. Nothing like loading the car up with luggage, turning it on, and watching the whole thing just level itself out. :D
 
If you don't buy the coil conversion there is something wrong with you. Sure, you could Fix Or Repair Daily the air suspension like me, or you could end the hassle once and for all by doing coil overs. Its a hard descision, good luck with that.
 
Must be something wrong with us Air Ride lovers... Hmm.. I wonder what that could be?


Oh yeah. I remembernow. We LIKE the air ride. It's not the run of the mill Coilover suspension, and it rides NICE! If I wanted a cornering car, I'd get me a porsche.

:p
 
I like the air ride myself. Never had problems with the air ride in any of my Mark VIII's, replaced the front struts one time on my 95 LSC with gen 2 ones and that's the extent of my air ride costs...
 
Lugi20 said:
If you don't buy the coil conversion there is something wrong with you. Sure, you could Fix Or Repair Daily the air suspension like me, or you could end the hassle once and for all by doing coil overs. Its a hard descision, good luck with that.
Click to expand...


If you are having daily problems with your air ride, then you are doing something seriously, seriously wrong.

I have never had any hassle with the air ride. Just did a full service after 9 years of getting beaten up by NY roads, and haven't had a problem since.
 
I have 3 Mark VIII's and I have coils on 2 of them.

The air ride is great while it last. It is much cheaper to replace the bags with coils.

I would recommend that if you don't want to keep throwing money into the air ride to do a coil swap.

The ride is not that much different, actually the 1.5 lower conversion will handle much better. The standard is firmer but still very nice.

It's up to you as to what yo want to do but personally my opinion is once the air ride starts to go on these older cars and if you are not worried about keeping it stock. Go with the conversion and save the money that the air ride will end up costing you.

The air ride is nice while it last but it will cost you to keep the system running.
 
I will openly admit that the only reason I'm planing on switching to coilds is because of the cost of repairing and maintaning the airide. I think the airides great, if it's working.
 
Yeah I put off buying a compressor for quite some time. I would let it air up and then turn off the air ride. My bags would hold air for a while then sometimes just deflate. If I left the air ride on my ass end would be in the air. Did I want to keep the air ride, sure, but switching to coils was no big deal. Honestly I don't drive the car enough to pour a lot of money into it. Any extended trips and I take the Trailblazer. But it's nice to climb in the Mark and gun it around town. And to me it feels a bit more stable in corners with the coils. But like it was said above, it's hard to compare 11 year old air struts with brand new coilovers.
 
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