Time For Change

Recently the MF projects cars, Rocky’s 2009 Mazda 3 and my 2009 Mazdaspeed 3 have undergone some suspension changes. We just switched from coilovers to air suspension; in the form of bag over coilover. There has always been a great debate on static verses air suspension, while both sides have their pros and cons for the argument. Most people who are for static, meaning on a coilover system, such as BC Racing or Stance coilovers, argue that because the person is always stuck at a certain lowered ride height that they have more “street cred” or more “hardcore” or even more track oriented than those with air suspension.

While, the air suspension individuals actual are not against being static, but on the other hand are the more knowledgeable ones to what air suspension can really do for them.  It is truly a misconception that air suspension will cost you thousands of dollars, but in reality the most basic air system starts at $1000 and gradually increase with how high-tech you want to be with that system. It is true, however, that having air is the easy way to living the lowered life style without certain risks. But, there are those that ride just as low as those who are static with their air suspension, they just have the option to “air up” if they really wanted to. Nevertheless, I wanted to point out that you should not disregard air suspension, but also appreciate the work it took to get their suspension, lines, compressors, tanks, gauges, and management to work for their platform.

Thanks to Bag Riders for providing our air necessities and technical advise. They provided us with Universal Air Suspension bags and Accuair analog mangement; almost everything to get the job done. In addition to those items, the buddies at All Day Fabrication provided us with lower rear arms, which allowed us to run any bag of our choice and the ability to lay frame in the rear. To finish the job we went to Unlimited Auto Craft, who provided farther technical knowledge and installation of our air suspension.

Universal Air Suspension air bags. For the front we went with Aero Sport bags and the rear with Air House 1 bags.

The Accuair VU4 valve manifold. Helps inflate and deflate air bags, and provides reliability in operation.

AVS switch box controller.

All Day Fabrication Lower Rear Arms. This allows you to run any bag of your choice and will allow you to tuck wheel in the rear. Just like the name says, this replacement arm is design to sit lower than stock, so in turn allowing you to go lower on your air setup. Please be advised, you can not run a rear sway bar anymore with these arms.

5 gallon air tank. Air tanks come in all shapes and sizes; just choose the one that fits your air setup.

Viair 444c air compressor. This is what determines how fast new air is refilling your air tank. Some people choose to go with dual compressors to prevent over use of one, which will cause the compressor to burn out. Thus, having two compressors will split the load up. Like us, you could try one compressor and always upgrade to another one in the future.

The front Aero Sport bag assembled with the brackets, which allows you to directly replace the spring and attach the air bag directly to the coilover.

The rear Air House 1 bags assembled with the All Day Fabrication Lower Rear Arms.

The PSI gauges for both fronts and rears. This will allow you to keep track of what pressure is in what bag. We put the gauges by the cigarette lighter to give it that OEM look.

This looks like a mess, but it really isn’t. Each line is color coded, which allowed us to easily know which line is what. Taking apart the interior and rear seats was super easy.

The trunk setup before the wooden false floor got carpeted and the stock trunk floor mat was placed over that.

Here you have how the All Day Fabrication Lower Rear Arms with the Universal Air Suspension Air House 1 bags look installed on the car. They stand out a lot and are very beef.

A few finished product pictures. Had more time to take pictures on my temporary set of 18×10 +25 Cosmis Racing MR7. You can see more pictures of that over at: Weekend in Sin City

Again, thank you to Bag Riders for providing our air necessities and technical advise, and All Day Fabrication for providing us with lower rear arms. Lastly, shout out to Unlimited Auto Craft for the installation help and knowledge.