My Ride Height > Yours v.epicfail

Last night I was leaving the LA Auto Show when I hit a big dip on the freeway then I heard a PSHHH sound. I looked at my digital gauges and I saw that one corner was losing air quick. I pulled to the side of the road when I realized I blew one of my bags. Since my tires touch the fenders when the car is aired out I couldn't roll the car without a lot of rubbing I couldn't just drive it home. I couldn't get the car towed without breaking anything so I waited until my friend Vinh came to my rescue with some wood planks and tools at around midnight. I was stranded in the ghetto of Long Beach for a few hours.

We built a ramp out of a bunch of wood planks and 2x4's since the car couldn't be lifted up and the bumper was really low. We got it high enough to get the scissor jack underneath to change the wheel out to my stock wheel. Luckily I had a spacer to clear the LS400 brakes. I removed the front bumper and put it in my backseat, hanging out the window. I tried driving down the street on nothing but the shock and the stock wheel didn't rub unless I made a u-turn. Lastly, the splash guard was touching the ground so I had to find something to tie it up. I found a lanyard from AutoFashion that I got from one of the meets and I used that. I eventually made it home driving at 0psi on one corner with no front bumper after 20+ miles. 

[IMG]http://i50.tinypic.com/xeocxi.jpg[/IMG]
Wood ramps

[IMG]http://i47.tinypic.com/t71hck.jpg[/IMG]
Luckily it wasn't raining.

[IMG]http://i45.tinypic.com/2igyruw.jpg[/IMG]
:eek2:

[IMG]http://i48.tinypic.com/2dabyog.jpg[/IMG]
As it sits right now

[IMG]http://i46.tinypic.com/2efuc91.jpg[/IMG]
Ride height all the way home

[IMG]http://i45.tinypic.com/nzj71x.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i50.tinypic.com/2hdbpsp.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i46.tinypic.com/vnmu0j.jpg[/IMG]
Shout out to AutoFashion

People were staring the whole way home because the car was so low with a bumper hanging out the window. :cool:

damnnnnnn 

super sad to hear the bag blew, Mine has rubbed and scared me enough.when I drive low.

 and I had this happen to me at 80+ mhp on the free way, and 3 times total.   and glad to see it didn't break anything else. 

awesome write up at a bad time haha

Sorry to heard this man... but damn is this what you guys with airbags go thru?? glad you could drove back your car home man, you saved some $$$ there from the towtruck, and your friend who came to your rescue in the middle of the night in the guetto, that's what i call real friends!!

dayumm thats insane.. 
sucks what happend. glad your ok. 
 
so does that happen alot to you guys on bags???
 
or is it one of those freak of nature type things?

sorry to hear Chris.. hope it's an easy fix.. atleast nothing else happened..

ouchiess!

I'm glad nothing else was damaged and that you were safe.

lol same thing on CL. sorry for your loss....

Yikes! Sounds like it could have been worse but it wasnt and thats a good thing. However blowin a bag suks. At least you dint damage your ride too much (hopefully) and let us know whats up with your recovery...sorry man.

This is why I run hydraulics...

I'm glad to see you're OK though. I always carry AAA Plus just in case :shrug:

Is your car just straight bag and not coil/bags?

My car is on UAS bags on super blown factory shocks. I didn't want to tow the car because it would probably damage my body kit and exhaust. After I redo my air setup, this should never happen again. I knew the bag was rubbing but I continued to drive low.

Glad you are alright and it wasn't worse.  I got the chills for a second from memories
 
[QUOTE=OCKlasse;288542] 
I'm glad to see you're OK though. I always carry AAA Plus just in case :shrug:
 
[/QUOTE]
 
I wouldn't drive a vip car without having one

HAHAHA@the lanyard!  Sorry to hear what happen Chris.   Hope everything is good.

and this my friends, is why you make sure you can drive full speed on 0psi.
super glad you didnt mess anything up
ive been there with you, i know it sucks!

Damn man, sorry to hear about that. Real good write up and it sounds like you're into solution already. I assume the new and improved show will be back on the road better than ever in no time. Hang in there in the meanwhile:sad:

+1 for aaa plus -- it's saved my ass a few times =X

I feel like blowing a bag could potentially be a serious issue. glad you were able to stay safe and not get hurt.

Why when a vip car needs help, it looses a bumper 0_o

Glad to see you worked things out. Cause I know leaving it behind, and picking it up the next day, was not an option

[QUOTE=gh0st;288576]I feel like blowing a bag could potentially be a serious issue. glad you were able to stay safe and not get hurt.[/QUOTE]
it can be depending on your setup
if you can drive with it aired out, its not a huge problem.

good friend

dang that sucks, good you were able to drive away safely

Holy S**!! Thats some crazy ish right there! Good to know that your homie was able to rescue you and that you guys where able to mcgyver your way home!! I always thought you where on coils + air!! Glad you where ok and hope the car has a speedy recovery!!

That must have been pretty scary. The solution for getting home is pretty funny though! I can just imagine the sight

holy crap man that bites!  Glad you made it home without further damage.

glad u made it home safe dude

Sorry to hear this, glad you got it worked out though.

damnnnn sorry to hear chris...good thing nothing else was damaged.  youre on UAS right?

Wow that sucks. Good thing you was able to get it moved. 

Note to self: Get AAA cuz roads on the East Coast are horrible.


-Smitty

daaamn Chris, that's nuts.  i'll admit blowing bags is a reason i'm hesitant (along with the $$$ issue) about going air.

glad to see you got it home safe and in one (err...2) pieces.

wow that sux . glad you got it back home ok

Any pics of the burst homie?

wow that sucks bro, good thing you made it home safe tho. This only happend because the bag was rubbing/car was dumped? Stuff like this scares me and makes me not want to get air ride

aug i believe its on a Cl thread where he shows it

wish i had mates like this, the ones that will come out to help me in the middle of a night:)
i got stuck in a drive way once, rung everyone and no one came to the rescue. so i had to catch a cab to my parents house and get oldmans truck and a rope.
got my wife to sit in my car and be ready to use brakes, so it didnt roll straight into the truck...pulled it out all good lol:)
now i have nicely bent fuel line trays:)

I remember when this happened to me on my GS. It wasn't fun.  I had to tow the car how because of how low the cylinders went.  No way I was gonna be able to drive it home.  Thats good to know everyone got home safely!

WOW! could have been worse though! i see a lot of gs's are having this rubbing issue
good luck improving your suspension setup

damn, super lucky you made it without a tow! if i blew a bag the body would rest on the tires and id be stuck. AAA and progressive roadside assistance ftw.

[QUOTE=jaynick808;293593] AAA and progressive roadside assistance ftw.[/QUOTE]

Until they mess up your ride and refuse to pay

Thats why you take off the bumper before they show up
And carry pieces of wood too, cause they never seem to have enough of their own

UPDATE: I had all the bags rebuilt shorter and installed new Bilstein Sport shocks. The ride is stiffer and is comparable to coilovers now. Problem is, my "all the way up" height is lower than most peoples' ride height. Also, the front bags still rub when the car is dumped all the way down. This is either because I have RCAs or because I cut holes for my UCAs. There's no point of having air suspension anymore. Although I might play around with where the bag sits on the strut to get more lift. But I am now coilover shopping. =)

[IMG]http://i47.tinypic.com/23wjm8o.jpg[/IMG]

Might as well go back to coilovers.

[IMG]http://i49.tinypic.com/23raeqg.jpg[/IMG]

Front lifted up all the way.

[IMG]http://i45.tinypic.com/2cglmxv.jpg[/IMG]

Rear lifted up all the way.

[IMG]http://i48.tinypic.com/16pd7k.jpg[/IMG]

Gauges.

[QUOTE=chrispy;293888]Problem is, my "all the way up" height is lower than most peoples' ride height.[/QUOTE]

Problem??? That's gangsta LOL not many people can say that =)
At least you can roll how you have it now, but would like to see it on coils

Glad it's back together again at least. Good luck on your hunt for coilovers.

[QUOTE=Brokey33;293893]Problem??? That's gangsta LOL not many people can say that =)[/QUOTE]
right?
 
but at this point i think coilovers are a good call. if you're not getting lift out of the air it's really not worth the potential headaches.
 
i'm still a little in the dark about the 2gs suspension (inverted spring or whatever) but do the cups kits work?

I still  have my jics for sale! I will get rid of them for dumb cheap. Make an offer

pmme a price and lemme know about suspension i might have a guy rdy to buy them 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Chris, this is one of the reasons I never went to air, although it looks good when slammed, I'm more for the practical application and functionality. I really don't think you will lose much from the look of the car, when going back to coilovers?:shrug:

off topic, but your scaras are so hawt.

sorry to hear bout all the probs.  id sell the bags and get the cups if i were you. cheapest real fix

Whoa!

I was thinking about having my bags rebuilt too. How much did they take out to make your bags shorter? I want to do mine but I definitley cant have those heights as my all the way up. Well I could but I dont want to replace front bumpers and oil pans every other week. East Coast roads suck. :smiley-rofl:

Just to clarify, the car only lost so much lift because I'm running other suspension pieces and brackets to get the car even lower. With standard brackets on the shocks it would get pretty decent lift. And the bags shouldn't rub with my setup so I think it's the SS kits I have.

Damn dude, that's dedication to stay down at ground level 

You just pretty much shot down everyone's hopes for your kit hahaha

[QUOTE=Smitty;294046]Whoa!

I was thinking about having my bags rebuilt too. How much did they take out to make your bags shorter? I want to do mine but I definitley cant have those heights as my all the way up. Well I could but I dont want to replace front bumpers and oil pans every other week. East Coast roads suck. :smiley-rofl:[/QUOTE]

I think regular bag is around 9" inflated. Mine are around 7" or 7.5".

[IMG]http://i48.tinypic.com/6p9i0o.jpg[/IMG]

They are $50 each to resleeve.

[QUOTE=Wringo;293996]Chris, this is one of the reasons I never went to air, although it looks good when slammed, I'm more for the practical application and functionality. I really don't think you will lose much from the look of the car, when going back to coilovers?:shrug:[/QUOTE]

Thanks Wringo, air suspension is very practical, but it just didn't work out for what I wanted to use it for. I'm on the look out for a cup kit now. =)

[QUOTE=chrispy;294173]Thanks Wringo, air suspension is very practical, but it just didn't work out for what I wanted to use it for. I'm on the look out for a cup kit now. =)[/QUOTE]
Platinum ViP is running a special on their phantom cup kit right now...
 
[URL]http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3434[/URL]
 
Good luck man.

Time for juice! :biggthumpup:

[QUOTE=OCKlasse;294212]Time for juice! :biggthumpup:[/QUOTE] haha, beat me to it.  i was going to edit my post and say oooor you can alays go for the often imitated/never duplicated hydro and just skate don't worry about ish skat it.

damn bro good thing you got great friends that helped you out, damn that'st the big reason i only ride low on stocks, don't ride that low because of that scenario...