Air Suspension Vs Coilovers Vs Springs

One of the most popular modifications for car enthusiasts is lowering the vehicle. From the factory, the ride height of a vehicle is designed for maximum function and safety. This usually allows for some wiggle room when it comes to lowering your vehicle.

You can usually lower any vehicle at least 1” without running into any issues. With adequate modifications and planning, you can lower your car 2-3” with coil-overs and up to 5-8” with air suspension.

Today, we are going to look the differences of air suspension, coilovers and lowering springs to give you a better idea of which is going to be best for your build.

Lowering Springs

The most popular way to lower a vehicle is going to be with lowering springs. Lowering springs are the most budget friendly and easiest to install lowering system on this list, making it no surprise that most car enthusiasts start off with lowering springs as their first mod. Lowering springs are direct replacement springs for your factory components, but with a different spring rate. These can be purchased in various setups and spring rates, depending on what the goal of your build is. If you are on a budget and do not care for adjustability, a set of lowering springs will be a great mod to lower your vehicle and significantly cheaper than coilovers and air suspension.

Coilovers

If you are wanting to have the ability to adjust your ride height or fine tune your suspension, coilovers are a great upgrade. Coilovers allow for adjustability via a spanner wrench, so you will have to remove the wheel to adjust your suspension in most cases. Many road racers and drifters use coilovers to get the perfect suspension setup while having the ability to keep it adjusted exactly as needed for their race. Coilovers can range anywhere from $500 on the cheap side to over $3,000 for a fully built race-spec coilover kit.

Air Suspension

Air suspension is going to offer on-the-fly adjustability while upgrading your current ride quality. While it is the most expensive suspension system on this list, the benefits you get from air suspension are well worth it.

Air suspension replaces the factory springs, struts, and shocks with air struts. These air struts have rubber bladders mounted to the struts that inflate and deflate to raise and lower the vehicle. You can adjust your ride height at any time, and with some advanced kits, from outside of your vehicle with your phone. Air suspension installs can be time consuming, but this is going to be the best suspension for your vehicle if it is in your budget.

Which Is Best For My Build?

Finding the best suspension kits for your build is going to depend on budget, goals of vehicle, and personal preference. You will want to first establish a budget as this will negate some of the more expensive options. From there, start thinking of what you want to accomplish with your build. If you are going to race your car, you will need to take this into consideration to choose the best option.

High-Quality Air Suspension From AccuAir

If you are ready to take your vehicle's suspension to the next level, literally, AccuAir has everything you need to build out a high-quality air suspension. From our exclusive air suspension compressors to our industry-leading air management systems, you can get everything you need for your vehicle, all in one place. Need help selecting the right components, reach out to our tech team and let our air suspension experts help you build out your next air suspension kit.