kevinl1058 said:
Gumby,
Which bolt on air ride kit are you referring to? I've only heard of three companies that offer kits for the Magnums/300c. Air Runner, Universal Air, and Easy Street. What have you heard on any of these three kits? I was running the easy street struts on my 02 Pt Cruiser and liked the adjustability of the shock, but I'm sure that the Magnum being a heavier car will have different handling and ride characteristics
All 3 of them are basically identical.... in the front they use a strut bag the uses a small air bag and also has limited lift. however Car nutz in oregon used a different design that incorperates shock waves in the front... But shock waves are also poorly designed and should only be used when necessary in my opinion they were designed so that the average joe could back his car/truck with out requiring frame work
To me the design of this kit is a cheap way of mass producing something that should have been engineered per vehicle.
In the front I would build lower bag brackets with a shock mount, then place a 2600lbs bag on top of that then build a tubular upper bag bracket up to what used to be the upper shock mount with another shock mount of the side so you can have a shock that does not limit the bag up or down. And also have a bag that holds enough volume to still support the weight of the LX cars with a nice quality ride....
The PT cruiser your pretty much limited to the pre manufactured cheep way out kits due to the complexity of altering a mac pherson strut suspension safely. I'm not knocking you for buying the kit because I know that suspension limits choices. I just wish these companies would invest a little more thought into the design. I mean I could probably fab up the front mounts in under a day for the magnum and 300. and if I had access to the equipment they do it would probably take me about an hour while using 30$ in material to complete the job....