Airbag Selection

[sacred cow Member Find all posts View Profile Close sacred cow]

What are the factors that need to be considered when selecting the brand of airbags, i.e. Firestone Coil-Rite versus Polyair? What are the main differences between them?

Thanks, Glenn

[leachy_9 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close leachy_9]

Re: Airbag Selection

The main difference is the type of fitting where the air hose connects to the bag. Polyairs have a barb type fitting, where as Coil-rites have a push-in air fitting moulded into the top of the bag. My preference is the the Coil-rites.

Leachy

[TheGilletts Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TheGilletts]

Re: Airbag Selection

Hubby and I are looking at putting airbags in the Prado...
Our situation is that we do alot of highway kms, but we also go 4x4ing on average once a fortnight (usually single day trips)...
We would like that bit more clearance, but would also like smooth highway travel...
Who would recommend airbags? and if so, what types have been good four you lot???
Thanks in advance...

[MDS69 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MDS69]

Re: Airbag Selection

Hubby and I are looking at putting airbags in the Prado...
Our situation is that we do alot of highway kms, but we also go 4x4ing on average once a fortnight (usually single day trips)...
We would like that bit more clearance, but would also like smooth highway travel...
Who would recommend airbags? and if so, what types have been good four you lot???
Thanks in advance...

Me personally, I wouldn't recommend airbags for extra clearance/height. Even though the Grande has this set up in the rear you can control the heights by a button on the dash (Grande owners correct me if I am wrong please). With basic aftermarket airbags they are a set and forget item generally only adjusted when towing or carrying loads.

[TheGilletts Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TheGilletts]

Re: Airbag Selection

Me personally, I wouldn't recommend airbags for extra clearance/height. Even though the Grande has this set up in the rear you can control the heights by a button on the dash (Grande owners correct me if I am wrong please). With basic aftermarket airbags they are a set and forget item generally only adjusted when towing or carrying loads.

Ahh, rightio, how long to they take to inflate/deflate with a standard ARB compressor set up?
Would they be an annoying thing to adjust all the time?

[Hutch Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hutch]

Re: Airbag Selection

Hubby and I are looking at putting airbags in the Prado...
Our situation is that we do alot of highway kms, but we also go 4x4ing on average once a fortnight (usually single day trips)...
We would like that bit more clearance, but would also like smooth highway travel...
Who would recommend airbags? and if so, what types have been good four you lot???
Thanks in advance...

They won't give u any more clearance unless the car is really loaded as it will lift the back up to normal height only, the airbag will not lift the spring any higher than what italready is. Best spending the money on a decent suspension lift as it will give benefits all year round.

[TheGilletts Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TheGilletts]

Re: Airbag Selection

Hubby and I are looking at putting airbags in the Prado...
Our situation is that we do alot of highway kms, but we also go 4x4ing on average once a fortnight (usually single day trips)...
We would like that bit more clearance, but would also like smooth highway travel...
Who would recommend airbags? and if so, what types have been good four you lot???
Thanks in advance...

They won't give u any more clearance unless the car is really loaded as it will lift the back up to normal height only, the airbag will not lift the spring any higher than what italready is. Best spending the money on a decent suspension lift as it will give benefits all year round.

Thanks for that mate, does kinda confirm what I was thinking, I just wasn't to sure about it...
We had 2.5in lift on the hilux, but think that might e a bit drastic for our "future family fourby". Hmm...

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Re: Airbag Selection

The airbags for a lifted prado are different to a standard hight one, so if you put air bags in first and then decided to lift at some time in the future you would need to buy another set of air bags. As said previously they are only really for leveling and not for gaining extra clearance.

Cheers Andrew

[Madkore Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Madkore]

Re: Airbag Selection

Just had a set of Coil-Rites added to my rig.

Will test them out with Christmas coming up.

Install looks really neat, with the valves just next to the trailer plug.

[TheGilletts Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TheGilletts]

Re: Airbag Selection

Just had a set of Coil-Rites added to my rig.

Will test them out with Christmas coming up.

Install looks really neat, with the valves just next to the trailer plug.

Ahh cool cool... Please let me know how you go with them?

[sacred cow Member Find all posts View Profile Close sacred cow]

Re: Airbag Selection

I was about to fit airbags to return the Prado to its original height when we load it up for travelling with our caravan. In fact I was going to purchase the airbags yesterday but in the middle of the night I remembered the gist of an article that Collyn Rivers had written rig on stability in the June 2010 edition of Caravan World magazine. I dug the article out and it said:

The manufacturer's intended front/rear slip angle relationship should not be changed. If the rear suspension is stiffened (or airbags fitted), so must the front to the same degree (or a stiffer roll bar added) to maintain the intended roll resistance balance. Not doing this may result in a close to neutrally steering vehicle that is triggered into sudden oversteer by a suddenly swaying trailer.

To my limited knowledge, the idea of fitting a stiffer roll bar does not seem practical when airbags are fitted as their air pressure and therefore effective rear spring constant would change depending on the load. What I am saying is that the roll bar would need to change for each air pressure of the airbags.

So from re-reading the article I think that it is poor engineering to consider the installation of airbags in my particular case, i.e. towing a large, heavy caravan.

The other option would be to fit standard height aftermarket front and rear springs such as Kings or Lovells plus new shock absorbers such as Bilsteins or Old Man Emu. I have checked with Lovells and they say their standard height springs are 20% stronger than the original Toyota ones. So this is the option I am now considering.
Glenn

[sleeky Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sleeky]

Re: Airbag Selection

I recently had a set of Firestone airbags fitted to my Prado. Having just driven from Darwin to Perth via the Great Central Road one has completely failed and the other is losing air. Can anyone suggest where to take it to in Perth to have them assessed. So far not very happy at all.

Thanks
Neil

[Madkore Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Madkore]

Re: Airbag Selection

Try Central 4WD in Welshpool, its on Welshpool Rd (which should be easy to remember).

I've always had great service there and thats where I had my firestones installed.