Need Advice - Airride through Calgary Winters

[mrx]

I know...it's way too early to talk about winter considering it's close to 30 out today.

Anyways..I just picked up an Airlift Slam Series kit from Bagriders for my JSW and will be getting it installed soon. Wanted to hear from those who have ran their bagged cars through Calgary winters to see if there's anything preventative I have to do during the install phase, and what you do during the winters to keep your setups running smoothly.

I will be running V2 for management and a Viair 444C compressor. I got a 5 gallon tank and will be plumbing a water trap between the tank and the manifold. The car is usually parked in a heated garage at night, but will be parked outside during the days. One of my biggest concerns are the valves freezing.

Any thoughts appreciated on how to keep a smooth running system!

[BaggedGLI]

Re: Need Advice - Airride through Calgary Winters

Run a water trap between the compressor and tank, between the tank and valves and make sure your tank is aluminum so it doesn't rust and ensure it has a drain on the bottom.

Put some airbrake antifreeze in the system and call it a day.

Might not hurt to grab a power inverter and a cheap hair drier in case a valve does freeze.

[MechEngg]

Re: Need Advice - Airride through Calgary Winters

Not sure about the valves on the V2 manifold but the VU4 from accuair is very good. I ran bags for a few winters with only one valve freezing when it was ~-40C out and the car was sitting outside for more than a day. Even then a blow dryer and i was good to go in a matter of minutes. I always carried it around with me for that reason.
Airbrake antifreeze is great, it takes all the moisture out of the air so there is less humidity getting to the valves. I can't recommend it enough. But as well make sure you consider the placement of your water trap/not even running a water trap in the winter. Any humidity and it can easily freeze off and plug up your water trap.
When running lines you might want to loom over the lines or something just to keep the road debris off of them, not that they aren't strong but it doesn't hurt. Also use as little fittings outside the car as you can.

[mrx]

Re: Need Advice - Airride through Calgary Winters

Thanks! I think I will be picking up a second water trap to go from the compressor to the tank (which is aluminum).

What is the correct or best placement of the water traps? I was thinking of just mounting one on each of the end ports on the tank. And what's the correct way to empty the traps...meaning do we have to depressurize the system before emptying the traps?

Also, do you guys dump the exhaust inside or outside your car? Been reading that if we have airbrake antifreeze in the system, dumping the exhaust inside will fill the cabin up with fumes.

[Danaldson]

Re: Need Advice - Airride through Calgary Winters

Had my r32 bagged in the middle of winter, parked outside every night and day for school. Absolutely no issues, just need a bit if anti freeze in the tank, and check traps a little more often. It's a lot of fun plowing snow slammed. Might be tougher with the fwd
Though.

My exhaust was dumped inside the car and I didn't smell a. Thing.

[MechEngg]

Re: Need Advice - Airride through Calgary Winters

Thanks! I think I will be picking up a second water trap to go from the compressor to the tank (which is aluminum).

What is the correct or best placement of the water traps? I was thinking of just mounting one on each of the end ports on the tank. And what's the correct way to empty the traps...meaning do we have to depressurize the system before emptying the traps?

Also, do you guys dump the exhaust inside or outside your car? Been reading that if we have airbrake antifreeze in the system, dumping the exhaust inside will fill the cabin up with fumes.

Would not recommend between the compressor and the tank, only between the tank and the manifold. That way the humid air can't freeze on the water trap filter and block the flow. I think that happened to me last year :(
I dump in the trunk under a cover so i don't notice anything

[mrx]

Re: Need Advice - Airride through Calgary Winters

Had my r32 bagged in the middle of winter, parked outside every night and day for school. Absolutely no issues, just need a bit if anti freeze in the tank, and check traps a little more often. My exhaust was dumped inside the car and I didn't smell a. Thing.

Good to know Gives me a bit more confidence for winter...especially those crazy cold days.

Would not recommend between the compressor and the tank, only between the tank and the manifold. That way the humid air can't freeze on the water trap filter and block the flow. I think that happened to me last year :(
I dump in the trunk under a cover so i don't notice anything

Makes sense. I just read through your crazy build threads...impressive stuff! So here's how I think I'll be plumbing it all together:

Compressor > check valve > tank > water trap > manifold.

I'm even thinking of picking up a set of manual paddles to keep in the trunk...just in case the v2 ever goes on the fritz. This way there's a backup to get the car going quickly instead of just sitting.

[MechEngg]

Re: Need Advice - Airride through Calgary Winters

I like the idea of manual paddle valves in the trunk, would be a nice touch for sure and you could do it very very easily. Again not a terrible option and i might actually think about borrowing that idea at some point, great thinking for reliability

[dwvw]

Re: Need Advice - Airride through Calgary Winters

I read somewhere about a guy in Quebec who ran a test for one winter. Did absolutely nothing to winterize his air ride and it had no problems at all. Think he was on Accuair. Run antifreeze and you're golden.

[mrx]

Re: Need Advice - Airride through Calgary Winters

I read somewhere about a guy in Quebec who ran a test for one winter. Did absolutely nothing to winterize his air ride and it had no problems at all. Think he was on Accuair. Run antifreeze and you're golden.

I think it was a black STI out of Montreal. He was on an AirREX kit, did no preventative maintenance expect for emptying the water traps. Guess it worked for him, but I feel he's just running on borrowed time. I'd rather do a little preventative work up front to mitigate some of the issues down the road.

[mrx]

Re: Need Advice - Airride through Calgary Winters

Its been almost a year since I put in my air so I thought it'd be nice to update this thread with some info and my experiences in hopes it can help others who are thinking about air.

All in all, my airride has been absolutely trouble free (knock on wood as I type this). But really it has been minimal maintenance and has treated my family and daily driver very well. The key to any trouble free setup is a good install. Do it right once and you won't have to worry as much about things down the road. So here's a little info about my setup:

Car: 2012 Golf Wagon TDI
Airlift Slam Series front with double bellows rear
Autopilot V2 Management
1x Viair 444 compressor
1x Aluminum 4 gallon tank
1x SMC water trap
1x SMC check valve
1x safety valve
1x npt inflation valve
1x Dorbritz swaybar brackets
1x short end links

How the setup is plumbed together:
Final setup, compressor is plumbed into the tank with the Viair check valve removed and replaced with the SMC check valve. At the tank i have the pressure valve to prevent over filling the tank in the odd chance the compressor doesn't turn off. I have an inflation valve installed in case the compressor fails so I can still get air into the tank. On the exit side of the tank I put my water trap which is then plumbed into the Autopilot V2 ECU. Thought here is that even if I build moisture in the tank, I want to protect my management ecu which sits on the exit side of the tank. Electronics and moisture don't like each other . From there the setup is pretty basic. All 4 air lines exit the trunk through the floor going to each of the respective bags and that's it.

Winterizing:
For winter prep, I didn't put in any brakeline anti-freeze which is against all recommendations. Main reason is that I drive around my family in the car and the exhaust valves in my setup exhausts right back into the car. I didn't plumb it outside. I didn't want to run the chance of any anti-freeze fume staying in the car with my toddler and wife inside. General maintenance through the winter included a monthly check of moisture in the tank.

Review:
So through the winter my car generally stays aired up at drive height. I do play around with airing out maybe 2-3 times a month. I frequently change my ride height because my wife drives higher than I do. As the car sits overnight in the cold the pressure in the system will drop a bit due to the outside ambient temp so in the mornings the compressor will sense a lower psi in the tank and do a small refill. I'm describing all of this because it helps to determine how often my compressor gets used to pump air into the tank. Winter fears are generally 1) moisture building up in the tank/lines from the warmer compressor air hitting a cold tank and then condensing, and 2) valves freezing from moisture build up in the system. Surprising for me I had zero moisture build up through the entire winter. At every maintenance check interval there was no water in my tank and no water in my water trap. So all in all, winter maintenance has been minimal. I've even went a couple of months of not checking the tank and still zero moisture in the system.

Now that its warm out I still keep up with a monthly, sometime every other month, water trap/tank moisture inspection just to be sure. I monitor pressures in the bags/tank to make sure i'm not seeing any leaks. What I do notice is that our warm/hot days vs. cold nights do affect my tank pressure more than I thought. I see about a 10psi drop over night in the tank, and a few psi drop in the bags, so that calls for a small tank refill in the morning when I start the car up. Every time i'm under the car I also do a quick inspection of the air lines and any abnormal rubbing on the bags. So far so good!

1 small annoyance that I do experience is with my swaybar brackets. Since the Slam Series struts don't have the sway bar brackets welded to the strut body, I use the Dorbritz brackets that slide up the strut body and simply bolted down. My brackets do slip and never stay perfectly in place. This results in an irritating clicking sound when I do full lock turns. I have had Colin at Calgary Autoworks re-position and re-tighten the brackets down for me in hopes to find a sweet spot to keep the brackets in place. Its only good until I air out and air back up which will shift the brackets again.

Thanks for all the help from ED members as I was putting my setup together. I hope this info can help someone else out down the line.

[Danaldson]

Re: Need Advice - Airride through Calgary Winters

1 small annoyance that I do experience is with my swaybar brackets. Since the Slam Series struts don't have the sway bar brackets welded to the strut body, I use the Dorbritz brackets that slide up the strut body and simply bolted down. My brackets do slip and never stay perfectly in place. This results in an irritating clicking sound when I do full lock turns. I have had Colin at Calgary Autoworks re-position and re-tighten the brackets down for me in hopes to find a sweet spot to keep the brackets in place. Its only good until I air out and air back up which will shift the brackets again.

Thanks for all the help from ED members as I was putting my setup together. I hope this info can help someone else out down the line.

i had the same thing happen with the dorbits brackets. I've been hearing of guys welding the brackets to the strut once they have found the correct spot.


great review though! glad the air has been treating you well.

[flipstah]

Re: Need Advice - Airride through Calgary Winters

Good to know Gives me a bit more confidence for winter...especially those crazy cold days.



Makes sense. I just read through your crazy build threads...impressive stuff! So here's how I think I'll be plumbing it all together:

Compressor > check valve > tank > water trap > manifold.

I'm even thinking of picking up a set of manual paddles to keep in the trunk...just in case the v2 ever goes on the fritz. This way there's a backup to get the car going quickly instead of just sitting.

What scenario will cause the V2 to suddenly fail so that you need the backup paddles?

[mrx]

Re: Need Advice - Airride through Calgary Winters

What scenario will cause the V2 to suddenly fail so that you need the backup paddles?

Just a few things that come to mind from when I was doing my research:

1. the hand held controller going on the fritz
2. electrical issues with the ecu
3. stuck valves - cold weather related , but this seems to be easily resolved with a blow dryer.
4. stuck valves - mechanical

I was just trying to think of different scenarios that I can get stuck with a downed system and what I could do to get going again. If anything, it's just for the peace of mind. End of the day, if I have a bag blow out i'm hooped anyways