It Doesn’t Have To Cost A Fortune To Fix Your Suspension

There are some definite advantages to air ride suspension often used on trucks, large SUVs, and luxury sedans. You get a smooth ride, and with some vehicles and you can adjust the system to different ride characteristics to adapt to terrain or other road conditions. However, there is one glaring area where air ride is really quite hurtful, and that’s to your wallet when it breaks down.

Sadly, breaking down is a common theme with air ride and the repair bill can be downright shocking. Luckily, however, there is an affordable solution that still gives you a great ride. Doing a full coilover suspension swap, replacing the complex air suspension system with proven, traditional suspension parts - can save you thousands, and is easier than you might think. These swap-outs are commonly referred to as “strut replacements” and are becoming increasingly common as vehicles age.

Thank you to Strutmasters for assisting with this article

Repairing your air ride suspension on all four corners can cost $5,000 or more when you consider air spring, air compressor, suspension control module, and ride height sensor. These are complicates systems and require an experienced mechanic to do correctly, and given enough time and mileage, all air suspension systems wear out. But for a fraction of the cost, you can opt to convert to a coilover suspension set-up. Not only does this cost a whole lot less, but it’s a more robust system that will last for many years. Plus, coilover suspension systems are a proven commodity and offer comfortable and consistent performance.

What Fails On An Air Ride?

The biggest difference between air ride and coilover systems is the key factor of durability. The usual part failures on air ride systems often start with the air bags themselves. This is due to constant strain from being inflated and deflated, as well as weather, driving conditions and plain old wear and tear – and when one air bag wears out, it’s likely that the remaining bags are not far behind, which is why your mechanic will probably recommend a replacement of all four corners of the vehicle, even if only one air bag is currently bad. Then you can look at sensors and modules, compressors and connector hoses. There are many parts that can wear out and a failure in any of them can lead to a breakdown of the whole system and a hefty repair bill.

Why Go Coilover?

On the other hand, switching to a coilover system is easier than many might think. And coilover systems have certain advantages. Steel springs take the place of airbags and the shock/strut and coil spring unit replaces the airbag and mounting area. Coilover systems react to conditions the exact same way every time, regardless of weather. The physics of how air changes with temperature and other environmental conditions alone are enough to sway many toward the reliability coilovers offer.

What it gives you is an immediate sense of stability with a firm yet stable ride. Standard suspension systems, unlike air bags, aren’t adversely affected by weather, which is equally important for people in extremely cold areas as it is for people living in parts of the world where summer temperatures can hit well over 100 degrees and stay that way for weeks. These kinds of temperature extremes can lead to costly issues. Steel remains mostly unaffected by environmental conditions.

Labor Savings

Unless you’re a do-it-yourself mechanic, you’re going to need to hire the work done to deal with the airbag suspension issues. It’s a huge variable, but is a major component of the overall cost savings when switching to a coilover system. Let’s look at typical mechanic work rates. Most mechanics charge anywhere from $75 to $175 an hour, depending upon location, competition, experience and more. You can increase that by as much as 50% if you take it to a dealership. It isn’t always the case, but most dealerships will want to restore whatever system was on the vehicle when it was bought new. This is why it is important to ask questions.

You also have to consider the amount of time needed to complete repairs versus switching to a stronger coilover system. With air ride systems requiring more parts, the labor costs typically also jump way up by doubling or even tripling the time needed for the work. This is all based on extensive web searches for national averages, so there are definitely some variables that will depend on your precise situation.

What Should You Do?