Hello new shoes. Hello air

[X5SND]

UPDATE #4:

Well guys, for the most part we're done! Everything is in and working as it should. Not sure how many of you are still following this but here are my observations:

- After going from 17x7.5 wheels to the massive 20x10F 20x11R the ride is actually BETTER than is was before. It feels much more planted (as expected) but also the air springs seem to filter out the vibrations/feeling of the road that the coils transmitted throughout the vehicle.....for a much more luxurious (yet still BMW feeling) ride.

- The only thing I will say about handling is that it is still very much a BMW; it does what its mean to, nothing more nothing less. Its not as nimble as a car, nor do I expect it to be.

Before




After




Display



The display was custom made orange to try and keep some of the BMW feel. The numbers shown are the height values for each corner (ranges from 0-125 for the travel I specify), but it can be switched to the pressure in the tank at the press of a button. The buttons on the left are the "auto height" presets; High - Medium - Low. The ones on the left allow you to manually adjust each corner. This is only the temporary location, the plan is to remove the sunglasses holder and CAD an overhead display mount into its location.

Overall, Im extremely pleased with how this all turned out. It was a bit of a gamble as its definitely off the beaten path, and in fact backwards from the path most take (air to coil conversion). But with that being said I love my X, and still have a couple years left in university; so I plan to keep it for a while yet. Some of you might be wondering the cost of something like this, so here is a quick breakdown:

Dakota Digital DCH-2000 system w/ custom orange dispay - $855
" " custom 10 ft display cable - $70
BMW Factory rear air springs - $190 (x2)
Arnott Industries front air struts - $469 (x2) [$369ea + $100 core]
Arnott Industries valve block - $300
Viair Compressor $180
Misc (fittings, check valves, silencers etc..) $500

For a grand total of $3223.

The majority of fittings used for the air lines were DOT approved air-brake air-line fittings. They're a bit pricey compared to standard 1/4" push-in fittings but being that they have endured decades of service in the transport industry, they looked like a wise choice. Here's a shot of them next to BMW's fitting for the front struts.




The note the o-ring on the inside of the BMW fitting, there is a second one further in the fitting...(enter the non-expert disclaimer here)....the guy I was dealing with for all my fittings and lines took a look at it and basically said that those o-rings will eventually give me nothing but problems...Especially once they have been subject to some of the nice things our roads/weather have to throw at them. The DOT fittings on the other hand have a sleeve that fits inside the airline after being pressed in to prevent the line from collapsing and eventually leaking.


So anyone out there who might have entertained this idea, but not quite sure about how to proceed, or if its worth proceeding, hopefully this can be of some use to you!

[isdeleon]

Originally Posted by X5SND

The majority of fittings used for the air lines were DOT approved air-brake air-line fittings. They're a bit pricey compared to standard 1/4" push-in fittings but being that they have endured decades of service in the transport industry, they looked like a wise choice. Here's a shot of them next to BMW's fitting for the front struts.




The note the o-ring on the inside of the BMW fitting, there is a second one further in the fitting...(enter the non-expert disclaimer here)....the guy I was dealing with for all my fittings and lines took a look at it and basically said that those o-rings will eventually give me nothing but problems...Especially once they have been subject to some of the nice things our roads/weather have to throw at them. The DOT fittings on the other hand have a sleeve that fits inside the airline after being pressed in to prevent the line from collapsing and eventually leaking.


So anyone out there who might have entertained this idea, but not quite sure about how to proceed, or if its worth proceeding, hopefully this can be of some use to you!

I also put adjustable air suspension on my civic (yes I said civic... ), and the only problem I constantly had was the quick connect fittings. They're a pain, I tried so many different ones and they all failed. Finally I went with Home Depot compression fittings and haven't had a leak since then. Hope it's working out for you though. Nice ride .

Something like (SKU #) 541907 but in 1/4" both sides...