Why not bags? What you're describing is basically an air system, with fluid instead of bags. Why won't they work for your application?
Why not bags? What you're describing is basically an air system, with fluid instead of bags. Why won't they work for your application?
Air shocks? Motor spinning the coilover adjustment nut? There's a reason everybody does it with air, I think even the Citroen systems use gas as the actual working fluid at the "spring", just controlled by hydraulic pressure to eliminate the safety hazard of high pressure gas lines all over the car.
Would these have enough travel?
http://pitstopusa.com/i-5076275-allstar-performance-hydraulic-adjuster-weight-jack-for-2-5-springs.html#reviews
KW makes a hydraulic puck that fits between the spring and perch designed to do exactly what you are asking
http://kw-suspension.com/us/kw_hls.php
Spitfire/GT6 owners often fit gas shocks for ride height adjustment.
Swing axles on these cars, make camber very sensitive to loads.
A repurposed Monroe that was originally for mid 1980's Corvette is used.
It's nearly a bolt-in, basically looks like a regular shock with a somewhat fatter body.
The problem I see with adjustability is that in most applications, a change in ride height will equal a change in suspension geometry and therefore a change in handling characteristics.
Don't get me wrong, I love adjustable suspension, I just don't think your going to get something that behaves the same at all heights.
Air shocks will be the least expensive option and due to the nature of an air shock, it would mean you could increase the pressure in the shock to give you a stiffer damper if you decided to up your coil over spring rate for a track day. It would also allow you to lift your car for speed bumps etc. Mini truckers used air shocks a lot in the early days before airbags were widely and cheaply available.
If you were looking at hydraulically adjustable mounts, maybe look at portapower or enerpac cylinders, they're readily available and fairly inexpensive. A bit of ingenuity and you could pretty much copy the the kW product.
It sounds like you are asking for 2 different things.
A system to raise over speed bumps- there is no reason not to use air. But then you said you were concerned about handling characteristics.
A system to leave up while riding around town in areas with speeds bumps, etc.- you can't raise the car without changing the suspension geometry, so it most definitely will effect handling.
You can't have both.
I guess you could mount a suspension subframe to your chassis with something adjustable that would allow the body to change with respect to the wheels but the suspension geometry to remain the same. I suspect that properly tuning springs for the desired rate with an air bag at minimum pressure and ride height that would get both stiffer and taller when the bags were inflated would be the easiest option.
Wally wrote: http://pitstopusa.com/i-5076275-allstar-performance-hydraulic-adjuster-weight-jack-for-2-5-springs.html#reviews
Ditchdigger wrote: http://kw-suspension.com/us/kw_hls.php
What's the functional difference between these? Both appear to be a hydraulic cylinder placed between the spring and perch.
Even if you could lift only the body with absolutely zero effect on the suspension system or geometry, it is STILL gonna effect handling.
Raising the CofG effects handling. Your outside springs will compress more with a higher CofG when cornering.
You CAN'T raise a car without effecting the handling.
I would suggest you design the ride height for everyday driving, with a few minor modifications for track days.
Then you won't need hydraulics.
Why not just not drive a lowered car? That way you don't have to pick your way over bumps and curbs and stuff.
A sensible ride height is real world handling.
The problems with air shocks is that most of them are very low quality dampers and they are larger in diameter than standard shocks so most 2.5" ID coilover parts will not fit.
You could go through an AFCO catalog and find perches, sleeves and springs, get some custom machining done and wind up with an adjustable system based on some atomically crappy Gabriel HiJackers or Monroe undesirable whatevers for your not insignificant investment. It just doesn't seem like a wise choice.
What make and model is this for anyway? That makes a big difference.
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