Air suspension. Who's got it, got lots of questions

Ok I like a slammed car but use it everyday so have decided on air. Looking into the kits on ebay they have prices from £1500 to £2600 and my budget would def be the lower end. At the moment I have coil overs so the few questions I have is as follows. Is the lower end kit at £1500 any good and easy to fit or can you buy a universal kit that uses the coil overs and just replaces the springs on my original suspension. I'm not mechanic but not afraid to have ago at stuff. I would be glad of any advise, links or kits that you can tell me about. Cheers guys.

I cant make my mind up to go coilovers or air?

I have the Mk1 Golf Airlift kit with the Accuair eLevel management kit from Only Charged Dubs. I am very pleased with it, it cost just over twice your lowest budget though and I fitted it all myself. You can lower your costs by fitting the manual control kits instead of the electronic - @beany1234 has that on his. Both types work well. His setup was before there was a kit for the mk1 and cost just as much as mine with fitting - beany is a pioneer !!

http://www.onlychargeddubs.co.uk/products/golf-mk1-air-lift-kit-with-accuair-elevel-touchpad-management.html

Some pics of my boot install:

Thanks for that, how easy was it to fit??

I took my time and did it over a month. Struts east to fit, wiring easy - working out the routing is the hardest bit !! The hardest bit of the whole install was the boot install, I wanted a professional look so had to invest in a router and jigsaw and lots of trial and error !! The electronics are all plug and play. Overall I would say it is a medium hard job

Where did you rout the lines and do you have any pictures? Thanks

Never took any pics of the line routing.
For the rears I drilled a hole in the boot floor either side inline with the centre of the struts, the stainless steel flexi hoses then pass through the the struts. The flexi hoses then connect to the plastic airlines and route to the air valve you can see in my earlier boot picture.
For the fronts I ran the airline inside the car down the passenger side following the existing cables, one airline then goes straight through the bulkhead under the fuse box and the other across under the dashboard and then through the right hand side of the bulkhead. These then connect to the front stainless steel flexi hoses that u cable tied to the brake lines :-)

Hi mate mine is running on the basic 4way paddle system it's been done for about 3 and half years now and had no problem with it, it was a universal airlift kit as no one did bolt on kits back  then.  I've heard nothing but good things about OCD a few of my mates have brought air systems of them. An other option is Route 32 I know he does air as well plus he runs a Golf with one fitted couple of pics of mine

Was thinking about this kit if anyone knows anything about them

Sorry never heard of it. Is it Mk1 specific ? The front bags look quite wide, there is very little room in the strut tower on a Mk1 especially if camber adjustment is required - and you do not want the bags rubbing

lhasadreams said

Sorry never heard of it. Is it Mk1 specific ? The front bags look quite wide, there is very little room in the strut tower on a Mk1 especially if camber adjustment is required - and you do not want the bags rubbing

It says it's for a mk1 and bang on my budget but think I will have to do some homework before spending £1600 on it. Also maybe a daft question but with such a large investment will it add value to the car?

This thread has some good info - http://vwgolfmk1.org.uk/forum/index.php?page=topicview&id=specialist%2Fmodifications-and_2%2F-mk1-air-ride
Will it add value - to some people yes, others no

Thanks lhasadreams that is really helpful 

Seen this on E-bay and well within my budget. I can see its not on a coilover but does that matter??

None of them are on coil overs - the air spring replaces the metal coil over springs. The compromise will be on speed of operation and ride quality. Probably best to try and find someone who has the kit on their Mk1

lhasadreams said

None of them are on coil overs - the air spring replaces the metal coil over springs. The compromise will be on speed of operation and ride quality. Probably best to try and find someone who has the kit on their Mk1

If you look at the one above from Radio World it looks like it has a adjustable coil under the bag or am I getting it wrong??

That is a threaded strut, so that you can move the static position up and down a little bit, you have to do it with the strut off the car so as not to twist the bag at all. Not really important if they have set that strut up for a Mk1, but might be important if you want to alter the running height without too much pressure in the struts - too much pressure makes them bouncy

lhasadreams said

That is a threaded strut, so that you can move the static position up and down a little bit, you have to do it with the strut off the car so as not to twist the bag at all. Not really important if they have set that strut up for a Mk1, but might be important if you want to alter the running height without too much pressure in the struts - too much pressure makes them bouncy

I see, so would you say both kits will; be much of a much then?

I know a guy with the D2 racing kit on his mk1 and the front air bags are quite big, he's had to replace one due to the wheel rubbing on the bag, (standard width and offset rm's)
I've just fitted a second hand bss air ride kit on my mk1 with 2 way manual, handles a bit 'boaty'    Definitely worth getting though