Air Ride Conversion?

GAMBLERR

MEMBER
1992 LINCOLN CONTINENTAL

This is more of a statement, then a question. For all of you that have the Air ride system in there cars. I have a 1992 LINCOLN CONTINENTAL. About two years ago I started to have problems with my air ride system. I would hear the compressor come on, while I was driving, and run for a few minuets, then stop, and then a little while later, go on again. This went on for some time, with it happening more and more. After a while I would some times come out and find my car down on one side in the front. I found that I had a leak in my air bag on that front strut. So I replaced it with a used one from the junkyard. That was fine till the other side started to leak, and then I had to replace that one. This lasted about 3 months and then my second replacement started to leak also, so I had to go buy another used one and replace it. The next year, once again it started to leak again. At this time I went and bought 4 standard type coil over replacement struts and pulled all 4 air rides out and put in the replacements. I will tell you two things. First, my car handled like it was a sports car, I had never had it corner so well, but also, it now ran like a lumber wagon, compared with how it was with the air ride system. I will say that people that had never ridden in my car before, and did not know how it use to ride, did not have any complaints about the ride, to them it seem normal. I will say that it cost 1/3 the amount to change over to the standard system, from what it would have cost me to buy 4 new air ride struts and replace them. So you have to choose for yourself, which is the most important. The ride, or the price. I for one am not unhappy with my choice. It is not a hard job to replace the units. If you have some auto ability to begin with. My son and I were able to do it in one afternoon. In the garage. You will have to do a little wire job on the air ride control box in the trunk, or your air ride light will stay on in the dash.

2 Replies

DREANON

MEMBER
3 POSTS

What was the cost and how or what is the ride like now?

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Sunday, August 26th, 2007 AT 6:35 PM

GAMBLERR

MEMBER
23 POSTS

First let me say, I no longer have the car. I got rid of it due to a number of problems, none of which stopped it from running, but It was just time to get rid of the Lincoln. I had over 217,000 miles on it, and this was the original transmission. It was a very good car. Now about the suspension. I put over 100,000 miles on the coil over springs I put in, and never had even one problem with them. I will say that the ride was not as stiff as it first was, but that is normal. I know when I first replaced them, I had noticed a difference in how the car would ride, not as soft as with the air ride system, but after a month or two, I did not even notice it. And the peace of mind that I had, not having to worry if I was going to be down on the frame, due to the air leaking out, was well worth any ride comfort I lost. As I said in my first post, anyone that had not been in a Lincoln never said a word about how it rode. In fact, I did have one person that drove the car; mention how well it took the corners, much better then they would have thought, from a luxury car. The cost to replace the front and back ran around $525.00 Now that was a while ago, so the price may have changed. I went on the Internet and just typed in LINCOLN AIR SUSPENSION, and Google came up with a ton of places, I just took a took at some of them and picked the one I found to have the best price. My son and I replaced them our self. It was not a hard job. I hope this helps.
Thank you
Gamblerr