# tire wearing concern with bag riders kit



## black maqic20th (Aug 10, 2008)

hey i recently bought a mk4 bagged R32 i love the car and the ride. I put new tires on on my car in november and come mid january the front blew out, cause being inside tread down to the metal cords. The remainder of the tires tread looked about 7/32. Now the air suspenion kit from bag riders did not have any air pressure gauges it is completely manual. i want to invest in a DAKOTA DIGITAL ODYSSEY SERIES 1 from bag riders along with DAKOTA DIGITAL PRESSURE SENSOR and get to a ride height and align it. My questions are will this make my car stop eating through tires? When you want to ride lower then your ride heights for shows or whatever will you still wear tires? 

Any help from people that have these products or maybe having or had this problem your advise will help thank you.


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## Built2Drive (Jan 15, 2010)

Get gauges, figure ride height. Go have a four wheel alignment done while the vehicle is at your preferred ride height. (Also ask for a print out so you know they actually adjusted your car) 

By driving around guessing your height you're probably lower then stock with increased toe causing horrid wear on your tires along with camber wear. 

Its not fault of the bags that blew your tires. Running no gauges and no alignment ruined your tires. If you ride at the same psi as you had your alignment done at, you won't be killing tires. If you ride a little lower here and there to show off, you'll be ok. Its prolonged driving at a height your car wasn't aligned to that's eating tires.


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## mike.snipe (Jan 17, 2012)

You could be smart and say screw the gauges and go with an E-Level system. 

I'd like to see a bagged car on gauges go in and get aligned, even one of those not so sweet V2 systems. The E-Level system is the only air management kit that you can align your car with and actually get it back to the same height repeatedly. 

Gauges are pointless. Especially do to pressure changing with temperature and vehicle load. Your alignment would never be correct and more of just a waste of money in your situation. 

Definitely interested in hearing someone else's view on this. 

Mike


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## reynolds9000 (Oct 16, 2003)

I'll give you my personal experience. 

I have analog gauges in my mk3. I set it to my desired ride height pressure and got it aligned. I try my best to make sure i drive at that HEIGHT, not necessarily the same pressure. Brand new tires before H2O this year, 1600 mile round trip, perfect wear. This is on a 2 year old alignment mind you. 

While E-Level is the easiest and fastest way to get to the same ride height repeatedly, it is not the only way.


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## Rat4Life (Oct 14, 2004)

mike.snipe said:


> Definitely interested in hearing someone else's view on this.
> 
> Mike


i completely disagree that you will only be good with e-level.
i had the most inaccurate system on my e36 318ti (autopilot v1) and using only ride height preset every time would get to about the same height and in 8k miles with major "lowered bmw" negative camber never wore out tires at all, my toe was adjusted at preset ride height
tires still look great,no wear at all.


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## crispy21 (Mar 26, 2012)

mike.snipe said:


> The E-Level system is the only air management kit that you can align your car with and actually get it back to the same height repeatedly.


i wouldnt say that


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## Built2Drive (Jan 15, 2010)

I have been playing with air since '02. I'm a mini trucker. We think a bit different. But I ran analog gauges since day 1. I had my truck aligned at 60 psi up front, camber, caster and toe all on the center of the specs. Once I got into a dealership working, I put my truck on the rack (different one), at 60 psi and guess what, everything was still where it was. No tire wear issues. Yes, I don't have rear adjustment, but the rear was at 35psi which can also affect the front. I also did fun stuff like drag frame. 
So for the person on a budget, you can spend $100 on a pair of dual needle analog gauges, fittings and air line. Then have an alignment performed at a certain psi and have the ability to ride at a certain height with out having to worry so much about tire wear and have some proper handling. 

Is an E-level system better? Sure. I see accuair's level system retails for $1095 and they still don't even show a gauge. But I'm sure you could get back to that programmed spec and everything will be ok. Unless you hit something or your factory bushings start to wear or tie rods get sloppy.


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## [email protected] (Feb 19, 2010)

black maqic20th said:


> hey i recently bought a mk4 bagged R32 i love the car and the ride. I put new tires on on my car in november and come mid january the front blew out, cause being inside tread down to the metal cords. The remainder of the tires tread looked about 7/32. Now the air suspenion kit from bag riders did not have any air pressure gauges it is completely manual. i want to invest in a DAKOTA DIGITAL ODYSSEY SERIES 1 from bag riders along with DAKOTA DIGITAL PRESSURE SENSOR and get to a ride height and align it. My questions are will this make my car stop eating through tires? When you want to ride lower then your ride heights for shows or whatever will you still wear tires?
> 
> Any help from people that have these products or maybe having or had this problem your advise will help thank you.


I'm sorry to hear about your tire wear issues. Personally, I've never had any tire wear problems, but I always drive at my aligned height.

Which of our kits did you order? Management Packs?


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## bryangb (Jun 16, 2010)

It definitely wouldn't be a waste of money to get an alignment. Set your height to where you drive and get it aligned. :beer::beer:


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## Simplicity (Nov 6, 2007)

mike.snipe said:


> You could be smart and say screw the gauges and go with an E-Level system.
> 
> I'd like to see a bagged car on gauges go in and get aligned, even one of those not so sweet V2 systems. The E-Level system is the only air management kit that you can align your car with and actually get it back to the same height repeatedly.
> 
> ...


This is horrible Mike, not true at all.
The real issue, is the OG poster buys the least expensive basics, and starts driving......
He is missing 2 things an alignment, and a way to monitor the height to insure he drives as close to his aligned height as possible. A few degrees out isn't to bad, But if you are driving with extreme camber, or toe, you will chew tires, thats why if you are not prepared to do things right it can be costly. Its all about learning. basically you are going to pay one way or another...... You choose. :wave:


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## black maqic20th (Aug 10, 2008)

i deff was not educated on bags when i bought the car and now i am learning. im going to get new tires and get it realigned at a measurement height for now and order the air pressure gauges. thanks for the input everyone


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## Bierce IV (Apr 5, 2010)

crispy21 said:


> i wouldnt say that


Most agreed. I've had the v2 for a year an for my daily height aligned and my tires on the rs's have 75% left after 7 months with perfect wear. It's not just e-level.


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## BIG_ANT (Mar 3, 2007)

mike.snipe said:


> You could be smart and say screw the gauges and go with an E-Level system.
> 
> I'd like to see a bagged car on gauges go in and get aligned, even one of those not so sweet V2 systems. The E-Level system is the only air management kit that you can align your car with and actually get it back to the same height repeatedly.
> 
> ...


Dakota digital makes a controller that works off of ride height, also. E-level isn't the only one. 



Sent from my coconut carrying Swallow. African or European?


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