# Is this as low as Airlift goes?



## Korfu (Feb 26, 2007)

Hey guys. I put on my struts and dropped my car off at the body shop pretty much the next day. I just got a pic from the body guy saying that after the finders were rolled it didnt go much lower.


[dont mind the dirty wheels its in the body shop]









Its not making contact with the tie-rod, cv-shaft, or sub frame. What could be keeping it up?


They have been in for about 9 days but only about 40 miles on them.

17" wheels btw - mk4 if you cant tell


EDIT: They are the shaved ring version


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## JesseAirLiftCompany (Aug 5, 2009)

Are you notched as that looks like the pass. side of the car?


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## Korfu (Feb 26, 2007)

yeah its notched. According the body guy theres still plenty of room in the notch.


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## SuperBacon (May 8, 2006)

something is wrong, it should be way lower


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## Korfu (Feb 26, 2007)

Thats what i thought too. We followed the instructions to a T...


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## SuperBacon (May 8, 2006)

something has to be hitting that hasnt been noticed yet. Pinch in the fender well been hammered/removed?


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## rabriolet (May 27, 2005)

sitting on the tire?


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## VdubXXIV (Feb 14, 2008)

SuperBacon said:


> something has to be hitting that hasnt been noticed yet. Pinch in the fender well been hammered/removed?


Hes not low enough to be hitting the pinch welds. fender liner maybe, if its in there.

Is the bag folding over itself properly and not binding up?


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## VdubXXIV (Feb 14, 2008)

rabriolet said:


> sitting on the tire?


It does look like the front of the fender is hitting the tire.


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## Korfu (Feb 26, 2007)

Tons of room around the drive shaft









no tire contact


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## rabriolet (May 27, 2005)

that tie rod looks awful close to the frame rail


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## [email protected] (Feb 19, 2010)

Any pics of the bottom of the struts in the spindle? Perhaps they could slide in a little further?


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## Korfu (Feb 26, 2007)

[email protected] said:


> Any pics of the bottom of the struts in the spindle? Perhaps they could slide in a little further?


I dont but when we installed them they werent right on the adjustment nob portion but was barley a gap as well. I will try to get a pic but i hate to keep bothering the body shop guy. Again im no where near the car.


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## Korfu (Feb 26, 2007)




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## VdubXXIV (Feb 14, 2008)

Korfu said:


>


You still got like 1/4 of an inch for that to seat.


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## [email protected] (Feb 19, 2010)

VdubXXIV said:


> You still got like 1/4 of an inch for that to seat.



Yup, sliding that down a bit will help.


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## Korfu (Feb 26, 2007)

ill do it when i get the car back. But that doesnt seem like it will drop it that much.


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## spitfire481 (Mar 21, 2007)

Hey guys it's at my shop right now. No fender liners, I flattened and did the fender lips so they would not contact and there is more then a quarter inch between the closes tire/fender lip location. Tire is nowhere near the upper pinch weld, tie rod has atleast half inch, axle has plenty with the notch, I can mess around with the bag aired out and tell that it's not overlapping and sitting on itself and acting as a stop, control arm/subframe clearance is somewhat close but still a decent gap. I spent alot of time modifying things on my own setup and I can't find anything else holding this car up besides the strut bottoming out internally. There has to be something going on


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## VdubXXIV (Feb 14, 2008)

Get that strut seated all the way in there first, it may only be a quarter inch but it might make that much of a difference


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## ericjohnston27 (Dec 31, 2005)

is it me or does it look like there is still a little air in the bags??


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## TurboREX (Aug 7, 2006)

ericjohnston27 said:


> is it me or does it look like there is still a little air in the bags??


x2


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## 246617 (Jan 19, 2006)

Korfu said:


> ill do it when i get the car back. But that doesnt seem like it will drop it that much.


You have to cut about 3/8 - 1/2" off the bottom of the strut then that thing will seat down in there nicely. We just did this to VDUBXXIV's car and it does make a difference. Every little bit counts.... Once that mod is done, you aren't going to go much lower unless you get creative or do some major modifications

What exactly are you trying to acheive? Tucking rim, or laying the frame on the ground? Each is a different bag of stuff....


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## Korfu (Feb 26, 2007)

Not trying to tuck rim or anything just figured it would go lower then my vmaxx bagovers...

I iwill try placing them down more (and possibly cutting them) when i get the car back.


Will/Jesse - will cutting them smaller void my warranty?


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## spitfire481 (Mar 21, 2007)

doesn't look like there's anything else to cut. if it drops down into the spindle more then a quarter inch its going to be hitting the dampening knob. and no there is not any air in the bag. dump valve is held open. i have aired it up and down a few times and the bag always looks the same every time, and it does not look or feel like its in a bind aired out as well. i had the fender off again today and took a quick look.


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## Korfu (Feb 26, 2007)

spitfire481 said:


> doesn't look like there's anything else to cut. if it drops down into the spindle more then a quarter inch its going to be hitting the dampening knob. and no there is not any air in the bag. dump valve is held open. i have aired it up and down a few times and the bag always looks the same every time, and it does not look or feel like its in a bind aired out as well. i had the fender off again today and took a quick look.



I have got to agree with you Joe. I dont think that cutting the bottom will do much if its already at the dampening adjuster. I will try lowering the strut when i get the car back, unless you feel up to it on your lunch which i dont blame you for not.

Not feeling confident it will do that much...


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## spitfire481 (Mar 21, 2007)

haha, you can come up and do it tomorrow if you want. i still have the rest of your parts, an allover on a f350 and one on a dodge 2500 to finish up


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## Korfu (Feb 26, 2007)

spitfire481 said:


> haha, you can come up and do it tomorrow if you want. i still have the rest of your parts, an allover on a f350 and one on a dodge 2500 to finish up


If i start walking at 8am i should be there by say 5-6pm.. Wait for me? LOL


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## seanxnj (Jan 24, 2007)

Did u trim your Control arms?


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## spitfire481 (Mar 21, 2007)

they are not hitting/interfering with the sub frame yet


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## sassmasterd (Feb 3, 2007)

i know thies r the preformance airlift struts that dont go as low as the airlift xls maybe that could be it?


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## Kiddie Rimzo (Feb 21, 2008)

sassmasterd said:


> i know thies r the preformance airlift struts that dont go as low as the airlift xls maybe that could be it?


mk4s dont have a XL yet when it comes to airlifts. 
Im guessing its just the struts.


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## 246617 (Jan 19, 2006)

spitfire481 said:


> doesn't look like there's anything else to cut. if it drops down into the spindle more then a quarter inch its going to be hitting the dampening knob. and no there is not any air in the bag. dump valve is held open. i have aired it up and down a few times and the bag always looks the same every time, and it does not look or feel like its in a bind aired out as well. i had the fender off again today and took a quick look.



The collar that is just below the dampening knob should stop it from dropping so far that it interferes with the knob. Take a few measurements. As I stated before we just did this mod and it worked out that the knob isn't compromised at all. The angle that you took the picture at is a bit misleading to how things are actually going to sit. 

Your strut is bottomed out on the lip inside the lower fork housing. This is why you need to trim .25"-5" off the bottom. This will allow the strut to slide into the fork further until the point that it will bottom out on that upper collar near the knob...


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## VdubXXIV (Feb 14, 2008)

BEANS said:


> The collar that is just below the dampening knob should stop it from dropping so far that it interferes with the knob. Take a few measurements. As I stated before we just did this mod and it worked out that the knob isn't compromised at all. The angle that you took the picture at is a bit misleading to how things are actually going to sit.
> 
> Your strut is bottomed out on the lip inside the lower fork housing. This is why you need to trim .25"-5" off the bottom. This will allow the strut to slide into the fork further until the point that it will bottom out on that upper collar near the knob...


Listen to BEANs. We did this to my car. At first it was sitting just like yours and we trimed off the bottom and now my tire is resting on the fender.


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## 246617 (Jan 19, 2006)

Jason- Still no show on your rear bags...... Airlift is dropping the ball on delivery


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## 01 (Sep 9, 2009)

BEANS said:


> Jason- Still no show on your rear bags...... Airlift is dropping the ball on delivery


from what i heard they were back-ordered, i think they gave everyone an ETA as well.


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## VdubXXIV (Feb 14, 2008)

BEANS said:


> Jason- Still no show on your rear bags...... Airlift is dropping the ball on delivery


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## Korfu (Feb 26, 2007)

Will - WIll cutting the strut more void warranty?


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## Beitz DUB (Sep 22, 2008)

Korfu said:


> Will - WIll cutting the strut more void warranty?


I would like to know as well


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## rabriolet (May 27, 2005)

so you cut 1/4-1/2" off the piece the shock slides into?


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## VdubXXIV (Feb 14, 2008)

rabriolet said:


> so you cut 1/4-1/2" off the piece the shock slides into?



No, On the strut itself where the bottom of the strut slides into the knuckle. Well that piece on the bottom of the strut is to long and will only slide in so far so if you trim about 1/4" off the bottom of it, it will sit lower.


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## rabriolet (May 27, 2005)

its safe to cut a part off the strut?
is it just a hollow tube that is welded to the bottom of the strut?


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## VdubXXIV (Feb 14, 2008)

rabriolet said:


> is it just a hollow tube that is welded to the bottom of the strut?



Correct that piece is a hollow cylinder so your simply just trimming it down.


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## eurotrsh (Dec 25, 2004)

The girlfriends car is on 17s and is WAY lower than that.

But you need to get that strut to sit in the spindle further...The dampening knob should be almost kissing the spindle.


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## crazymoforz (Jan 19, 2006)

i would remove the fenders and check what needs to be modified. with the fenders removed you will see what would need to be trimmed and it would make it much easier.


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## spitfire481 (Mar 21, 2007)

i guess you didnt see that i have had the fenders on and off like 10 times while ive been working on them. once i finish up with it early next week we are going to get the strut sitting as far down as it can before it stops at the dampening knob. there is only about a quarter of an inch more to go though. it has to go on the alignment rack anyway so we can look a little deeper into it then.


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