# MKV Airlift XL issue



## guerilla_zoe (Apr 15, 2008)

I found that I had a leak in the L/F bag last week. I didnt have time investigate, so I drove the car home, and left it until the weekend. I take the tire off and immediately see the problem...










The bag seems to have rotated 180 degrees from where I installed it. The inner lip of the wheel rubbed on the leader line and eventually wore though. I checked the other side while it was in the air and it hasent moved at all, so its just the one. I got new, shorter lines made at the House of Hose  and rotated the bag back to where it should be. Everything is good and leak free now, but my question is what causes this, and should it be happening?


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## GolfL (Apr 7, 2012)

Maybey you didnt tighten the bolt on you LCA enough?...

Only thing what i could think of?


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## fasttt600 (Apr 12, 2007)

GolfL said:


> Maybey you didnt tighten the bolt on you LCA enough?...
> 
> Only thing what i could think of?


I would agree, that bolt probably wasn't tight enough.


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## guerilla_zoe (Apr 15, 2008)

The bolt that keeps the strut clamped in? Thats good. The strut isnt moving at all, its the airbag portion of the strut. You can grab it with your hand and rotate it, and it seems it rotated 180 degrees on its own, from where the leader line was facing towards the body of the car, to facing out and letting the wheel rub on it.


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## JettaGT8V80 (Jun 12, 2003)

guerilla_zoe said:


> The bolt that keeps the strut clamped in? Thats good. The strut isnt moving at all, its the airbag portion of the strut. You can grab it with your hand and rotate it, and it seems it rotated 180 degrees on its own, from where the leader line was facing towards the body of the car, to facing out and letting the wheel rub on it.


i bet the bearing is gone in the bag thats why its rotating, talk with airlift about it


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## bryangb (Jun 16, 2010)

It shouldn't rotate. Email airlift


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## insert clever name (Jul 26, 2009)

i installed brand new airlift xl's in a customers car yesterday and the bag spun on the strut. holds air fine but i havent noticed any other bags doing this...both sides did it too


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## [email protected] (Dec 15, 2010)

bryangb said:


> It shouldn't rotate. Email airlift


 The bags ARE supposed to spin, but it should be difficult with the load on it.

If the bag is spinning while driving, it is usually a sign of the upper bearings needing a re-grease. We also like to anchor the leader lines to the wheel well if possible, which is a good preventative measure in case they start to move again.


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## DoctorDoctor (Oct 18, 2006)

Spacers :thumbup:


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## guerilla_zoe (Apr 15, 2008)

DoctorDoctor said:


> Spacers :thumbup:


adapters :thumbup::thumbup:


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## DoctorDoctor (Oct 18, 2006)

guerilla_zoe said:


> adapters :thumbup::thumbup:


:laugh:


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## RILEY UK (Nov 27, 2004)

[email protected] said:


> The bags ARE supposed to spin, but it should be difficult with the load on it.
> 
> If the bag is spinning while driving, it is usually a sign of the upper bearings needing a re-grease. We also like to anchor the leader lines to the wheel well if possible, which is a good preventative measure in case they start to move again.


Dangerous design flaw as far as I'm concerned. My airline has been wrapped around my strut, it's caused a serious kink to the point where the kink is white, if I'd have been driving it with my kids in the car I'd have been even more unhappy than I already am. (Currently taken off the road thank god)

And the kit has covered roughly 1k miles with all new parts, even the top mounts were new genuine ones (Extremely hard to find now as no longer available.)


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## cmdshft (Oct 17, 2011)

The first thing I did was anchor the line to my wheel well. It can only flex up and down with the bag, it cannot rotate with it.

Repair or replace the bag (if you had it less than a year, AirLift may warranty it but not the leader line), anchor the new line and enjoy.


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