# bag over coil install



## jun_1.8T (Oct 31, 2003)

im helping a buddy out because his install got butchered by someone else. not really familiar with these kinds of setup. here are the deets:

coilovers are BC racing and some sort of a no name double bellow bags. its leaking a lot where the collar of the coilovers are where the bags sit. questiom here is do u put some sort of teflon tape or thread sealant on the the collars? and second the bags spins freely.....is this normal?

here is a pic of what he has...












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## Buck Russell (Feb 24, 2003)

Unfortunately, it sounds like your buddy has bad bag brackets / plates. In theory, there should be no air escaping whatsoever from the plate. Therefore, the answer to your question is no. As in, no there should not be any teflon there and no, it should not leak. 

My question is: where did your buddy buy those bags and brackets? Man, I honestly thought I'd seen it all. Apparently, I was wrong. I'm now very curious as to where these parts came from.


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## jun_1.8T (Oct 31, 2003)

Buck Russell said:


> Unfortunately, it sounds like your buddy has bad bag brackets / plates. In theory, there should be no air escaping whatsoever from the plate. Therefore, the answer to your question is no. As in, no there should not be any teflon there and no, it should not leak.
> 
> My question is: where did your buddy buy those bags and brackets? Man, I honestly thought I'd seen it all. Apparently, I was wrong. I'm now very curious as to where these parts came from.


thanks for the reply. he got it from some stupid fly by night guy who claims to have tons of experience bagging cars. 

the air is not actually escaping from the bag plates but from the 2 stock locking collars of the coilovers where the bag is actually sitting on. the other side which has a very small leak from the same area. i can see that there was also teflon tape used. this side has a very small leak. but the left side wont even hold any air. i tried to tighten the 2 locking collars together and it seemed to help but the leak is still major. just wondering why the right side is not leaking and it has teflon tape applied. this is why i asked if teflon tape should be used on the locking collars.

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## ls150 (Apr 20, 2014)

No brand or markings on the bags? I think your best bet is to get a new set of bags (and brackets if needed) from somewhere like universal air suspension.


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## Buck Russell (Feb 24, 2003)

jun_1.8T said:


> thanks for the reply. he got it from some stupid fly by night guy who claims to have tons of experience bagging cars.
> 
> the air is not actually escaping from the bag plates but from the 2 stock locking collars of the coilovers where the bag is actually sitting on. the other side which has a very small leak from the same area. i can see that there was also teflon tape used. this side has a very small leak. but the left side wont even hold any air. i tried to tighten the 2 locking collars together and it seemed to help but the leak is still major. just wondering why the right side is not leaking and it has teflon tape applied. this is why i asked if teflon tape should be used on the locking collars.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk


It really just sounds like the lower plate isn't sealing to the tube of the shock. The collars themselves should not be relied upon for sealing the bag to the strut, that's the duty of the lower plate. Time to ditch the non-name-brand setup and buy something like a UAS setup.


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## Nyccustomizer (Sep 9, 2009)

Ive been bagging cars for about 15 years and early Chassistech/Airbagit.com air struts used that kind of bag and bracket arrangement. Believe it or not it worked fairly well and there was nothing else available. They would use factory struts and attach those to them. The lower plate had a collar that extended down and they would either use an oring to seal on the body or fill the void between the collar and the strut body with silicone caulk. It worked.

With that style I believe there is a plastic collar in between the lower plate and the locking nut. I never had faith in something trying to seal air like that on a threaded body.

When you say the bag spins freely, what do you mean? the entire bag assembly spins freely on the strut body? If that's the case then there is nothing sealing the lower plate to the strut body and it will always leak. 

I can see that he doesn't want to go spending money after doing it once, so take it apart and see whats going on inside there. It has to have a seal.


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