Hey All,

opening disclaimer: I'm not trying to say this is the perfect universal kit for the GK cars, yet.... I took measurements and this is what the calculator on Air Lift's website recommended. These are 3 inch diameter and our coils measure 3.75 on the inside. I played with their fitment calculator and even though they offer a 3.5" bladder, no combo of numbers could get their calculator to choose the 3.5 inch units. I plan to share a link to this post with Air Lift and see what they have to say. Thanks!

My go fast days are behind me, for now... My main goals and reason for owning the Fit is because everything seems to fit, it's cost effective, and I really just enjoy everything about the car. It has its issues but I can look beyond them because of the positives. I got tired of feeling like we were sagging and I ordered the Air Lift 1000 universal kit, part number 60901. I wanted Firestone but they have discontinued their offering. With the Air Lift Company I had to measure and buy universal.

Three weekends a month we pack the Fit full and we race or she races bicycles somewhere on this side of the USA. I estimate that with us, the bikes, and the gear inside, we add about 800-plus, pounds to the car. We travel about 8,000 miles per year only because of bicycle races.

Primary Justification:
Car feels heavy when loaded (because it is heavy)
Rear tire wear - feathering on outsides
Nervousness of road bumps while loaded
Headlights pointed upward

General estimates on people and gear, in pounds: 850, exactly what Honda says is the max.

When loaded the car usually sat with the rear fender just at the top of my tires. (Add updated tire size later) Now I expect to return to about factory height when needed.

I've had helpers before on an SUV so I already know that I'm a little biased and really enjoy having them.

I never really planned on doing a high level How-to, but I have enough photos that I may as well share what I encountered.

So the install:

The kit comes with universal directions and they will help you get the air bladders installed. They'll tell you how to use the fittings, etc..

Please notice that each picture is captioned with italicized words just below the pic.

I got carried away at first and installed the bladders before realizing the spring insulators don't allow the bladder to sit flat. Lightly trimming first would be MUCH safer.

I have a tool holding the bladder up, to show the rough razor knife cuts I made. The rubber is super soft so I wouldn't expect any issue on the air bladder. Do the trimming first thing.




The little bit of material that needs removed. This was just one side of the car. It will be very obvious when you see it in person.



Without trimming, the fitting doesn't quite reach out the bottom of the spring perch. Also with pressure added, it pushes to one side. This is just one more reason you need to trim the insulator fairly flat.



With the very little material removed you can see how much more nicely the fitting protrudes out the bottom of the perch. Please ignore the dusty gravel water residue. It looks like salt but luckily is not.



Bladder sitting nicely on the insulator.



Keeping all slack away from other sensors and wire loom.



Taking advantage of the E-brake cable being right there.



Another where I went up to the unibody.



You can barely see the air lines run past the coil. I'll get a better photo an replace this one.


Looking from the rear, I mounted the fittings in the bumper. This is surprisingly far froward and protected by the hitch. I ran dual air lines because of what I've read about single line systems and extreme body roll. You don't want to push air out of one side and into the high-side, thus pushing you over even more. Also shown in this picture is the initial install and you can tell the spring insulator is not trimmed, so the air bladder looks a little uncomfortable sitting on the the bottom of the spring perch.



A picture from the back. Actually taken before I realized I was going to have to cut on the insulators like I mentioned in the beginning.



Passenger side from the rear.




Sitting in the parking lot with 15psi, and no load. I'll probably drop to 10psi for empty duty.



One more pic of the air valves. Also the air bladder sitting very nicely on top of the spring insulator.

You could rush the install but I would give yourself two hours to sit back and do this at a comfortable speed. The last thing you want to do is mess up an air bladder. I used all but about 6 inches of the provided air line, and the spring clips they give really do not spring back all that well.

I will have a few road trips coming up in the next few weekends and I'll report back. I plan to update this with some prior loaded pictures, and pictures of all the junk we load inside.

Please feel free to ask any questions and I can give more detailed answers.

10-24-2017 = Following up with some thoughts...

• This system for the price is amazing. I can drive with confidence on the interstate. The car drives more like you would expect with just 4 people loaded and heading for dinner.
• I ran the lines independent to prevent air flow between air springs. I believe this is beneficial because the stability is amazing. Long on and off ramps feel completely different. Most easy to say, the car feels normal, or not loaded, other than the lack of acceleration when fully loaded.
• They don't leak - I was worried about having to mess with them all the time.
• Fully loaded, bikes hanging off the back, etc.... 22psi and the car is stock height and drives great.
• Moderately loaded: bikes off the back, gear bags, heavy cooler... 15psi makes the car feel really good.
• Empty: I leave 8-10psi even though I believe is say 5psi is okay. I think it firms up the entire car just a little bit and I like the feel.
• Small interstate bridges that usually feel harsh, no problem and not even looking out for them.
• Headlamps - perfect. No more feeling that I am blinding someone or not getting the full benefit for myself.

This picture is probably the most loaded the car has ever been. Bikes, awning, sandbags for awning, camping gear, 65 liter Yeti cooler, etc...





Same load as mentioned in the previous picture. Car is sitting very nicely and rode great on far back county roads while driving to the campground.




A picture showing that we literally had this thing packed. I even had a towel over stuff that was rubbing the rear window, all the way to the roof. Having the car this full was actually a accident. I forgot the fact that my girlfriend was riding to the family camp out with her brother and she was taking quite a bit of gear on her own.




Just as before... Any questions, please feel free to ask. I'm guessing next year will be a 10,000 miles fully loaded, plus my normal 10,000 normal miles. I'll try to give some longer term updates as they become possible.

 

1 yr later bump


how many miles have you had on that setup? and, hows that air bladder holding up? (ie, any leaks?)

 

About 20,000 miles on this system since it was first installed on my 2015 and transferred to my 2018.

Pros

• Visually they still look to be in great condition.
• Functionally, they are still performing excellent.
• I left them around 8psi in mid July. I didn't touch them for three months and they still had 5psi in them. (confirmed with a very high end pump that has 1% accuracy)
• The stability is still so much different that it's hard to explain.
• They transferred between cars is a huge pro... Installing and removal seems like the hardest thing they will go through in their entire life.

Cons

• Some squeaking that is coming from the air spring rubbing on the regular spring. I have not seen any sign of wear, but it does squeak a little. I think this could be because I also cancelled my unlimited car wash. haha.
• I will spray some lube on around the air spring and coil to make it quiet and see how long it lasts in our ugly Indiana winter conditions. This is a con because normally lubricants are not good for rubber or plastics unless designed for them.
• I have asked through their tech line email about lube that is safe on the plastic/rubber and they never responded. I may call them...

Conclusion

• I may see if they will sell me only one or a set and keep them with my spare tire. When I am using them I am really counting on them. If I were 10 hours from home I would love to do a quick parking lot repair versus driving home sagging.
• I would love to combine these with a rear sway bar but currently my piggy bank is empty

 

@CyclingFit do you have an update on the squeaking noise?

I had a similar kit (maybe the same one, even) on my 08 and also experienced squeaking. The car got totaled last month and I was unable to pull the bags out, so I need to get a kit for my new-to-me '17 Fit. They worked well but I'm considering SumoSprings coil helpers instead if they'd be quieter. Advantages of the latter are no need to mess with pumping them up and no noise. Disadvantage as I see it is reduced suspension travel, plus they're a lot more expensive.

Thanks!

 

Sorry for the delay. I stepped away from the forum for a while and I only occasionally lurk, additionally, I was out of country for a month and not looking at email.

I never did find the perfect fix for the squeaking, although I am sure there are many options better than what I currently use... It seems that it only shows up every couple of months and it's probably more related to my underbody car washes... I blast s stream of wd-40 through the wheel at the bag and if it's dry I may lay down to shoot from the inside direction. It will stay silent for a while.

As for WD-40, I know there are a million light oil lubes that are better. I may try a white lithium spray or even a grease if it ever gets really annoying. Right now it's just not a big deal because it is so easy to correct. I still love having the air springs, so it's worth it.

 

An update to these helper springs since I already bumped the thread up with the previous response.

• No problems with any piece of the system. This car has about 33,000 miles currently and they did not get switched over right away. I'm going to estimate these to have a 40,000+ miles
• I go months and forget I have them. A squeak may show or I will want to use them for loaded road trip, then I think about them.
• If someone frequently hauled four adults and/or luggage, I think they would love this setup.

 

Interesting setup! I have the Monroe Air Shocks, about to replace my aged out ones that are discontinued for a new set with some refinements on the install.


If you have this system installed, you should go one step further and get the to really dial it in! I would but my bank account is crying recently lol!

 

Hey CyclingFit, I'm custom building an automatic air shock management system with a wireless remote control like the 72000. So far I have everything I need for under $150 bucks. Maybe this would work well for your setup as well? More details to follow soon over this weekend.

 

AWESOME. Thank you for including me in your idea!

Giving you a little info about my mindset with pumps and filling air suspension parts. Here is my biggest weakness when I look at little pumps and stuff. I really like independent airlines and not having them share one fill hose or "T". I have never had it any other way. I would consider trying a single airline system though, maybe prior to investing in the pump.

The reason for two lines:
1. I can level the car and assure better treadwear if for some reason I have my 65 liter cooler in the back and on one side. This has only happened one time where I pretty much leveled the car by sight and not just equal pressure. It takes a flat surface like my garage to do that.
2. One hose allows air to go from the one being compressed, into the other bag. So imagine you are on an off ramp, you are taking your stabilizing side and sending it to the wrong side, which give it more air and pushes that side even higher.

I'm sharing this in case there is a way to incorporate it into your design... I see people run single fill points all the time and I always wonder how they would react if they felt airbags on a clover leaf type on/off ramp, if they were not dumping air to the wrong side.

Thanks!

 

I get exactly what you mean. Currently i am building a "single path" type system where both shocks fill equally. I can accomplish this with a two button, two channel remote module, since all I would be operating is a pump and two normally closed solenoid valves

To accomplish what you describe requires a 4 button remote, 4 channel module, two additional NC solenoids, some air line, and various PTC fittings to my current intended. This is called a "dual path" system. So not much more expensive. A wireless TMPS system to monitor the air pressure in each channel.

The good thing is if I upgrade later its pretty easy to implement. I'm starting basic first with a single path system, and could always repurpose the unused air parts for another later project.

EDIT:

Screw it, I ordered the extra parts to make this a dual path as you described it. Got myself a new project to play with!

 

Hi, thanks for all the great info. I’m just wondering. I have a 2013 Honda Fit. Would it be the same part number? Are the springs the same size? I know that it is a different generation. Thanks in advance for any help.