# DIY E39 Air Ride Install



## AiredE39 (Jan 24, 2013)

Hi all,
first of all I'm new to the forum, been a viewer for a while but just joined. The reason for joining was that I haven't seen many threads with air ride or bags in an e39. I have a Silver 2003 540i that will be having air ride put in it this weekend, if all goes well.

I thought I would share some pics and some write ups with the install.

Firstly I would like to say a few things...

- need to keep it as a daily driver
- first air ride install
- My Goal is to have the ride slightly firmer then the e39 M5
- I need a kit that can with stand -30 Celsius
- I need to avoid obstacles and pot holes, alberta roads are horrible.
- I like to be low just cause and who wouldn't like to have their car on the floor for fun.

I think there is skepticism about air ride not having as good as performance as coils, I attended SEMA 2012 and Air Lift and Accuair reps told me that they can be taken to the track and be very stable and perform well. I am not totally sold but you have to try everything once so I decided I'll give air ride a try to attempt to prove me wrong.

Car Specs Currently:
- Dinan Front and Back Struts
- Dinan Front and Back Sway Bars
- Dinan Intake
- Dinan Throttle Body
- Dinan Exhaust
- Dinan ECU Flash
- Koni Coils Front and Back

The koni coils are nice but I'm having camber wear on my pricey winters, so I need to solve that problem too.

The kit that I ordered was the E39 AirLift Kit from BagRiders:
- AutoPilot V2 Management
- 3/8" lines (fills bags faster)
- Single Compressor - 400c
- 5 Gallon Aluminum Tank
- SMC Water Trap
- SMC Check Valve

My other choice was AccuAir, there difference between AccuAir and AirLift is that AccuAir management measures actual height of the car to determine the amount of air in the bags.

Airlift with their autopilot system determines the height of the car from the amount of pressure in the bags.

An example - Setting one for each system is set for 2 inches from the ground with one person in the car. If I have 4 people in the car, AccuAir automatically adjusts the height to maintain the 2 inch clearance, AirLift AutoPilot doesn't measure height so the car would drop by an inch with more people in the car. With the AirLift system I would have to have a setting to consider amount of weight in the car.

I still chose AirLift, the reason why is that the autopilot management monitors the pressure and the lines constantly to maintain height. AccuAir does monitor pressure but it also uses electronic sensor that you attach to your control arms and AccuAir couldn't assure me that if a airline had a leak in it, it would notify you.

AirLift does notify you and tell you which line is leaking, for me this was the selling point. If I have only one place to look if things go wrong and not have to worry about other sensors that I have installed.

I apologize for the essay but wanted to give you guys some back ground on what I have learned in going through the buying stages of the kit. Feel free to ask questions and I'll be posting pics through out the weekend.

Here are a few pics...

As she sits now:









Some photoshop action, wanted to see what she could look like:_a_


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