Bags or Juice? That seems to be the question. I was recently in a very popular chat room and was talking to a few customizers about suspension systems. It seems the enthusiasts of today's car and truck scene seem to be largely divided by their choice of suspension. I've heard comments lately like, "Bags are for Fags" and "Switches are for Bitches". I guess it comes down to your preference for customizing. No matter what, there will always be something that divides the people, but come on, who really cares how someone lifts or lays their ride, as long as it lays! I have both Airbag and Hydraulic setups right now. I just want adjustable ride height. There are pro's and con's to consider for each setup.

Hydraulics: This is the classic method of adjusting your ride height. The early customizers used hydraulics. Over the years they perfected the setups and, until recently, they were the quickest method to get your ride off the ground. Hydraulics do, however, require the use of batteries (more is better) which can weigh around 60lbs each and take up an enormous amount of space. Not to mention the batteries will need repetative charging. Plus, the pumps are very heavy. Then, there is the oil to factor in. I don't care who you are and what you do, if you use your hydraulics often, you will end up with oil spills in your ride. This creates quite a stain and odor in your ride. And that brings me to ride quality. Customizers have worked diligently over the years to have hydraulics and still maintain a good ride. This has been rather disappointing to most until the use of accumulators was incorporated into the systems. This gave cushion to the system, allowing a person to ride IN the seat, instead of bouncing out of it. Also, the more you use your setup, the more maintenance you can expect to do, such as replacing cylinder o-rings, dump cartridges, pump head seals, and any part of the system that may break or wear out. Of course, this depends on how badly you abuse it. Some good points about hydraulics are the enormous amount of lift possible with hydraulic cylinders, and the quickness with which they can lift/lower the vehicle. And if you've ever been to a major hydraulic competition, you know what exciting moves and heights vehicles are capable of with hydraulics. No matter what types of innovative ways people come up with to lift and lower their rides, hydraulics will always be the "classic" choice.

Air Bags: This seems to be the hottest trend in the industry right now. Air bags have been around for years, but until the last few, they were little competition to the quickness of hydraulics. Now with electric solenoid valves, compressed nitrogen, and other methods, air bags are demanding recognition as the "new age" suspension. Air bags do not necessitate the use of multiple batteries to the extent of hydraulics. I have seen an extra battery or two to help with the load of 4 or so compressors. Sometimes, people get carried away with the size of tanks they use for their reserve air. An air bag setup can take up more space than a hydraulic setup using 2 pumps and 8 batteries. I saw a truck at NOPI last year that the whole bed was completely filled with reserve tanks. It looked like a NASA experiment! Needless to say, it looked like his air supply would last him forever and a day. Another good point about Bags is they are clean. It's a fact; air will never stain your paint, interior, etc., unlike the oil used in hydraulic pumps. A downside has been the minimal amounts of lift possible with bags. Growing, ever so rapidly, is the use of cantilever type suspensions to gain more lift in the rear. Also, the manufacturers are designing triple convoluted bags that allow twice as much lift as before. Other downsides I have encountered are ruptured air lines and bags, compressors overheating and failing, or the worst…people using compressed nitrogen and their tanks empty. Can we say "stuck"? I witnessed a hopping competition where a competitor used air bags to hop. Although his ability to hop on bags was pretty impressive, he still had to stop occasionally and switch out his compressed nitrogen tanks to continue. It's yet to be a substantial competitor against hydraulics when it comes to hopping and dancing competitions. Nonetheless, this seems to be a growing trend for customizers worldwide.

Does it really matter what form of suspension one chooses to get their door draggin' mini off the ground with? The point is it's draggin' doors! It's really nothing to fight about. The most important thing is proper installation of your setup. Bags and hydraulics both can be fun and reliable when installed properly. So whether you're cruising in a '64 Impala, a Ford Ranger, or a Honda Civic, install the best setup to meet your needs and keep it draggin'!

Question: Is there such a thing as being too low? I never thought I could imagine a car or truck being too low. I used to drive my ragged old Pulsar with the unibody layin on pavement and had no adjustable suspension….the license plate read "notloenf". But that was the old days. Now we're in the ever-so-innovative age of customizing where everyone spends thousands of dollars on wheels, and then tries to conceal as much of them as possible with their fenders. I remember when it was cool just to have your fenders hovering just above the tires, not even tuckin, with something like 15" Enkei's that looked like fan blades. Frames would be just a couple of inches from the ground.

Then, it got to be like if you weren't layin body, you might as well go home. I guess it all started progressing due to the "too low" contests at shows. Judges would use a tape measure or ruler to measure the distance from the ground to the bottom of the door. This got people resorting to body drops to get their doors as close to the pavement as possible. After this caught on, people had to come up with another plan to win these contests. So, by body dropping a truck enough, the rocker panels could be cut off to the point that the door would actually touch the ground. The easy victory. But it didn't stop there. Now it's gotten to be more like if you're not layin window molding, you might as well go home. But I must say, I love to see trucks draggin doors, etc. But it's easy to get a truck to drag doors with 16's or 17's, but try it on a minitruck with 20's. Each year, wheel manufacturers are introducing bigger and bigger wheel sizes. A friend of mine is rollin on a set of 23's on his 2001 Tahoe--23's are enormous!

So when does a ride become too low? Is it when the body is layin on the ground (pic 1 above) Is it when the rocker panels have been cut off to the lay the doors on the ground (pic 2)? Or is it when the original body design of the vehicle has been altered so much to get it so low that it no longer resembles the vehicle it once was (pic 3)? I, for one, like to see a truck as low as it can go with the biggest wheels possible. For example, an S-10 layin body on 20's is phat, and it takes a lot of work to get it to do so. There is a guy, whose name escapes me, who has a Toyota pickup that is layin body on 20's. Only thing is, he had to "reshape" the front fenders to hide the 20's projecting above the fender/hoodline. I'm not too fond of the way the fenders look, but I must admit…the Toy layin body on 20's is just plain bad ass. Aside from the wheels sticking out above the fenders, there's also the engine. Where a cowl induction hood would once hide the engine sticking out above the factory hood, some trucks are dropped so drastically that the cowl induction hood had to be cut out for the engine to protrude through it. Crazy!

Is there a limit to this madness? I think so, as evident by the Blazer in pic 3 above. No offense intended to the owner/builder of the truck. It is engineered well, and the work looks professional with innovative ideas. But let's face it. It no longer looks like a Blazer. And it is rollin on 13's. I mean, he might as well be sitting on the rotors. But, nonetheless, it's a perfect example of the extremes people are willing to go for the title of "Worlds Lowest". Whatever your idea of being low is, do whatcha like…and no matter what….DRAG IT!

"Does size really matter?" I think we know what most women would have to say on this matter. But um…what if we were talking about wheels? Is there a limit to the madness? When will the size wars end? I always believe "the bigger, the better", but even I know there must be limitations on everything. I stopped by to see a buddy of mine the other day and his new 23's that were on his 2002 Tahoe were gone and it was sitting on stockers again. I asked him if he sold them. His response was "Yeah, I sold them because I'm getting 24's.". That's crazy!

By now, most of you have seen the infamous pics of the Toyota LandCruiser on Enkei prototype 26"rims. Of course, the wheels are not available for sales, but maybe they will be before long. But aside from size, what about the cost of wheels of this size? It used to cost a fortune to get a set of "dubs" for your ride. Now you can get a wide variety of 20's for $2400-$3500. I remember a friend of mine paying $5500 for 20's a couple of years ago. Well what about the people that pay $10,000 for rims. I guess if you've got it, flaunt it. I never get enough of seeing the biggest wheels possible stuffed into the wheel wells of cars and trucks, as long as the vehicles are low.

It wasn't that long ago that the "lowrider" phase was in full effect. And yes, even I was rolling on 13's and whitewalls. I even had 13's with 175/50/13's on one truck of mine. (what was I thinking?) Well, once that phase had passed, it seemed common to see 17's on just about everything. Now wheels are being made so much bigger that even 20's seem too small. It was a big thing to mock the "Got Milk" ads with "Got 20's". Now that's almost laughable to some. It's getting to be the norm to see 22's on fullsize trucks laying body. And speaking of laying body, this is where it gets really challenging. It's one thing for someone to lay body with a Toyota mini on 17's, but what about on 20's? That takes a lot more work and effort. Almost every truck that was body dropped a few years ago was sitting on 17's. And we all thought it was cool just because it was laying body. But now when you see a mini laying body with 19's or bigger, you have more of an appreciation of what that person did to accomplish it.

Below are some photos of trucks with different size wheels on them to compare. To make the comparison even easier, I chose the common Fullsize Chevy truck and all of them are bodydropped. You be the judge of what looks better to you. But I take my hat off all the people out there that are willing to push the envelope to the extreme and stuff their trucks (and cars) with the biggest rollers out there and getting as low as possible at the same time. So does size matter? Is it worth that extra inch or two, or is this what really separates the men from the boys? Well no matter what size wheels you drag on, the most important thing is that you're draggin'!

Full Size on 17"s	Full Size on 17"s(fr) 18"s(rr)
Full Size on 20"s	Full Size on 22"s
LandCruiser on 26"s