Noob question: air suspension install in roof box?

[dhuynh]

Hey everybody. New to the forum here. I recently bought a nissan juke nismo awd. Love the car but as of now she sits too high. I've been searching for an air installer in Colorado but I thought I'd ask you peoples here first. The juke doesn't have much cargo room and I want to keep the spare and all that. So I was wondering if it would be possible to get a roof box and install all the components up there. That way, the car looks stock and I keep all my space n the car. I've looked into maybe mounting all the components under the car but since it's awd there isn't much room down there. Maybe behind the bumper but I haven't had a chance to look much yet. I realize I'd probably have to drill into my roof to run some lines down to the wheels. I got the idea from looking at all the Audi wagons with air and some have roof boxes on them. Haven't been able to find a car setup like this yet. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[Randomofodication]

Could be done, wouldn't be ideal but it could work.

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

There's a guy I'm aware of who has all his OBA gear on the roof of his Land Cruiser. It certainly wouldn't be the way I'd go, however. I know the Juke is a small car, but surely somewhere under there is enough room to cram a tiny little compressor. If you go for an AccuAir manifold, your valve package will be tiny as well, and tanks come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. If you go for a 200 PSI setup, you can get away with quite a bit smaller of a tank than those who cut off at 120 or 150 PSI.

[dhuynh]

What makes the location less than ideal? Is it the distance from the suspension? Too long of a distance to travel? The only thing I could think of was weight but I imagine it wouldn't be that bad. It would make access to all the components easy to get to.

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

Your air suspension isn't going to care how far the tank and compressor are. But, two things would keep me from putting my gear on the roof:

1. Drilling holes through the roof. It can be done without leaks, but it's not something I'd want to do.

2. What if you get bored of how the roof rack setup looks?

Have a look at the dimensional drawings of some of the smaller Viair compressors. I had a 275C on my old truck, and it was surprisingly small. In fact, I would bet that a small pancake tank or the little Viair 0.5 gallon could fit inside your spare easily enough, especially if you ditched that weird upper tray some of the Jukes seem to come with.

[Randomofodication]

Running the air lines would be a massive pain in the arse, large holes would have to be drilled for them to enter the cabin. Also trying to hide the air lines coming from the roof rack would be next to impossible. Longer lines also means more chances of it rubbing through somewhere and leaking. Why not put all your air stuff where the spare tire is, and if you want to keep a spare and jack throw that in the roof rack. Same look, same space, but soooo much less to work through and less chance of headaches

[dhuynh]

Thanks for the input. Next to the spare there is a large foam compartment. Its removable and looks like i can get a 3 gal tank to fit there. I'll have to remove the spare and see if there is a hump under it as well. I would ideally like the compressor to be outside the car. If its as small as you say it is. Maybe I can find a spot for it in the rear bumper or under the car.

[AnchorsAweigh]

Running the air lines would be a massive pain in the arse, large holes would have to be drilled for them to enter the cabin. Also trying to hide the air lines coming from the roof rack would be next to impossible. Longer lines also means more chances of it rubbing through somewhere and leaking. Why not put all your air stuff where the spare tire is, and if you want to keep a spare and jack throw that in the roof rack. Same look, same space, but soooo much less to work through and less chance of headaches

This. A thousand times this