This paper is concerned with the orthotropic problem of diaphragm-type air springs which consist of rubber linings, nylon reinforced rubber composite and bead ring. The analysis is carried out with a finite element method developed to consider the orthotropic properties, geometric nonlinearity and contact between an air bag and a bead ring. The material properties are evaluated with the Halpin-Tsai equations and the rule of mixture depending on the element size. The analysis results demonstrate the variation of the outer diameter, the fold height and the vertical force with different models to design a proper diaphragm air spring.