Ok well i got the new rims and tires on and now my car sits like a 4x4. and i have a couple of questions.

1.) what is the best springs to get if i plan on keeping the factory shocks and struts? Would the Ford racing springs do any better than an aftermarket?

2.) Also i want a raked looked where the rear is a little higher than the front. all the springs i have found either lower the car the same all around or lower the rear more than the front.

3.) and are CC plates needed? I heard they were needed to keep the car aligned but i have lifetime alignments at the dealership so do i still need them?

Thanks!

oh and pics! i will get pics of rims once i get the lowering springs....right now its too much 4x4 to put up pics lol

 

Ford Racing springs are aftermarket springs (Eibach?). The M-5300-P springs for the GT are claimed to lower the car by 1", which I guess you have to assume is an 'even' drop since only one number is given.

No matter whose aftermarket lowering springs are being talked about, the OE struts & shocks won't be optimum, and probably won't last as long given the higher spring rates involved.

Alignment difficulty and whether you need camber bolts (sometimes called "crash bolts) or camber plates depends on the specific car, the amount of drop, and what sort of camber figure you either need or want to end up with.


Edit - go ahead and put up a 'before' pic. And an 'after' pic when that happens so we can see the difference

Norm

 

oh ok thanks....yeah the ford springs are probably made by an aftermartker person now that i think about it. most of their parts seem to be like that. How much faster do you think the OEM stocks and struts would go out with aftermarket spring rather than OEM. i was looking at the Ford K spring which is a 1.5 drop all the way around....

 

i also found these springs which have a drop i would like. 1.4 front and 1.1 rear however its a brand i have never heard of....anyone used thsese before from mustangsuspension?

http://www.stangsuspension.com/store...idproduct=1363

StangSuspension.com Lowering Springs Series I - For 05-09 Mustangs
Features:

High quality spring steel construction
Progressive rate design
Powdercoated for longevity
Lowers - 1.4" Front, 1.1" rear on GT
Lowers - 1.3" Front, 1.0" rear on V6
Spring Rating - 240 lb/in front, 200 lb/in rear

 

Mustang is raked stock, so any springs that lower equally all around will keep raked look.

Camber bolts run $20... well worth it to have camber adjustability even if you don't need it. What you should consider, though, is the need to realign the rear after lowering, which will require an adjustable panhard bar if you want to keep the axle centered (some people get lucky and don't need one, but I think most lowering throws off the centering enough that you'd notice it and it'd look funny, one wheel sticking out one side more than the other)

 

all cc plates i saw were 200 bucks or more....where do you get them for 20 bucks???? and what is a good panhard bar to get??

 

I'm referring to camber bolts, which give you camber adjustability on the cheap ($30, sorry). I don't think you need camber/caster plates necessarily, but don't quote me.

http://www.stangsuspension.com/store...idproduct=1052

 

Hard to say because there is no simple relationship between spring rate change (which you can put a number on) and individual driver requirements/preferences (that you cannot). But you might right away feel that the shocks are not doing as good of a job if you know what to look for. And you'd be at least partly right. OE damping will be less effective with the stiffer spring, and there will be more movement (on suspension rebound at least).

Tolerance for additional suspension movement is an individual thing, and while stiffer springs will allow more overshoot to occur at least on rebound, you may or may not particularly notice this and it may or may not bother you if you do. If you're expecting it, you'd probably notice the difference between "after springs swapped" vs "before" right after the swap was done, since it's a sudden change. Depending in part what your normal driving is like, you might just adapt to the new "feel" for a while . . . or not.

Even without a spring change, some drivers are completely happy driving around on struts and shocks with 75,000 miles on the clock, while others may feel them becoming less effective at less than 10,000. Or that they're "wrong" for their driving conditions from the get-go (this also applies to specific settings in the case of adjustables, BTW).


Norm

 

There are lots of options out there for panhard bars and most are fairly comparable including BMR, CHE, Steeda, and J&M. I personally went with the Steeda, but that was due an awesome deal I found on ebay. The big difference for most street applications is the position of the adjusting nuts as most have them on the ends (which makes it more difficult to do the adjustment on the car), while others have them more centered for on car adjustments.

Having just went through installing my Steeda (which was a PITA to tighten on the car), I would recommend the BMR due to centered adjustment.

 

Apparently center-adjust PHBs have held up OK at least in "normal" service. But they make me a little uneasy from a structural point of view with two threaded joints with thread fit looseness right in the middle. For on-car adjustability I'd rather see an offset adjuster, with the PHB mounted such that the adjuster was closer to the chassis rather than closer to the axle.

I guess as long as you have lots of thread engagement everywhere . . .


Norm