starbai

Has crossed my mind... but not really sure thats the route I wanna go... at least not when I see so many others on the forum running sportlines seemingly just fine... (albeit with a lotta added crap to get it to roll straight )

Norm Peterson

Quote:

As I continue to read, I have noticed at least a few members on the various mustang forums with Sportline Springs...

I don't know what to tell you here, other than perhaps the folks you’re trying to get information from bought them because of thinking that runs something like "if a little lowering is good, more is better, and too much is just enough". Many people don’t have an opinion one way or the other about ride and drive characteristics unless it’s either hugely better than before or truly horrible, so they can’t really even lie and tell you it’s great when it still feels about the same to them. Maybe they’ve discovered that there is a downside or two and are unwilling to admit it. We've all made choices that we became less than happy with after the newness wore off.

I won't go so far as to say that Sportlines are inherently unsafe, just that they do force compromises in your use of the car, and that the compromises involve more than the handling side. But my opinion remains that Sportlines are kind of out there at the ragged edge as it is with respect to normal daily driving – really more for show than anything - and the impression I am getting is that you want to go lower still.

I’m not a stranger to lowering – or with having to deal the odd unexpected consequence. If you go into this album and look at the car that's dirt-tracking and throwing up a lot of dust, that one was lowered about an inch and stiffened enough that hard driving solo or two up was not an issue. Understand that it started out with only about 4.5" ground clearance, so an inch in the rear and a little more than that up front is significant. But it got stuck in snow or mud easier, and would ride solidly on the rear bump stops with a full passenger load. The aftermarket front sta-bar would not clear a standard 12-oz drink can on its side (the skinny Coors cans were just barely safe). Might have scraped frame on the right (wrong?) road contour if not for the bar's brackets (which needed repair/replacement every so often from doubling as skid plates).

The Mazda in that album was briefly lowered more than I expected or wanted - so far that even tires that were an inch shorter than OE rubbed heavily in only moderate cornering. Strut suspensions can easily end up letting the car roll more when you lower them, not the same amount or less like you might expect. IOW, some of the extra spring rate in the lowering springs is used up just to maintain the same amount of roll. The picture is after I raised it back up again but still on the “lowering springs”. I raised it by an inch and a half or so, and it still sits enough lower than stock to notice every time I climb (down) into it. In its “slammed” state, it was pretty much worthless as a daily driver. The front of a S197 Mustang uses struts, not a short-long A-arm arrangement like the S2k and most earlier Hondas.


You can make the car stiff enough for it to live that low against things like cornering roll, squat from acceleration, and dive from heavy braking. But not from the amount of movement that comes from bumps in the road, for example. In normal driving straight ahead on a fairly smooth highway you can easily be getting an inch of suspension movement even with a stiffened suspension.


Norm
(having computer difficulties and almost out of battery)

Norm Peterson

Maybe it would be better to chip away at the wheel gap issue by doing a little each with two different things than trying to do it all with just the lowering.

I think you can find tires that are around 28" - 28.5" in the 19" and larger wheel sizes that aren't any taller than 40 profile. That would take 1/2" to 3/4" out of your wheel gap and be that much less that you'd be trying to do with springs. Since ultimate performance does not appear to rank very high on your list of priorities, I kind of expect that you'd be more accepting of 19's/20's/whatever than Sam or me.


Norm

Digital_Synapse

lol, my car is hardly a concept car.

With just sportlines in the car, it handles great. As far as performance goes, it feels stiffer and more responsive, better accel and braking. As far as comfort goes, well it isnt horrible but its a little more bumpy than I'd like on poor roads. To give you an idea on the harshness...the car rides better dropped on the Brembo wheels than it did at factory height on 20" bullitts.

That said, there is an interesting topic, bumps. The car responds to them differently at different speeds. Depending on what you plan to do to your car as far as type of driving will kinda push you one way or the other. At normal speeds 20-45mph its not horrible, but you can feel it isnt stock. 60-85mph going straight is ok, little rebound bouncing, nothing to worry about...on a curve depending on the bump gets a little nervous. >85mph it isn't wise on less than perfect roads, or roads with quick elevation changes on turns. >145mph it was ok only because the road was straight and perfect until I hit a pretty considerable bump/groove. OMG the bouncing made my *** pucker a little, lol.

So travel is very important regardless of your setup to cushion the wheel movement without launching your car into the air, which would be catastrophic on a curve. So if you're dropped stay under 100mph, unless you're at a track with an awesome surface.

Fays2 WL, Koni Yellows, BBR LCAs, and Eibach sportlines is going to be the extent of my suspension for now. Not looking for an all out race car, but a high performing street car.