AlloySixxer

Hey guys,

I'm planning on lowering my car. All I care about is that the drop looks good and rides decently. I'm not going to track the car, and I don't care about having the best suspension. Can I get away with this set up:

-Steeda Sport Springs (Are these for the V6 & GT?)
-Panhard Bar (How important is this?)

I don't really want to pay for new struts/shocks, caster/camber plates, or upper strut mounts. For my purposes, can I get away without these things? I figure, I can always go back and add parts. I don't usually cheap out, but I don't want to pay 1K to lower my car. Also, what panhard bar should I get? I've been told to go with BMR.

txminime

Short answer is Yes. You can lower the car with just the springs and nothing else (may be an alignment). Depending on the condition of your current shocks/struts, the car may or may not ride decently. Also have to watch out for self-destructing upper strut mounts when you R&R the front springs.

Steeda Sport springs are pretty mild so you probably won't need a new panhard bar. My 2011 lowered by exactly 1 1/4" and the axle shifted toward the driver side by 1/2". Unless you are looking for it, it is not noticeable. Then again, your rear axle may shift more or less than mine due to manufacture tolerances and other factors. You should probably lower the car first and then decide if a panhard bar is needed or not.

Hope this helps.

FC

floridafordguy

I asked the same question on another thread. Sam Strano jumped in and was ADAMENT about needing to replace the dampers if you change springs ( I also wanted to do Steeda Sport or Ultralight Springs). As Sam is the suspension guru around here, I give alot of credence to what he says. You might want to check with him. He's a site sponsor here. Good luck.

allinon72

If all the OP cares about is looks and a decent ride, all you need are springs. That said, I consider a panhard bar to be necessary, same with upper mounts. I tried to reuse my upper mounts like many others have and ended up having to go back in and replace them with GT500 mounts.

Norm Peterson

I'd put the Steeda HD upper strut mounts higher up on the list than any replacement PHB. In addition to being more durable on a lowered car, they also provide you with a safe and reliable means of correcting your alignment if you find that you want or need camber correction (either now or later).

I'm betting that some of the excessive lateral axle shift that quite a few people seem to have noticed is tied somehow to the PHB bushings as well as to perhaps measuring the 'before' axle position at full axle droop but measuring the 'after' position with the car off of the jackstands. Some of the numbers that have been given for axle shift simply aren't geometrically possible with the OE PHB length and inclination. About all that's left is that there may be some bushing distortion going on that people aren't watching for and don't notice.

I *think* you'd want to loosen the PHB and control arm fasteners before lowering the car to its new ride height and bounce the rear a couple of times to eliminate any stiction/friction before retorquing them at their new curb height. This would apply to any remaining OE bushings, but not to any aftermarket poly or spherical bushing replacements


Norm

Sam Strano

Well, that's because if you upgrade the dampers on a car with stock springs, it rides better. If you use lowering springs, it makes even more difference.

If I was adamant about anything, it's that if you want it to work as best you can, you want better dampers. Ask anyone who's swapped them, either with stock springs or with lowering springs--they'll tell you the car rides better with better shocks.

All you need to lower the car are the springs, period. Everything else falls under recommended (different levels of recommended), but not *required* unless you want the car to work better.

Look, doing springs and nothing else is like doing a cam swap, and nothing else. No tune, no intake, no valve spring swaps, no exhaust change. Can you? Sure. Will it make the car "better"? Yep. Will it work near as well as it could or should? Nope. Cars are systems, and a system involves more than one part. Change one and other factors should change as well.

07GrabU

i was going to do just the Ford Racing K springs, then we noticed that my front struts were leaking.I didnt even have 3,000 miles on the car. I ended up with FRPP springs and dampers, wanted everything to match up. Do it right the first time, your only fooling yourself if you think otherwise.

AlloySixxer

I like do it right the first time. That would mean, go ahead and do the dampers, PHB, and HD mounts. It just sucks that it costs 1k to lower this car the right way..

SilverHoss

I disagree. If you just want looks, yes. But the decent ride part - well any of the lowering springs are going to be stiffer than the stock springs, and for stiffer springs, you are going to need more damping and that is what the shocks, which are actually spring dampers, do. The factory shocks are not gonna do the job with the stiffer springs and what you get is a ride that feels stiff and kinda bouncy and uncontrolled. Some folks will tell you they replaced just the springs and the car rides fine. But they don't know how much better it could be, cause they have not experienced the ride with better dampers. World of difference. Get you some good, like say Koni str.t shocks to go with those springs it is money well spent. As far as the PHB, lower the car and then measure from the fender lip to the wheels on both side of the rear. I usually hang a plumb bob from a string from the car body on each side and with the car on level ground, meas. from the string to the wheel on each side and compare the difference. If the axle is inly shifted like 1/4" or something I would not worry about getting the adj. phb.
Just my .02 from personal experience with several cars but I'm not an expert on suspension tuning like Sam or Norm....

Norm Peterson

A few possible reasons . . .

1) . . . Inflation. I can remember when $1000 could get you everything you needed for an inch lowering including alignment and front and rear sta-bars - PLUS a fairly serious engine build-up including cam, forged pistons, and headers if you could do the assembly and re-installation into the car yourself. And you'd still have a little left over to put gas in the tank for the test drive.

$50 used to get you a top-shelf tire, at least in the smaller sizes. Today, it takes more like $200. Higher than that, if you're still shopping for the same name tires.

2) . . . Struts cost more than shocks for a short-long A-arm suspension. Around double is as good a figure to use as any, not that there's much you can do about it. Plus there are related parts for strut suspensions for which nothing similar exists for SLA suspensions (think strut mounts and camber or caster-camber plates).

3) . . . Cars now have better performance - far better cornering grip and handling behavior in particular - than their 1960's predecessors did. Tires are much better as well. IOW, it's easier now to end up worse off than stock than it used to be. Back when high-13 second 1/4 mile times, 0.70 lateral g, and 58 mph through a 100' spacing slalom for a 100% showroom stock car represented a serious performer, you could get away with doing mods that might not have been thought through very well and still end up with better performance than stock.

4) . . . People, on average, know more now, so they consider doing more.

The average person who is looking to lower or otherwise modify his car's suspension and knows enough to ask a few questions concerning more than just the springs already knows more about suspension and handling than his counterpart of 40 years ago did. Back then very few people outside vehicle mfr engineering offices even knew what the questions were. 40 years ago, people just did things and hoped for the best. Sometimes things worked out, other times they didn't and once in a while people got bit by a poor decision.

5) . . . People today, on average, are fussier about not giving up too much ride quality. Used to be, you just lived without what you compromised away, or you actively chose from the get-go to do without it. I think this item is particularly relevant in this particular thread.


Norm