Forced Air

So based on a $450 a month budget, where would you start?

Derf00

How about pics of the underside of your car, like suspension points? Give us a better idea of what to recommend/start with. When you say corners like crap...what does that mean? Oversteer/understeer, bouncy ride, harsh (like feel every bump) ride, etc....?

Who knows what the previuos owner did/didn't do. Could be as simple as cut springs without the rubber cushions.

Norm Peterson

Keep in mind that I'm only guessing at what might be the problems and that there may be more. What I'd do first is get underneath and find out what's there and what condition it's in. Find out if everything that's supposed to be there, is (and isn't broken), and whether there are any extra pieces.

Bouncy is usually shocks. Harsh on bumps with bouncy ride and bottoms easily with passengers is springs/excessive lowering. Might as well do those two things first and do them at the same time so you don't take the front suspension apart and re-align it twice. If you weren't having bottomming issues, you could get away doing just shocks first, but I'm afraid that in your case you'd bottom out the new shocks/struts and damage them internally.


Norm

Forced Air

In the corners, the front of the car feels pretty stable with a hint of oversteer. The rear feels like it's an old Cadillac just floating along. It never feels as though it gets planted.

In a straight line, the suspension feels overly stiff yet bounces after coming across a bump. I'm not sure if this is a spring rate problem or a shock problem.

I'll get some pictures up tonight when I get home. Hopefully you guys can tell me what is/isn't there. I'm used to working with leaf springs so this is a whole new ball game for me.

I did get under the car when I was inspecting it but I didn't notice any parts that looked aftermarket or that had any kind of badging on them. This may very well be a DIY spring chop.

mattman320

just my .02 that car doesn't look lowered very much at all, i'd start out by finding out what the stock fender height (w/ stock tires of course) should be and measure yours accordingly to see how much it is if at all. could just be worn out parts like Norm said, or could be a chop job. I'd check that first because if it is lowered that should go into your spring/shock decision before buying.

Forced Air

Here are some underside pics. I got pics from all four corners. Does anyone have any hub to fender measurement from stock height and lowered cars? That would sure help me determine if the car has been lowered and by how much.

Thanks

[IMG] [/IMG]

07grabber4.0

That looks stock to me.

Norm Peterson

The struts (front) don't appear to be uniform color, as if they've leaked in the past. Are they at all greasy?

The left rear shock does appear to have leaked and may be bent.

Can't really tell anything about the springs. Are any little scraps of factory tags still on any of them?


Norm

Parts Jimmy

Check to see if the pinion snubber is bottoming out. If so that will explain a lot of the rear suspension issues.

Parts Jimmy

They could be Ford Racing B springs. Get the numbers off the springs if possible. If the numbers are on a plastic tag they are probably stock springs. B springs require you to replace the pinion snubber with a shorter version of a snubber.I used one I had laying around from Energy Suspension.