Bad ride quality with new springs

HISSIN50 said:

Poka, what did you find to work with your aftermarket springs that was less harsh?

On a street car that sees normal crappy roads, you need agressive valving to accomodate the shortened spring (esp since quite a few springs are not rated as high as they really could/should be)

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Pokageek said:

Stock / oem style with the eibach pro kit and the ride was AWESOME and handled very well. After slamming into the back of an suv because my breaks werent up to snuff, I thought I'd better up the anty with shocks that hold the tire better to the road..so I bought the blue tokos. I cant say they do ANYTHING better for my car and have no way to prove it.

Hissin can you please explain what it means to have aggressive valving? Does that mean better ride? Am I getting anything out of my tokos but dont know it? Why the harser ride? Last..Could I put back the oem style front struts and keep the rear tokos? Or is that a bad idea? thks.

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HISSIN50 said:

Stream of thought (a lot of which is already known):
Stock, we have a lot of travel for the spring and damper to absorb imperfections. Duh.
When we do lowering springs, we lose a lot of that suspension-articulation displacement. One caveat is that with a lowering spring, one would like to increase the spring rate quite a bit. This isnt really feasible on a street car. So it is kind like jumping off a 5' ledge. The first time you can come to rest at a full squat (stock springs/dampers) The second time you're limited to only bending your knees 90* (lowering springs). On the latter descent, you'll have to use a lot more quad to shop at 90*, and there will be a lot more shock to your body because the descent displacement was less.

What I think might be happening: The stock struts/shocks are probably a bit underdamped with the Prokit. This can lead to a softer ride. I used stock dampers with the Prokit and for *my desires* they sucked because when you hit a decent little roll or hill while at speed, the suspension cycled compression/rebound. This was smooth to the passengers but sucked from a handling perspective. A hideous analogy: I just rewatched Gone in 60 Seconds recently. When Cage jumps the ambulance and lands, the car is bouncing all over the road. That would be like underdamped struts/shocks.

When I went to the HP's (still with the Prokit), the 'day to day' bumps were felt by me more (increased harshness). But stability when hitting hills and dips in the road was greater because I wasn't 'bouncing' after such an event.

Does that maybe fit what you've seen Keith? With lowering springs, there are big trade-offs and perhaps what I see as good (increased stability at speed) isnt as important to you (you like a more compliant ride while cruising).

As for mixing and matching (OEM struts and HP shocks), I'll speak aloud my one concern. The rear end is light - that's where we can sometimes go with a damper that isn't as aggressive (city driving here, no track talk). Having the rears be complaint (stock shocks) and the fronts more aggressive would be the way I'd stagger stock and aftermarket dampers. But that simply isnt an option for someone wanting a more compliant ride. That's a question for someone who's done it.

A really progressive strut (with compression and rebound specs tailored to your desires) might work for you Keith. I do *not* have experience with the really high end stuff *on Mustangs* (I did with an old roadster and a Porsche I drove many years ago). That, my friend, is something that someone else will have to talk about.

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