C springs in a GT vert

[HISSIN50]

Thank you for the kind words Derek. When my car grows up, it wants to look like yours and Dave's and some of the other great lookin rides on here.

The guy sold the springs to someone else, so this might go on the backburner (till I get real bored). Now that the appeal of cheap springs is not there, I'd really want something that sits closer to stock height (more like a 0.5" - 3/4" drop total). I mainly wanted the freshness of new springs to see if it makes any difference in how things feel.

Thanks again guys.

 

[srothfuss]

For a new car ride... new bushings (rubber) do wonders.

If you really want to get some new springs though, H&R makes convertible specific rates with very little drop. I was thinking about running them until I got the B-springs on a trade.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I have C's on my LX hatch. I don't run CC plates with them and don't have any odd tire wear.

I run tokico shocks and struts and with the c's the ride is harsh. Luckily it's not a daily driver so i don't mind because the car handles like it's on rails.

I've taken hard corners in my LX with 235 series rubber at 70-75MPH that i only feel comfortable taking at 50-55MPH in my '03 GT with 245's.

 

[HISSIN50]

Steve, that's a great idea. I thought the same and already re-did almost everything in polyurethane or stock durometer rubber (I waited on springs cuz I wasnt sure what I wanted). I gotta figure that these springs have seen better days and something fresh would be nice.

Mike, that's very interesting. I think because my fox is a vert, I feel the opposite. The '94 (Eibachs, Tokico's, poly, etc) feels rail-like (I love it). The vert is kind of a wallowy pig (I really dont mind - it does what I want it to do).

I'm gonna see what else is out there that doesnt have a ton of drop - I might just do the C's anyhow. Hearing that CC plates arent necessarily mandatory is very nice (I aint got the ching for those too). On paper, I havent seen many springs that dont drop less than C's. I dont know how ya guys run a 2" drop - my fender gap is just a hair more than that.

Thanks again. I havent posted in Talk in awhile, and now I have two threads up here. This is kinda fun.

 

[Mustang5L5]

My drop was actually a lot more than Ford advertises. My front tire is even with the fender lip. I'd estimate it at almost 1.5-2" of drop in the front alone. Out back it's about 1" down and i can get 2 fingers in.

Next time i take the back end out i'm gonna either cut the dead coil or buy those Max motorsports adjustable control arms and lower the rear down for an even look.

Max motorsport full lenght SFC's do wonders too

 

[HISSIN50]

My drop was actually a lot more than Ford advertises. My front tire is even with the fender lip. I'd estimate it at almost 1.5-2" of drop in the front alone. Out back it's about 1" down and i can get 2 fingers in.

Thank you. I looked at the specs for the drop and then what it did for all your cars (in pics), and I'm thinkin WTF. I knew very little about the Ford springs before this deal came about, and they looked so mild on paper compared to actual pics - I thought I lost my mind (well, the rest of it).

 

[795.0pacecar]

I have the C spings in my car. Its a pretty harsh ride but the car handles very well. I've taken some 90 degree turns at 50-55 mph and the car stayed glued to the road. I like the slight rake the springs give the car, its good to have alittle hight in the back so you can actually put things in the back of the car without bottoming out, thats why I havn't cut the rear springs.

 

[795.0pacecar]

Here's a decent pic that shows off the stance the C springs give.

 

[whtpny]

I hace B springs on my vert I beleive they give the same drop. which by the way was 1.2 inches. Make sure you do the other things that help a suspension move afterwards including the rack bushings. I found my tie rod ends were binding up without them and created a harsher ride.

 

[HISSIN50]

I measured the overall tire height of the '88 (turdbines with stock size tires) vs the 245/45/17 Nittos on the '94 and it's about a push (I did this to compare my overall height to what most of you might be running - my 94's tire/wheel height is likely comparable to what many of you use). Do any of you have front fender rubbing issues (E.g., Mike, you mentioned the tire being about the same latitude as the fender lip - did you roll the fender lip any?)......

I'm still trying to decide what to do - I have my mind pretty set on fresh springs. Now I'm trying to figure out how much drop (C's would be nice if the weight of a GT vert doesnt further drop the car - I dont want to rub and I hate it when a car is pretty slammed with poo poo stock rims (we've seen the ricers who do this ) .

I gravitated toward thinkin about something like Mach 1 springs. Thoughts? Good place to get some?

I welcome all other opinions too. You guys have your ear closer to the ground on this stuff than I.

I could care less about NVH, BTW. All the poly up front kinda took care of that.


Stephen, thank you for the input and pic. I also like a little rake (not stinkbug, but a little) especially since the vert rear-end is kinda weak anyhow. Your ride looks droolmazing.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I measured the overall tire height of the '88 (turdbines with stock size tires) vs the 245/45/17 Nittos on the '94 and it's about a push (I did this to compare my overall height to what most of you might be running - my 94's tire/wheel height is likely comparable to what many of you use). Do any of you have front fender rubbing issues (E.g., Mike, you mentioned the tire being about the same latitude as the fender lip - did you roll the fender lip any?)......

When i had my 16" pony wheels, i didn't have any rub from putting the suspension through the motions. I did get some rub at full lock but that was more of having the 16" wheels.

Now with my 17" Cobra wheels i have rub only at full lock. I can still take bumps and not worry about the tire hitting the fenders. I have not rolled them.

And you are right, your 88's diameter is equal to your 94's. A 225/60/15 is the same diameter as the 225/55/16 used on the pony wheels and is the same diameter as the 245/45/17 used on 94+ GT's and is the same diameter as 275/40/17's used on the 03+ cobras. FOrd kept the same diameter dispite changing rim sizes and width.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Just found a very old pic of when i had 4-lug and pony wheels. You can see the drop here

If i had to do it again, i'd go H&R springs, but i don't care about drop. They are just good quality springs. Even the B springs might ride better than my C's. They don't handle as well

 

[HISSIN50]

Thank you Mike. I've never lowered a car enough to be concerned with rubbing, and really wasnt sure how low I could go before worrying (using my tape and straight-edge last night in the garage, I was worrying about things).

I gotta ponder for a bit. I really appreciate the effort and pics; both are mucho appreciated.

 

[stang8urimport]

Here's a decent pic that shows off the stance the C springs give.

F'in beautiful! I love this car! I don't even mind the 4 Lug Cobra R's!! That thing makes me drooooooool! Ok, back on topic.

 

[795.0pacecar]

Im dichin the cobra rs saturday and getting ROH ZS wheels.

 

[HISSIN50]

Im dichin the cobra rs saturday and getting ROH ZS wheels. I'm getting such a good deal on the new ROHs that I can send my old wheels/tires to JT

bold = oops, I guess I was daydreaming.

 

[795.0pacecar]

Actually I am getting an awesome deal on the ROHs, $700 with brand new tires, but my sister has a 93 that needs new wheels and tires so Im selling the Cobras to her super cheap. One wheel has alittle curb rash from the previous owner of them. Im selling them to her with 2 good and 2 bad tires for $100 lol. You can all freak out now lol.

You guys wouldn't want them anyway, they dont fit right, they stick out so far in the rear that with fender lip rolling the biggest tire I could fit was a 255, and they rub alot in the front too.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Ok i'm changing my view that you don't need C/C plates with C-springs.

I just took off one of my Cobra wheels do polish out some scratches in the clearcoat when i noticed i have a little more wear on the inside edges.

Guess C/C plates go on the list of mods i need to get

 

[795.0pacecar]

I need CC plates too. I can get a full degree of negative camber out of the driver side but I can only get positive camber out of the passenger side

 

[HISSIN50]

I was really wondering about that - the C's dropped some of you guys a lot. I'm more conversant with SN95's (non N.E.'s) and anything close to that much drop can really necessitate the plates to dial out some neg camber.