Can I use stock shocks/struts for new springs?
- Thread starter GoBlue
- Start date
isjoining
New Member
if your stock shocks and struts are still good and not worn out, you can put in lowering springs, but it will wear out the stockers that much faster now. If its worn out, spend the extra money for aftermarket shocks and struts. In my opinion, you might as well put in new shocks and struts while doing lowering springs, kill two birds with one stone.
..yea you can. but even if they don't blow, thats not the issue. The car will not have the right charecteristics with stock shocks on a lowered car. You want dampners if your looking for ANY sort of performance out of those springs. especially IF your stock struts/shocks have over 50k miles on them, then you can just forget about it.
My car rides real poor
i have tokico struts but my shocks still don't dampen the rear of the car correctly.
My car rides real poor
i have tokico struts but my shocks still don't dampen the rear of the car correctly.
Terrible compairison.
Can you do it ? Yes. Is it a great idea ? No.
The reality is that a set of springs is fairly cheap and a set of socks/struts is relatively cheap but not as cheap nearly as cheap as a set of 4 springs. Front AGXs are 120 x 2 = 240. Rears AGXs are 90 x2 =180. Thats $420 + tax and shipping for a set of 4 struts/shocks. A set of 4 coil springs like the Ford C springs are $160, Eibachs are like 240-260 or so and H&Rs can be had for around $250 as well. So lets say 240 for some nice AGXs and another 250 for H&Rs/ Thats 490 plus tax/shipping. Or you can go with a set of Ford springs for 160 + tax/ship and be done with it.
Which springs are you going to switch to ? If you are going to say the Ford C spring then you aren't as likely to kill your dampeners quite as fast as they wont slam the car and over work them too much. If you want to buy some Eibach then you will likely need fronts really soon and rears about a few months later.
Another thing, do you do the work yourself or pay a mechanic to put your parts in ? If you pay a mechanic then you might as well do the front struts at the same time since it adds all of about 5 minutes of work total for the fronts. The rears will add a lot more time and can be done any time down the line.
I think the most important question of all is, what are you trying to achieve by lowering the car ? Just don't like that "4x4" look ? Want better handling ? How rough of a ride are you willing to endure to get what you are after.
One last piece of advice. Stay the hell away from the Eibachs. I got them on my daily driver and after about 2-3 years I'm geting rid of them for some H&Rs. I'm just sick of scraping on everything, effing up my paint and having a VERY uncofortable ride..... they do handle quite well tho.... I don't think I'm "geting to old" I think I just shouldn't have to compromise this much for performance.
isjoining
New Member
I think it's a great comparison. If you drive around with stock shocks and struts on lowered springs for a while you could do some serious damage to the car. For starters you could kill your wheel bearings, strut mounts, upper and lower control arm bushings, your tires, and alot rattles in the interior just for the sake to look better and handle better. Compared to the air filter, with no air filter you run the risk of more dirt in the engine which leads to dirtier valves, pistons, intake mani, heads, which can lead to costly repairs just for the sake of a few extra hp. I'm not trying to start something here my point is just for the sake of looks and minor handeling it's not worth getting springs without upgrading the shocks and struts because you could do more damage than you think in the long run. Same as the air filter.
Again, bad compairision.
It really depends WHAT SPRINGS you put it. If you put in a Ford C spring set then the stock shocks work fine. If you put in something more extreme like the Eibachs then you are very likely to blow the struts out in short order.
A better compairison would be driving the car without struts and running with no air filter. Altho, our Mustangs use the strut to hold the spindle in place so you couldn't drive a Fox/SN95 Mustang like that.
It really depends WHAT SPRINGS you put it. If you put in a Ford C spring set then the stock shocks work fine. If you put in something more extreme like the Eibachs then you are very likely to blow the struts out in short order.
A better compairison would be driving the car without struts and running with no air filter. Altho, our Mustangs use the strut to hold the spindle in place so you couldn't drive a Fox/SN95 Mustang like that.
streethorse
15 Year Member
Ive still got the stockers with the eibach pro kit.... from 8k - 48k.
They are still as good as they ever were, but thats a 1 inch drop.
They are still as good as they ever were, but thats a 1 inch drop.
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