Coilovers..Whats the skinny???

[Rootus]

Coilovers move the springs so that they're around the strut, the stock spring goes away completely. The benefit is that you can run a spring with a much higher wheel rate than with the stock setup, and still have an acceptable ride, because coilovers reduce the binding of the control arms.

I'm planning on coilovers at some point sooner or later -- you don't need to do all four, and a lot of people only do the fronts, because there is not nearly the same benefit to doing the rear.

And I wouldn't buy anything but Maximum Motorsports. The cheapo coilover kits scare me. This is, after all, the suspension of your car.

Dave

 

[Rootus]

Damn StangNet, I wish they'd synchronize the times on their servers so that posts wouldn't get out of order.

Anyway -- try this FAQ from Maximum Motorsports, it'll answer your questions:

http://www.maximummotorsports.com/coiloverFAQ.asp

 

[RIO5.0]

I need some education on these..
Can someone give me the skinny on em??? I just swapped over to Bilstien rears and some Tokico struts...I looking at springs all over the place and keep seeing sweet deals on coilovers..I keep bouncing back and forth on what to do, but I really dont know how C/Os work....

Whats the Pros and Cons???

Do you still need to run normal springs? or remove em top run coilovers??

Can i run lets say C/Os in the fronts and do the rears later???

Redline racing SEEMS to have nice front set-up for 179.00 shipped for the fronts...

Any info or guidance would be great...Thanks...

 

[mustangmatt685]

Well, I dont know how much I can help but ill try. Ive never seen coilovers on a mustang so im not entirely sure how well theyll work on our car. However, all msy friends have hondas with coilover setups. The ride quality is not that great and the cars tend to bounce around. It seems to me the lower they drop them with the coilover setup, the ****tier the car rides. The cool thing is tho, that all you have to do to adjust ride height is get the wrench that comes with the coilovers and lower it or raise it as much as you want. I dont know if I can help at all but if you have questions, I can try because ive seen more of these setups than any other.

 

[RIO5.0]

Thanks...I was most curious about whether or not my old springs came out...I'll check that link...

I really want to replace my springs and this may be the time to invest in C/Os instead....

 

[Killercanary]

Andy, a good set of caster camber plates is a must when doing coild overs as all of the stress and weight of the car is directly on the top of the strut tower and the thin riveted/bolted stocker isn't up to the task. You can get just about any length and spring rate you wish. I'm more than likely going with a set of 14" springs with a 175 or greater rate. They are the drag springs, but the street springs are shorter and have a higher spring rate.

 

[RIO5.0]

Paul....Been running these Griggs for 3 years now....MM says the Alum NFG???

 

[baglock1]

Paul....Been running these Griggs for 3 years now....MM says the Alum NFG???

Umm those aren't Griggs CC plates. These are:

And quite frankly, unless they're some BIG-ASS-BEEFY aluminum plates, I'd stick with steel. Probably THE most important thing to remember when swapping to coilovers is that the entire weight of the car is placed at the top of the strut/shock mount. This isn't as big of a concern at the rear due to the smaller area (which allows less flex) and the lower weight.

At the front however, it's a different story. Consider the average frontend of a mustang is around 2000# plus and you're putting all that weight on the CC plates. This is why quality 4-bolt cc plates is absolutely critical on our cars.

Case in point - I recall some bugwit (ahem, I'm sorry, an individual who didn't do the research and bought "no-name" coilovers from a company who hadn't the technical expertise to recomend good aftermarket CC plates) who installed coilovers in the front. He then dropped the hydraulic jack way too fast for any situation, much less for a fresh suspension install. I believe he learned a quick lesson in the importance of proper research when his struts blew through his 'glass hood, ripping out the rubber in the stock CC plates, and wedging the tires up in the wheelwells. Albeit, an expensive lesson.

 

[RIO5.0]

They say Griggs on em???..but they sure as hell don't look like those....Guess that will be on the list... That would be a hard lesson to learn...and also pork my new hood pretty decently...
Thanks for that info....

 

[baglock1]

They say Griggs on em???..but they sure as hell don't look like those....

Maybe that was one of their early designs. Either way, the current design is the one I posted.