Steeda Suspension Installed!

My Steeda suspension parts arrived yesterday. (On my calendar, this year, Christmas was July 24th.) I'll give a bonus to Steeda on the delivery. I Placed the order on Monday, July 20th, late afternoon, and the parts arrived that Friday at 1pm. Plenty of time left in the day to begin the install.

I ordered:
Steeda Sport Springs
Steeda Pro-Action Dampers
Steeda Rear Sway Bar with Billet Endlinks

This is very similiar to the "Steeda Handling Pack Stage 2", but $300 cheaper, and without the strut brace and front sway bar, both of which I understand are somewhat unneccessary.

I was able to put on the rear springs, dampers, and sway bar in about four hours after the parts arrived. Most of that time was figuring out how to jack up my car (small awkward garage), and fiddling with removing the rear shocks. I did not have the special tool that allows you to loosen the bolt at the top of the shock (in the trunk), while keeping the shock bar from spinning. I had to hold the bar with some pliers to break loose that bolt.

I also had some confusion as to which way was up on the rear springs. Steeda's install instructions state that the "small progressive part of the spring" should face up. I am not sure how your supposed to know which end of the spring is progressive. I did notice that one part of the spring is more tightly coiled. Since that was smaller than the other part, I assume that was the progressive part. Putting that up, the words "Steeda" were also right-side-up, so I am assuming I did it correctly.

Everything else went very smoothly. The new sway bar is a pretty impressive piece of metal. As are the endlinks. Billet aluminum always feels like something special in the hand.

I greased the hell out of everything during the install, as added noise and vibration (NVH) was a concern. Steeda includes two small viles of grease which was much more then enough for all the parts. After a day of test driving, I can report NO additional NVH.

The rear parts have made a very noticible difference. The steering is more precise, obviously less body roll, a tighter, firmer, more confident ride in the back. Especially during tail slides and burnouts, the control is much improved.

There is increased "bumpiness" to the ride. I am not sure if this will even out as the parts are broken in. Roads that before were smooth, now are a bit bouncy. At the same time, huge bumps (RR tracks, drainage, etc) that before were a problem, are much more smoothed out.

Definetly very happy with the parts. I still have to install front springs and dampers (and will post more info once those are installed). But I wanted to share this photo-comparison on the forums for anyone thinking about just rear springs. Its hard to get an idea of what they'll do to the look of a car, because everyone uses different cameras, different lenses, and different perspectives when photographing their cars. So here are some comparison pics for any thinking about just rear lowering springs, all taken with the same camera, same lens, same parking spot, same angle, just different days. (if only the weather had also been the same)

GT/CS07 said:

Its tough to tell in the pictures but how is the wheel gap compared to the front? Is it pretty even or is there still more gap in the rear vs the front? I have a california special and I am thinking of dropping the rear only. I don't want it to look stupid but dropping the front I fear will tear up my front end as it barley clears when entering my driveway as is.

Click to expand...

Actually, I was a bit disappointed in how the photos turned out. I thought if I tried to make all the conditions the same, viewers could get a better idea of what the lowering springs do the look of the car. And I'll say, with the rear springs only, it looked kindy dopey. It looked like I had a bunch of heavy weights in the trunk or something. It actually looks much better in the pics than it did in real life. To answer your question, I think the front fender gap was larger than the rear fender gap. Which is what contributed to the sunken trunk look.

Here is a pic from that rear only photo session that I have brightened to show the fender gaps better. You can sort of see what I am talking about here. The rear tires just seem tucked in, like a dog with its tail between the legs.



I am using the past tense here, because I finished up the install and put in the front springs and struts today. updated photo to come...

Front Suspension Installed!

So.. spent the day installing the front struts and springs.

The install went okay. It took five hours, instead of the four hours for the rear. I had an easier time jacking up the car, so the main problems occurred in compressing the springs. I only have hand tools, so working the spring compressors took forever. On the first strut, I did not compress the spring evenly, and it sort of slid the strut mount apart as I was compressing. The bearings spilled out all over the garage floor. I was able to find them all, clean them up and, put back together the strut mount. So... be warned, you need to watch how the spring is coming off the strut mount as you compress it. If it is too crooked, your strut mount will come apart.

Also, Steeda's directions did not mention how to reinstall the strut mount. You need to make sure the arrow is pointing away from the engine. I had to come inside and look that up on google while doing the install. So my computer is now a bit dirty. (happens all the time)

Now, I have only been driving it around a few hours, but so far it is 100% better than it was with the rear stuff alone. The car did feel uneven with just the rear stuff. Now it feels very well balanced. The increased "bumpiness" I mentioned before has completely gone away. The whole suspension is firm and tight, on all roads. As before, larger bumps like RR tracks are no problem, whereas before I think I would bottom out. I cant believe how much better it feels in turns. It just keeps griping. I have not hit the limit of adhesion yet, because I am public roads, and that would be insane with this kit. But even your everyday 90 degree turn it so much more pleasurable and easy. Brake dive and WOT squat are completely gone. It is a whole new car. I love it.

and, I was saying in the above post. It looks MUCH better in person. I had vacillated a lot on front lowering springs, because I thought I just wanted a more even look. In person, there is no comparison, the full kit looks much tighter.

Here is an updated comparison pic.



Thanks for the comments everyone!

fallenauthority said:

Looks amazing after the full drop. Keep us updated as it settles in, it should lower a little bit more and the ride should probably get even better. Im performing an internal battle as to drop or not and if I do ill fight about which kit to buy. This will be some influence

Click to expand...

I think the Steeda kit is has one of the smallest drops. It is quoted on their website as 1" front, and 1.25" rear. I did not measure the drop, just took photos instead. My main concern was handling, and that is why I went with Steeda. Honestly, if there were a handling pack that removed brake dive, WOT squat, and body roll, with the same ride height, I might have gone with that. No matter what kit you go with though, changing the suspension on these things is VERY fun. Its the one major weak point coming from the factory.

'08GTcaRED said:

I could see what you meant about the 'weighted trunk' from the lightened photo. Couldn't really see it from the others, but now it looks great! Good job, and I'm glad you are liking the ride. The stock suspension is ok for normal driving, but I'm in a Mustang! When am I going to drive normally all of the time?

Click to expand...

yeah, I think the problem with the first batch of photos is that they are too small and dark. This photo should work better.



This is basically the same idea as the larger lightened photo but for all three set-ups. I can see someone really liking the rear only set-up. It is definitely more level. I dunno, clearly I am geeking out about this. But I know I had a very hard time deciding what to do based solely on internet photos... Hope this helps someone/anyone.

I think that looks amazing. I had come across another post of yours while doing my research, and you mentioned wanting to keep the rake. The car is designed to have a rake, and I think looks best when you keep it. Otherwise, your fender gaps are all off. I especially love the huge rear tire. It looks like the car has the power to lift up the front end when you really stomp it.

Thanks Wraith, 'percinate it.

Hey, just for the record. I was cleaning out my garage today, reorganizing it now that I have all the stock suspension parts sitting around. I noticed my invoice from Steeda. According to it, they sent me the GT500 Rear Sway bar. It is 1" thick, as opposed to 7/8" thick. I am not sure if I ordered wrong, or if they sent me the wrong part, but I was under the impression I was ordering the smaller bar. It does not matter much, as the price difference is 20 bucks. But.. I am assuming the 1" bar is a little intense for the street. Otherwise, why would they even sell the smaller bar? Anyhow... that was interesting.

Anyone know if there is a huge difference between the two rear bars?

good point on the endlinks, I had not thought about that. Any bar that is going to use the stock enlinks is going to need to be the same diameter, at least at the point where is intersects with the endlinks. Unless, maybe they include some thinner bushings to go in the stock endlinks.

As I understand it, the stiffness of a sway bar is proportional to the fourth power of the diameter. i.e. a bar that is 1/8th of an inch thicker, or 13% thicker, is going to be 70% stiffer. So it should be very noticeable.