Suggestions on going lower and improved ride??

[Sparky357]

Hi guys, i currently have eibach pro kit springs on my car along with stock tokico shocks and struts. My car does not sit as low as I would like it to and the ride is awful, I cringe at the littlest of bumps as I go over them. I am looking into the HR ss springs or eichbach sport lines with complete tokico d-spec kit or Hp series shocks and struts. Does anyone have this setup or recommend anything else? Any pics would be great. Also any other accessories recommended for this to make the ride as smooth as possible. Thanks !

[Bullitt 736]

Regardless of which spring you choose I would go with Bilstein or Koni shocks and struts.

You could remove the spring isolators if you are using them.

Another thought would be coilovers

[gobabygo]

Originally Posted by Sparky357

Hi guys, i currently have eibach pro kit springs on my car along with stock tokico shocks and struts. My car does not sit as low as I would like it to and the ride is awful, I cringe at the littlest of bumps as I go over them. I am looking into the HR ss springs or eichbach sport lines with complete tokico d-spec kit or Hp series shocks and struts. Does anyone have this setup or recommend anything else? Any pics would be great. Also any other accessories recommended for this to make the ride as smooth as possible. Thanks !

I have the Sportlines with D-Specs and the lower iso's removed. I love that setup. I set the rear shocks to soft and stiffen the front struts up about half way and makes for a great ride and very good cornering. I went through the same thing you are going through. The Pro-kit just was not low enough. However I like the stiffer ride quality.

[Sparky357]

Thanks guys! Gobabygo do you have a pic by chance of how your stance looks now? That what iam probably gonna go with is setup like yours

[Nekasrof]

Stay away from the Sportlines. They are not for the Mach as the spring rate is lower than factory. You can verify for yourself with the below link. Then go to the tech specs for the Mach on this site and compare. You'll see what I'm sayin.

http://www.americanmuscle.com/eibach...-7904gtv6.html

The H&R super sports are an upgrade as small as the spring rate increase is. You can follow the below link.

http://www.americanmuscle.com/h-r-sp...ngs-96-04.html

The H&Rs are a decent upgrade over stock. But for additional performance upgrade, consider the race spring. Keep in mind you'll need cc plates to keep an alignment that won't kill your tires.

[lcaptmorg]

H&R SS with the dspecs, bilestiens, or konis is a great upgrade.

The stock takicos do ok with the stock springs buts thats about all. Even the prokit will ride a ton better with good shocks.

I like the H&Rs far more than the eibachs but thats just personal preference.

Bilistiens are great but I really like the adjustability of the dspecs or konis.

Ultimate set up of course is a full coil over set. I have a nice set for sale if you have any interest.

[TRbetngu]

I have the Eibach Pro-kit with all isos out except for the bottom rear. Paired with Strange 10-way shocks/struts. The ride is great and I love the stance.

[Tommy Z]

H&R Race springs and Bilsteins or MM shocks and struts. There's a pretty good selection. Coil overs will be the best, though.


Something about a microwave with wifi and Tapatalk.

[j rick kirby]

Originally Posted by Sparky357

Hi guys, i currently have eibach pro kit springs on my car along with stock tokico shocks and struts. My car does not sit as low as I would like it to and the ride is awful, I cringe at the littlest of bumps as I go over them. I am looking into the HR ss springs or eichbach sport lines with complete tokico d-spec kit or Hp series shocks and struts. Does anyone have this setup or recommend anything else? Any pics would be great. Also any other accessories recommended for this to make the ride as smooth as possible. Thanks !

If you go any lower you will ruin the geometry and your car will likely handle worse. As for ride quality, your shocks are the problem not the springs. The springs will cause the ride to be stiffer and you can get the ride quality back with good shocks. I recommend the Bilstein Hd series. My car with H&R race springs and Bils rode better than stock.

[Mustanger2]

Or you could go for a full air ride suspension...lol...if you got the bucks!

[Sparky357]

Thanks for the all the input guys! After some more research and suggestions iam going with the HR ss springs with bilstein hds and of course cc plates. How important are isos in regards to overall ride quality? I was still up in the air of either replacing them or taking them out completely? Thanks!

[jeffro]

can u guys post some pics of those h&r set ups and list what spring/shock combo is being run

[Sparky357]

I second that! Iam always drooling over these pics of lowered Machs on this site and would be nice to see who has these springs and what strut/shock combo they are running.

[Tommy Z]

H&R Super Sports in the front, BBK in the rear (similar drop to H&Rs). Rear top isolators only. Bilstein HD struts and shocks with Max Motorsports caster camber plates. First pic is stock wheels and the rest are 18X9 replicas.







Something about a microwave with wifi and Tapatalk.

[Sparky357]

Great stance! Exactly what iam looking for. How is the ride tommy?

[Nekasrof]

H&R Super Race springs front
MM struts and I can't remember which...sorry
MM HD TA springs rear
Koni SA shocks
Weight of car is 3510lbs without me in it.

Picture was taken in fall of '11. Same set up minus the hood. We put an R hood on it now.

[gobabygo]

Originally Posted by Sparky357

Thanks guys! Gobabygo do you have a pic by chance of how your stance looks now? That what iam probably gonna go with is setup like yours

Contrary to what people are saying, Sportlines are a slightly heavier and lower spring then the Pro-Kit and obviously stiffer then stock. I have had BOTH sets on my car. The ride quality and handling only Improve when going from stock to Pro-Kit to Sportlines. The Pro-kit is about as low as I would go without doing caster/camber plates.

[gobabygo]

Originally Posted by Sparky357

Thanks for the all the input guys! After some more research and suggestions iam going with the HR ss springs with bilstein hds and of course cc plates. How important are isos in regards to overall ride quality? I was still up in the air of either replacing them or taking them out completely? Thanks!

If you remove them, you will hear an increase in road noise and about 1/4-1/2" lower ride, if your talking about removing the stock iso's.

[not a gt]

Stay away from coil overs which you have , and I must be the only one not trying to lower my stang, going by what Dave advised from Team Z, my UPR coilovers are coming off, stock springs going back in with new ISO( Am gonna keep the Strange shocks for now). Am I the only one looking for a slight down rake from rear to front, not air shocks major, just slight? Good luck and pics when you get what you are looking for.

[Nekasrof]

Originally Posted by gobabygo

Contrary to what people are saying, Sportlines are a slightly heavier and lower spring then the Pro-Kit and obviously stiffer then stock. I have had BOTH sets on my car. The ride quality and handling only Improve when going from stock to Pro-Kit to Sportlines. The Pro-kit is about as low as I would go without doing caster/camber plates.

Aren't the Sport lines 550lbs in the front and the Pro kit are 450-570lbs?

[gobabygo]

Originally Posted by Nekasrof

Aren't the Sport lines 550lbs in the front and the Pro kit are 450-570lbs?

Keep in mind that the lower your car drops, then less progressive springs can be. The 570 lbs portion of the pro-kit your only going to feel when your completely compressing your suspension. 95% of the time you will never hit that unless your road racing or some very aggressive road driving.. in which case your shock and struts should prevent that. I'm not saying H&R springs aren't good, in fact they are a very good spring. I'm just saying Sportlines are very good for a aggressive stiffer ride when on the road and also equip you to do autocross or road races as well. A decent shock and strut is a huge part of it too. To be honest the mach suspension is better then the Gt suspension but not THAT much. You may get some front tire scraping on the front tires with the super sports... you may want to ask around about that. My point is, don't stay away form Sportlines because someone said that they are not made for the Mach, that simply isn't true. I have had everything from coil-overs, pro-kit to sportlines on my Mach and allot of your ride quality can be adjusted if you get a adjustable shock and strut. Soften them way up when you want to road trip or take a leisurely drive , stiffen them up when you go out on a weekend cruise. Just my $.02. The lower you go with your car, the stiffer of ride you will have (with springs). Its just not possible to have a slammed car with a "soft" ride comparing to stock.

[not a gt]

Great write up, I noticed one person had listed they were using the top isolator only in the rear. What will that do and is it noisy running without the bottom one (on a UPR LCA)?. Just wondering since I have a set of ISO coming and saw that and wondered

[Stopsign32v]

Originally Posted by not a gt

Great write up, I noticed one person had listed they were using the top isolator only in the rear. What will that do and is it noisy running without the bottom one (on a UPR LCA)?. Just wondering since I have a set of ISO coming and saw that and wondered

Anytime you have metal on metal with springs it's going to creak. But like I said it's not a big deal.

[Nekasrof]

Originally Posted by gobabygo

Keep in mind that the lower your car drops, then less progressive springs can be. The 570 lbs portion of the pro-kit your only going to feel when your completely compressing your suspension. 95% of the time you will never hit that unless your road racing or some very aggressive road driving.. in which case your shock and struts should prevent that. I'm not saying H&R springs aren't good, in fact they are a very good spring. I'm just saying Sportlines are very good for a aggressive stiffer ride when on the road and also equip you to do autocross or road races as well. A decent shock and strut is a huge part of it too. To be honest the mach suspension is better then the Gt suspension but not THAT much. You may get some front tire scraping on the front tires with the super sports... you may want to ask around about that. My point is, don't stay away form Sportlines because someone said that they are not made for the Mach, that simply isn't true. I have had everything from coil-overs, pro-kit to sportlines on my Mach and allot of your ride quality can be adjusted if you get a adjustable shock and strut. Soften them way up when you want to road trip or take a leisurely drive , stiffen them up when you go out on a weekend cruise. Just my $.02. The lower you go with your car, the stiffer of ride you will have (with springs). Its just not possible to have a slammed car with a "soft" ride comparing to stock.

I can't agree with anything said here. If you're going down in spring rate, you're going down in handling(spring rates for drag type cars are NOT what we are discussing here). If you go down in spring rate, you gain more body roll which decreases handling. Shock and strut choice is just as important. But you can't go down in spring rate and expect the shock/strut to compensate. It doesn't work that way. The spring must be allowed to move with the shock/strut stopping a bouncing condition.
Keep in mind that simply cranking up on the adjustment for the strut just keeps the spring from moving and that is what creates the 'stiff condition'. There was no gain in handling, especially if you throw in a few bumps into the equation.
I won't state that H&R is a better spring than Eibach. Both companies make a good spring. It's choice of spring rate that is important between the 2. One company may have YOUR spring rate while the other doesn't.

[DSG2003Mach1]

i had H&R SS springs with bilstein HDs for about 40k miles, I used to think the ride was pretty good but after driving my stock suspension lightning for a while really noticed how rough that suspension could be over bigger bumps and transitions on the highway (ie when they have a decent lip as you go from asphalt onto a concrete bridge).