[C5D]

It's of course Tax season, which means that those of us that don't do things the "right way", WE GET REFUNDS! (Don't flame me, I just keep hearing from people that I'm giving the Fed and State governments loans, and I should invest that money myself...blah blah blah). So, to make two wrongs into a right, instead of paying off a little debt, I decided to think about a suspension upgrade for my new baby.

I did a little digging and searching the forum, and I'm a little confused. I'm looking for some springs to lower the car. So far, I've chosen Eibachs. I also know that I will need a re-alignemnt, and that I might need an adjustable panhard bar and/or camber bolts. OK...so here are the questions:

1) In a lot of posts that I have read (dated 2005) there are references to Eibach kits that are 'vert specific (important to me since I have an '06 'vert). When I checked the site, the vert and coupe kit #'s are the same. Have they dropped the 'vert specific springs? Am I missing something? Am I going to give up something with using the same springs?

2) From what I've read, it seems like the Pro-kit is lower than the Sportlines. But, when I go to Eibach's site, the Sportlines are listed as a lower drop than the Pro-Kit. Which is it?

Thanks in advance for any advise.

[family_truckste]

1. They're the same spring, not sure what the "vert spring" threads might be referring to.

2. Sportlines lower the car more and are much more firm. Stick with ProKit unless you like autocrossing and knocking fillings loose on the street, then Sportlines are the way to go.

Definitely need an adjustable panhard to center the rear after the drop. You don't absolutely need the alignment or camber plates, depends on a couple other factors like tire wear, miles driven, type of driving. For a DD with no track time, camber plates would be a good choice. I didn't bother cause my car isn't a DD. The camber offset is pretty minor after the drop.

You'll love the new springs whatever you go with.

[C5D]

This was the post I was talking about:
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forum...tml#post366403

In it, someone references a Eibach part number specific for converitble 05-06 GT's.

Does anyone know if it still exists? Did they get rid of it?

[mrvandermey]

I have the Saleen kit, which is essentially the Eibach ProKit, and I have a vert, I love them. I do not think you can gr wrong with the Eibach Prokit, even on a vert.

[HeiMa]

Before I ended up going with the Steeda suspension, I test drove a car that had the Eibach Pros with the stock shocks. It was not bad at all, and I was going to go with them until the Steeda deal came along - it was a much more thorough kit (more expensive too), and also included the Tokikos. But just for springs, the Eibach Pros should be fine.

[kj_cinci]

Make sure you get vert spec rear springs! Guys with verts, even coups, like me, bottom out on the Pros alone!

The sports are too low and hard!

I would get;
Eibach Vert Pro springs and their antiroll-kit and Tociko D-Specs, cost is about the same as package deals and SUPERIOR in performance! If you drive hard/race or have an eye for detail you'll need an adustable panhardbar to center the tail... I have the Powerhouse one... all in all under $1,300...

This is where I got mine, I see they increased the price for the Eibach parts...

[url=www.sacramento-mustang.com/cgi-bin/cart.pl?db|cc.dat|Suspension[url/]

eBay Motors: 2005-07 FORD MUSTANG TOKICO D-SPEC SHOCKS & STRUTS SET (item 180073806776 end time Jan-18-07 08:33:05 PST) (THIS IS A DEAL!!!)

Panhard Bars & Braces : Powerhouse411

[SportsPix]

Originally Posted by family_truckste

1. They're the same spring, not sure what the "vert spring" threads might be referring to.

2. Sportlines lower the car more and are much more firm. Stick with ProKit unless you like autocrossing and knocking fillings loose on the street, then Sportlines are the way to go.

Definitely need an adjustable panhard to center the rear after the drop. You don't absolutely need the alignment or camber plates, depends on a couple other factors like tire wear, miles driven, type of driving. For a DD with no track time, camber plates would be a good choice. I didn't bother cause my car isn't a DD. The camber offset is pretty minor after the drop.

You'll love the new springs whatever you go with.

Hi family_truckste,

Sport Lines are not good performance springs, they are designed for looks only and to be marginally usable on the street. Eibach and almost every other sport spring maker that offers a high rate racing spring sets ride height higher, usually the same height as the Pro-Kit springs exactly because of the very limited suspension travel available at the rear of the S197 chassis. In practical terms the Pro-Kit springs are as low as you can go for a street driven car and even Pro-Kits are marginal.

Both the Eibach Pro-Kit and Sport Line springs are progressive rate springs. What this means is that as the springs are compressed they get stiffer by making some coils ineffective by compressing early in the spring travel and going into coil bind thus raising the spring rate. Both of these springs have the same basic spring rates as each other but because the Sport Lines are so much lower than the Pro-Kit springs that the S197 chassis has almost zero suspension travel left at the rear end even static and unloaded. To help compensate for having almost no travel Eibach had to make the point at which the Sport Line springs get stiff much closer to the normal ride height of the spring in effect making the Sport Line springs feel like a stiffer spring but in reality they are not overly stiff but have to be limited to reduce bottoming out as much. The problem is that the Sport Lines are just way too low and in essence with Sport Lines you basically no suspension travel before getting into the bumpstop elastomers.

HTH

[family_truckste]

Originally Posted by SportsPix

Hi family_truckste,

Sport Lines are not good performance springs, they are designed for looks only and to be marginally usable on the street.

HTH

I understand the Eibach differences except I didn't know there was a vert specific model of ProKit.

Re: Sportlines, I agree, they're pretty extreme. I have however, read about people running autocross with the sportlines. Whether or not they're any good I don't know, they wouldn't be my choice.

[kj_cinci]

The vert Pros are stiffer to allow for an ~200 lb heavier tail plus they many figure you'll have the ragg down and ppl in the backseat...??

[mrvandermey]

Originally Posted by kj_cinci

The vert Pros are stiffer to allow for an ~200 lb heavier tail plus they many figure you'll have the ragg down and ppl in the backseat...??

Bite your tongue...people in the rear seat? I do not htink so..well except for my 5 year old daughter.

[SportsPix]

Originally Posted by kj_cinci

The vert Pros are stiffer to allow for an ~200 lb heavier tail plus they many figure you'll have the ragg down and ppl in the backseat...??

Hi kj,

There are no vert specific Eiback Pro-Kit rear springs or a separate vert part number for the 2005-2007 S197 GT's or V-6's.


HTH

[SportsPix]

Originally Posted by family_truckste

I understand the Eibach differences except I didn't know there was a vert specific model of ProKit.

Re: Sportlines, I agree, they're pretty extreme. I have however, read about people running autocross with the sportlines. Whether or not they're any good I don't know, they wouldn't be my choice.

Hi family_truckste,

There is no vert specific Eibach Pro-Kit or Sport Line part number for 2005-2007 S197 GT's of V-6's, Eibach uses the same part number for coupes and verts depending on engine package.

Sport Lines are not really any stiffer, they just progress almost instantly over to the stiffer end of the spring rate. Sport Lines are so low that the suspension has major issues caused by the altered geometry both front and rear. At the front end the roll center is totally messed up making the car roll more under load and this is made worse by the wheel rate falling off as the car rolls more not to mention the loss in resistance to brake dive. At the rear the car will have very little traction as the anti-squat is so radically altered making it very difficult to launch the car and much harder to get power down as you exit a turn or transition one direction to the other. The other nasty little issue is that the car will now exibit plenty of roll understeer making it harder to get the car to rotate.

The Sport Lines are really only good for car shows, they are just not suited for performance or competition use without MAJOR effort to correct the geometry issues so easily avoided by using a spring with a higher ride height.

HTH

[C5D]

Yep, SportPix is right. I just called Eibach, and they don't make a specific spring for verts or coups...just Mustangs. Even the guy who answered my phone call was like "I thought they were different kits, but they are the same."

Yeah, the sportlines are out because I have a sizable culver bump in my driveway. I was just making sure that I had it right that the Pro kits were actually higher than the Sportlines (which intuitively is backwards to me...sport < pro...i.e. sportline < pro-kit in terms of drop).

So do any other man. make vert specific springs, or should I just stick with Eibach?

[R3dF1r3]

I think Steeda Ultras are a decent choice, not quite the drop and hence bumpstops have more daylight.

Couple those with Tokicos and it is sweet I am told.

I have yet to drop mine as well.

[SportsPix]

Originally Posted by R3dF1r3

I think Steeda Ultras are a decent choice, not quite the drop and hence bumpstops have more daylight.

Couple those with Tokicos and it is sweet I am told.

I have yet to drop mine as well.

Hi C5D and R3dF1r3,

I think R3dF1r3 may have hit it on the head for you as the Steeda ride heights are a little bit higher and IMO probably more practical for most folks around the country, especially if you live or drive in the snow. I have a set of Steeda competition springs out in the garage I'm going to drop in this spring. As much as I like the look of the Eibach Pro-Kit springs I want the better geometry (less drop=better geometry on S197's), and higher spring rate of the Steeda comps.

HTH