What shocks and struts to buy?

[Fuerte]

Save your cash and buy coils

What I am doing now is saving for some KW.

 

[Snakebyte94]

I have found the nice ride that you want.
I have went through 3 sets of shocks, D-Spec, Bilstein, Koni's. 4 sets of springs, Steeda Sports, H & R Sports, Ford racing, Steeda Ultra lites.
I would have stayed with the Bilsteins but I didn't have the Ultra lites when I had the Bilsteins. I would Have loved to see what find of ride that would have been.
I finaly settled on Koni adj. Steeda ultralites springs. Roush billet LCA with the stock bushings and Roush rear upper anti-wheel hope kit.
I still have the Steeda front and rear sway bars. This car rides and handles great.

 

[03machme]

I have found the nice ride that you want.
I have went through 3 sets of shocks, D-Spec, Bilstein, Koni's. 4 sets of springs, Steeda Sports, H & R Sports, Ford racing, Steeda Ultra lites.
I would have stayed with the Bilsteins but I didn't have the Ultra lites when I had the Bilsteins. I would Have loved to see what find of ride that would have been.
I finaly settled on Koni adj. Steeda ultralites springs. Roush billet LCA with the stock bushings and Roush rear upper anti-wheel hope kit.
I still have the Steeda front and rear sway bars. This car rides and handles great.

thanks for the answer. I think I am going to go with the Bilstein kit that Jayman posted and just sell my current springs. now here is to hoping my OT check is as big as I think it will be lol

 

[claudermilk]

I have found the nice ride that you want.
I have went through 3 sets of shocks, D-Spec, Bilstein, Koni's. 4 sets of springs, Steeda Sports, H & R Sports, Ford racing, Steeda Ultra lites.
I would have stayed with the Bilsteins but I didn't have the Ultra lites when I had the Bilsteins. I would Have loved to see what find of ride that would have been.
I finaly settled on Koni adj. Steeda ultralites springs. Roush billet LCA with the stock bushings and Roush rear upper anti-wheel hope kit.
I still have the Steeda front and rear sway bars. This car rides and handles great.

Did you have the Konis with both versions of the Steeda springs? If so how did they compare? I'm looking at probably going the Koni Sports/Steeda Sports combo.

 

[NoTicket]

This isn't a bad option.

http://shop.hypermotiveperformance....rd-Mustang-GT-V8-Suspension-kit-46-228871.htm

Do you know what the spring rates on these are?

 

[Sam Strano]

Budget is different for everyone, let's start there.

The best bang for the buck are Koni STR.T's. If you are going to spend more that puts you into territory that is more Bilstein, Koni Sport, D-spec range. If I'm going to go there, I'd kind of want a shock I can play with and tune to my liking. Bilstein's can't do that. Great shocks on the quality side mind you, but they are what they are. And if you want a shock that "is what it is" then save your money and go with Koni STR.T. I mean, Koni damping isn't exactly known to suck. That said, between D-spec and Koni, Koni all day long for me. Better, more useful rebound damping range and no linking compression and rebound together (they do different jobs, you don't necessarily want more of both).

We all have our preferences as far as springs go. Typically I will go with Steeda springs on a street car (most commonly Sport or Ultralite situation depending).

I would avoid slamming the car with something like Sportlines, Steeda Extreme Sports, H&R Super Sports, etc. If you have K-springs those aren't bad, I'd run those and save your money (personally) and spend it on better dampers.

 

[csamsh]

Do you know what the spring rates on these are?

IIRC eibach pros are 125ish front and 170ish rear. I could be very wrong

 

[BMR Tech]

Budget is different for everyone, let's start there.

The best bang for the buck are Koni STR.T's. If you are going to spend more that puts you into territory that is more Bilstein, Koni Sport, D-spec range. If I'm going to go there, I'd kind of want a shock I can play with and tune to my liking. Bilstein's can't do that. Great shocks on the quality side mind you, but they are what they are. And if you want a shock that "is what it is" then save your money and go with Koni STR.T. I mean, Koni damping isn't exactly known to suck. That said, between D-spec and Koni, Koni all day long for me. Better, more useful rebound damping range and no linking compression and rebound together (they do different jobs, you don't necessarily want more of both).

We all have our preferences as far as springs go. Typically I will go with Steeda springs on a street car (most commonly Sport or Ultralite situation depending).

I would avoid slamming the car with something like Sportlines, Steeda Extreme Sports, H&R Super Sports, etc. If you have K-springs those aren't bad, I'd run those and save your money (personally) and spend it on better dampers.

I agree with this post, 100%. Good info Sam.

IIRC eibach pros are 125ish front and 170ish rear. I could be very wrong

Really? Hmmm.... I did not know that, I am not so sure why they chose those?

 

[2013MustangGT]

Once again, save up your money and buy the best you can afford for the purpose you want. If you want to track your car a couple of times a year and still use it on the street look at coilovers. You might not be able to afford the best ones out there, but there are some reasonable ones that will do the trick. Such as BC racing coilovers. You could get them for around $1200. Are they the best? NO. They will work for you if your only tracking a few times a year and use your car as a DD. Good luck.

 

[TheViking]

Once again, save up your money and buy the best you can afford for the purpose you want. If you want to track your car a couple of times a year and still use it on the street look at coilovers. You might not be able to afford the best ones out there, but there are some reasonable ones that will do the trick. Such as BC racing coilovers. You could get them for around $1200. Are they the best? NO. They will work for you if your only tracking a few times a year and use your car as a DD. Good luck.

What's the advantage of this over good struts and a set of springs for a street/occasional track day car? Seems like there are so many spring and strut/shock options out there now I don't know what I would gain from coilovers. At least at my skill level

 

[NDSP]

What's the advantage of this over good struts and a set of springs for a street/occasional track day car? Seems like there are so many spring and strut/shock options out there now I don't know what I would gain from coilovers. At least at my skill level

Your right. Unless you are going to run regular autocross and/or track days you shouldn't waste the extra money on coil overs. You won't fully utilize the extra benefit that coils would get you and if it is still your daily, the comfort level of coils will be less than what a well match spring/strut/shock setup will get you. I suppose you could get softer springs on the coils, but then why spend the money on coils if you aren't going to wake use of the benefit of being able to run stiffer springs.

 

[2013MustangGT]

^adjustability would be the key thing. You can adjust coilovers or adjustable shocks/struts set ups. BTW, one must assume that since this was post in CC section the idea is to do some auto x or road courses.

 

[csamsh]

Really? Hmmm.... I did not know that, I am not so sure why they chose those?

I'm wrong...those rates were the stock Brembo package springs. I don't know what the Eibach pros are apparently.

What good coilovers get you, IMO:

-Low hysteresis, noticeable, adjustability in low shaft speed scenarios, which gives you the ability to fine tune your setup based on what kind of ____steer you notice during transitions.

-Not a lot of "crosstalk" between rebound and compression

-Ability to choose spring rates and ride height, and ability to run higher spring rates (this is the only point in this list unique to coilovers)

 

[Sky Render]

What's the advantage of this over good struts and a set of springs for a street/occasional track day car? Seems like there are so many spring and strut/shock options out there now I don't know what I would gain from coilovers. At least at my skill level

Nothing. Coilovers aren't magic; they're still just springs and dampers. The main advantage is adjustability: coilovers usually let you adjust height in addition to damping properties. Higher-end coilovers will also let you adjust bound and rebound separately. Some even differentiate between high-speed and low-speed rebound.

If you're only driving your car on the street and don't autocross or track much, the only advantage you're going to get with coilovers is via weight reduction of your wallet.

 

[2008 V6]

There are several very good advantages to a coil over assembly.
Variety of springs available
Compression & rebound adjustability
Height adjustability
Most importantly – Being able to Corner balance –
Any good shock matched to your spring rate will get you 85 – 95% or so of the way there but the last 5-10% is in the adjustability aspect and being able to utilize it.

 

[kcbrown]

But don't coilovers give you reduced suspension travel compared with standard springs and shocks? Which is to say, aren't you more likely to hit the stops when driving on the street than you would with standard springs/shocks, even if the ride height is the same (since coilovers achieve their ride height adjustability by moving the entire assembly, while ride height variation with standard springs is achieved by varying the length and rate of the spring)?

I could see that not being an issue when comparing to the most extreme lowering springs, but what about when compared to, e.g., the Ford Racing P Springs? I would expect the latter to give you more suspension travel and, therefore, more ability to drive over rough/uneven pavement without incurring undue harshness due to hitting the stops.

 

[03machme]

^^ thats what I was thinking. I want a little better ride than I have now and I drove a friends 5.0 that had BC coils and it was terrible. He now has Konis and K springs and is much happier. I'm all sorts of undecided now lol

 

[Sky Render]

But don't coilovers give you reduced suspension travel compared with standard springs and shocks? Which is to say, aren't you more likely to hit the stops when driving on the street than you would with standard springs/shocks, even if the ride height is the same (since coilovers achieve their ride height adjustability by moving the entire assembly, while ride height variation with standard springs is achieved by varying the length and rate of the spring)?

I could see that not being an issue when comparing to the most extreme lowering springs, but what about when compared to, e.g., the Ford Racing P Springs? I would expect the latter to give you more suspension travel and, therefore, more ability to drive over rough/uneven pavement without incurring undue harshness due to hitting the stops.

Yes, any time you lower the vehicle you will have reduced suspension travel. Doesn't matter if you have coilovers or not. So don't "slam" the vehicle.

What are your goals with the car? If you just want it to look cool, just slam the mofo to the ground and forget about it.

 

[Whiskey11]

Your right. Unless you are going to run regular autocross and/or track days you shouldn't waste the extra money on coil overs. You won't fully utilize the extra benefit that coils would get you and if it is still your daily, the comfort level of coils will be less than what a well match spring/strut/shock setup will get you. I suppose you could get softer springs on the coils, but then why spend the money on coils if you aren't going to wake use of the benefit of being able to run stiffer springs.

That's not entirely true. Tokico D-Specs + Steeda Sports rode worse than my Ground Control Coilover kits with over double the front spring rate (440 vs 200) and a 25 lbs/in increase in the rear (200 vs 175). Biggest change is that the dampers are valved correctly to have it not ride like ass. Cheap coilovers ride like ass because the valving is off and the dampers don't dampen the spring correctly.

I personally don't recommend cheap coilovers. I like my Ground Controls and at $1650 shipped to my door they are a bargain of solid performance parts. Good camber plates, good dampers and good springs. Also not the best but certainly better than any of the low end coilover kits that are barely more expensive than a good set of shocks/struts, springs and camber plates.

I've also heard that the AST 4150's ride pretty nice with those trick digressive damping curves.

For most people coilovers will be over kill. For those of us looking for a more competitive car, the freedom in spring choice and damping is HUGE for tuning the car.

 

[Random Asshole]

Seriously? I glanced through it quick enough to get the gist, but no one gives him any shit over something that's been beaten more than anything in this subforum? Are we that bored? Should we make another sticky to ignore?

Have $: buy Koni STR.T's
Have $$: buy Koni Sports
Have $$$$: buy KW/AST
have $$$$$$$: buy Moton/Penske

For real answer for the OP (and that may accidentally search for it and come across this):
Are you making money racing your car? No? On a budget but want "the best"? You'll be more than happy with Koni STR.T's