made a startling discovery about my car today,

[s197shockwave]

Cut them and leave a little on just to keep it from hitting metal on metal.

 

[j-stang]

having a fully functional suspension is so underrated!!
i got home from work this morning, jacked one side up crawled under removed the two stops went for a test drive down the most dreaded road i knew of and from the first tunr out of the drive way i knew something was different. the rear end actualy moves up and down now! lol the car rides 10000x better. the rear end actually sits down when i punch it and i dont have to tighten my butt every time i see a bump coming up is just glides over them. in my testing i was only able to make the car bottom out once and it was in my drive way where the gravel turns to pavement its a tough bump even for stock cars.

now i'm going to have to relearn all i thought it knew about tuning my suspension. but i really think its gonna help the car out alot performance wise and no i dont think i'll have to give my potential passengers a warning speach about how terrible my car rides before they get in.

to anyone looking into this, i have the eibach sportlines, a 2 inch drop. i completly removed the bump stops and on what i previously thouhgt was a very rough road i did not have the axle hit the frame rail not once. even with an extreme drop like the sportlines i'm not having trouble so less aggresive springs should really not have a problem. do what i did... take them off and go on a test ride on a really bad road. if you are not having trouble hitting the axle on the frame then leave them off. if you feel more comfortable having them on cut them down a bit since you already have them off and re-install them.
i'm very glad i did this.

 

[05bluestang]

I have the FRPP springs which lower the car ~1 1/2". My car always rode pretty stiff with the springs but I thought it was because I had the stock shocks / struts on it. I installed the d-specs a few weeks ago and the rear still was pretty stiff, so I looked at the suspension and noticed the the bump stops where right against the bracket on the frame rail. I cut the two top pieces off them and now the ride has greatly improved and I haven't bottomed out yet either.

just my 0.02c

 

[1fastpony]

I normally leave my d-specs at -5 turns for daily driver duty. Some times I'll set them at -2.5 front and -3 rear to demonstrate to friends the difference in ride quality control which normally blows most people away on how well the car performs.

These springs and D-specs give you the best of both worlds. Too bad they're not electronically controlled.

 

[RedMosesSC]

I cut my bump stops when i installed the suspension, then cut them down again because i was hitting them frequently. They are about 40% of the original size and i am STILL hitting them on big pot holes, i was under the car 2 weeks ago and noticed some rub marks on the rails, they still need some trimming. Im on Steeda Sports springs (1.25" lower rear). so you slammed guys should be trimming the hell outa those bump stops, i thought about getting the Eibach stops but never got around to it.

 

[MickeySaleen]

Just went out to check mine...I guess Saleen removes the bumpstops when they install their springs. I have swapped rear springs twice since owning this car. Going from the standard saleen springs in the rear to the eibach sportlines. And just last weekend I swapped the sportline rears for the prokit rears so I can fit the Nitto DR's out back.

 

[Vapour Trails]

The problem is the springs, they lower the car too much and they are progressive rate.

 

[j-stang]

The problem is the springs, they lower the car too much and they are progressive rate.

just curious, how you figure they are a problem?

 

[05stroker]

I have had the Prokit for awhile and after the cage went in the car was more like a Sportline kit and was hitting the bumpstops and I cut them just under the "tit" where it goes from round to square so I still have some there and the car rides ok and does very nice 60 times . The only thing I would worry about when removeing them completly is if you have a one peice DS and it hitting the trans tunnel .

 

[Vapour Trails]

just curious, how you figure they are a problem?

http://s197forum.com/forum/showpost.php?p=346942&postcount=13

He sums it up nicely I think.

The problem with the ProKit springs can be boiled down to this; too low and too soft initially without enough spring rate soon enough in their travel before hitting the bumpstops which they always are doing. So on a spring testing machine I measured and found the real issue. By the time the ProKit springs upper spring rate is actually the working spring rate the front struts are almost totally already bottomed out and going soilid (mechanical interference, metal to metal). Same problem at the back of the car between the rear frame rails and the axle top bumpstops.

Eibach ProKit springs measured initially a very soft 175lb/in and increasing up to a great 239lb/in just as they hit the bumpstops and keep rising to peak at 249lb/in near coil bind. This is just too low a spring rate for such a heavy car with such a big drop in ride height and by the time the spring gets to a good rate it's all over and bottoming out. This is obviously a ride and handling killer.

Simply put they are too low and too soft.

 

[j-stang]

ok... great.... except that whole thing was about the prokit.... not the sportlines..

 

[tagle281]

With the SN-95 the sportlines came with new smaller poly bump stops. Or at least mine did.

 

[s197shockwave]

I cut mine down to about 1/2" just to keep some rubber there in case of a hard hit.
The car rides great now and it actually sits a tiny bit lower. The only thing the Fing stops were stopping was suspension travel!

 

[Vapour Trails]

ok... great.... except that whole thing was about the prokit.... not the sportlines..

The Sportlines are worse.

 

[j-stang]

the artical keeps saying that when the spring hits the bump stops is about when the rates start getting good... so if we have modified or no stops wouldnt this make them a bit better? and i live in alabama... i say this because we have terrible roads and since i have removed the bump stops i feel the car has started handling very well. around corners the car feels secure and i have yet to bottom them out in driving conditions, even tried too. if these springs are that terrible i would love to take a ride in a car with what ever springs you worship i may make the swap. any springs out there that lower the car about the same as the sportlines that are not terrible?

i want to switch to coil-overs eventualy because i really like the lower ride hights but still would like to be able to raise the car up to aid in weight transfer. an i think i need a rear set up like the ground control or mmr (i dont know much about any of them yet) where it keeps the springs in the stock location so that i can have a couple diff springs to swap out to help with weight transfer at the strip an them be a nice carver during the week.

any ideas are welcome i'll probable start another thread soon to really get into the options.