Lowering springs = extra alignment parts ?

[Brian74montecarlo]

Alright guys - just found this Fourm - it's great I've read about a hundred threads so far / absorbing as much info as possible - thank you all for posting

My car is a black 16 GT California special ( my first ford / was a gm guy lol )
The first 400 miles I had the car were painfully quiet - I dropped the car off at steeda for their CIA no tune / oil air seperator and MBRP race cat back in black
It's amazing now

But the stance is terrible
I could practically jump up curbs with out fear of taking out the front chin spoiler lol - after extensive searching and misinformation gathering I'm about as lost as can be on finding the right lowering springs fro me.

I thought I wanted the eiBach sport lines - as the 1.5 drop up front seems to put the chin spoiler about where I think it should go - BUT - after a call to steeda today to figure pricing out the door was north of 1500$ dropping off the car and picking it up lowered and re aligned - so after I got back up off the floor I asked what other parts are MANDATORY for the install of lowering springs that provide 1.5" drop like the sport lines do - answer = adjustable rear links to fix camber - and front upper camber ajusting plates and all the labor to install and re align

So most of my reading and research here has led me to see numerous guys running lowering springs with no other alignment fix type parts and they all seem to say that it's possible to get the tires back to "close enough" to stock spec to drive fine without horrible tire wear

Is this true ? Or only true for cars doing 1" drop like with pro kit springs and when going more serious drop like 1.5 it's nessary for the extra parts ?

I realley want to lower the car - but I can't justify throwing another 1500$ at it just for that. Please advise me with your expertise on the propper way to get my car sitting right without breaking my wallet
Thanks in advance

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[Sithel]

I went with BMR for my lowering needs and couldn't be happier with the stance. It gives a slight rake and lowered about 1.2" front and .5" rear.
BMR SP080 performance springs
BMR front camber bolts
BMR rear toe rod ends
BMR vertical links (not a must for alignment)
BMR irs cradle lock out kit (not a must for alignment)

Alignment is within spec aside from the rear camber being a little more than I like, but I don't foresee any issues. front being -1.6 and rear being -1.9

Toe is what kills tires so don't worry so much about camber unless you getting -2.5 and more. Hope this helps making your decision easier :cheers:

Here's a pic of my setup

 

[Brian74montecarlo]

This pic shows how large my front wheel to gender gap is

Dang I need to figure out how to make my pictures more normal size I think - looks weirdly large on my iphone5 ( that I barely kno how to use lol)

 

[MtnBiker]

When considering the amount of drop you might want to decide if you bias toward aesthetics (sounds like you want a significant drop) or handling. Seems like the guys in the know feel anything more than about 1.2ish inches in the front and more than an inch in the back starts to mess with suspension geometry. Look up MustangCollectors thread on suspension - nicely comprehensive. I like the engineering mindset of the BMR and Steeda folks. Check out their product info and stance threads. And have fun making this car your own.

 

[Brian74montecarlo]

The car definitely needs to sit right with the right wheel and tire combo for me to be exited about its appearance - I'm 99% street driving to work and back and hardly ever push the car anywhere near its limits on the street - just the occasional 0 to 60 or highway on ramp flog

Hoping for more than 1" drop up front - but I'd be ok with only 1" rear drop as I plan to add 20" staggered wheel n tire combo still un decided what exactly

 

[Dragster]

Sounds like they were trying to sell you some extra stuff. I have Sportlines and can tell you that you don't need anything extra to get the car near factory spec. Not sure if you can get it TO factory spec without anything extra, but you can certainly get close without anything else. Just make sure you take it to a competent shop (or Ford dealership) that will listen and take their time to try to get it right. That might be the most difficult part.

Eibach makes good stuff. Pick up the Sportlines and you'll be 100% satisfied. I was running Steeda Ultralites before I went to Sportlines, but I wasn't satisfied with the drop (there was still too much gap in the front) anx there were lots of people having issues with the install.

I drive my car on the street as well as at the track, and the car can easily pull over a g in the corners--all while being totally predictable.

 

[Shouldhavegotthegt]

All you NEED is springs. I'd recommend installing the steeda subframe alignment and bushings since the subframe needs to be dropped to install the rear springs.

But it's things like this that make you do my own installs. But most places I called to get a quote were charging $400-500 for install. $1500 is ridiculous. It took us 5 hours and neither of us have installed lowering springs before. We are somewhat mechanically inclined. We can brakes, oil, etc.

You don't need an expert to do this. A guy from work got his done at Midas for $300. It's literally taking off bolts, removing the old parts, and installing the new stuff.

 

[Brian74montecarlo]

All you NEED is springs. I'd recommend installing the steeda subframe alignment and bushings since the subframe needs to be dropped to install the rear springs.

But it's things like this that make you do my own installs. But most places I called to get a quote were charging $400-500 for install. $1500 is ridiculous. It took us 5 hours and neither of us have installed lowering springs before. We are somewhat mechanically inclined. We can brakes, oil, etc.

You don't need an expert to do this. A guy from work got his done at Midas for $300. It's literally taking off bolts, removing the old parts, and installing the new stuff.

To be fair to steeda the install labor was around 450 ish I think - the big $ was springs @270$ camber front plates @250/3ish and rear ajustable camber bars @ 400+$. So there was around 1k in parts in their 1500 quote for me
Still more than I want to spend
And yet I still pine over the stop the hop package from them as well - because I plan to do burn outs once the car is broken in ( only 700 miles on the odo so far ). I hear the rear hop is bad tho and want nothing to do with it lol

Old Moroso / palm beach international race track is about an hours drive from me - it might be fun to head up a few times a year and click off some 12.5 second 1/4 mile times @ 113 mph

They also have a road course I'm shure I'll be terrible at but fun is the name of the game.

For the guys who are super dialing in their cars - I've been driving around my whole life in crappy 30+ year old Detroit iron - 72pontiac lemans / 66vw bug / 72 Plymouth valiant / pos84corvette / 74 Monte Carlo
So my new mustang is basically the nicest most comfy reliable and performence oriented viechle I've ever owned or driven
So I don't doubt for a second the lowering of my mustang will alter its ride and handling BUT it's still so much better in every way compared to the classic iorn I'm used to driving that it still will feel amazing

Photo shows a tall boy rockstar can under my front ground effect with room to spare - that's how tall the front of this car is

 

[plc268]

They're just trying trying to sell you the whole kitchen sink. You really just need springs. Your alignment will be out a little bit, but that can be fixed with camber bolts ($30). The rear camber is already adjustable on the car, and their rear camber arms are to correct the suspension geometry when the car is lowered.

That said, the rear camber arms are expensive, and very few people have them. They're not required at all.

Spring installs are usually kinda pricy though. They're not hard at all for a shop, but they take a decent amount of time to do all 4 corners, and that's what you're being billed for.

 

[ForTehNguyen]

i installed BMR SP089 min drop fronts which drop .8" and the front camber is barely out of spec and the toe is in spec. Anything lower than that will definately need camber adjustment mods. My rears are SP082 performance springs which are .5" drop, the rear toe and camber were able to be adjusted back into center of the spec range.

 

[PonyGrrrl]

I have Steeda Sport Progressives and sways, I didn't need any camber plates or camber arms to get it to align properly. I also did the "stop the hop" kit so I do have rear adjustable toe links and subframe alignment braces.
Here's my alignment from after the drop and after it was aligned.

 

[GT Jeff]

They're just trying trying to sell you the whole kitchen sink. You really just need springs. Your alignment will be out a little bit, but that can be fixed with camber bolts ($30). The rear camber is already adjustable on the car, and their rear camber arms are to correct the suspension geometry when the car is lowered.

That said, the rear camber arms are expensive, and very few people have them. They're not required at all.

Spring installs are usually kinda pricy though. They're not hard at all for a shop, but they take a decent amount of time to do all 4 corners, and that's what you're being billed for.

Running Steeda Ultralite Linears on FRPP dampers. After alignment, all good except front camber. Its still in spec, but looks a little too 'stance' for me. Ordered BMR FC003 camber bolts to fix that issue.

 

[Brian74montecarlo]

I should be ok with just this ?
Any other upgrades I need for the rear irs to help "stop the hop" that won't bust my wallet too badly while I'm taking the rear apart for spring install ?

 

[Ambrotos]

After reading reviews and such about the sportlines, I decided to get them on my car. Everything I read said they were great. Not many posts about HOW low it is. You can throw the 1-1.5 inch around all you want, until you experience how low that is. This was last week.

I ordered them online for like 250, and picked up some RPM points at CJpony parts. I paid a local mustang shop to install them since all my tools are missing from my storage center. They charged 200 dollars, and said I will need an alignment afterwards. Went the local shop and they couldn't get the car on the ramps without dragging it up. Next shop as able to to get it done, but the camber in the front was still off. First time dealing with a car without being able to adjust camber.

I'm slightly out of spec for the front camber, but everything else is ok. I ordered the camber bolts, and I will put those on and get it realigned. The major issue I have now is, the car is too low. I have about 57 speed bumps between the entrance to my apartment complex, to where my apartment is. I CRINGE every time I see a dip in the road, or I see a speed bump.

tl/dr: They will lower the car, you will bottom out on bumps and have issues with steep inclines. I'm thinking about switching out springs due to it being too low, and would advise you to look at the pros or major brands. Sports say 1.5 in the front, 1 in the back lowering, I would say it's close to 2 inches in the front.

I'll toss a picture up tomorrow.

 

[Brian74montecarlo]

After reading reviews and such about the sportlines, I decided to get them on my car. Everything I read said they were great. Not many posts about HOW low it is. You can throw the 1-1.5 inch around all you want, until you experience how low that is. This was last week.

I ordered them online for like 250, and picked up some RPM points at CJpony parts. I paid a local mustang shop to install them since all my tools are missing from my storage center. They charged 200 dollars, and said I will need an alignment afterwards. Went the local shop and they couldn't get the car on the ramps without dragging it up. Next shop as able to to get it done, but the camber in the front was still off. First time dealing with a car without being able to adjust camber.

I'm slightly out of spec for the front camber, but everything else is ok. I ordered the camber bolts, and I will put those on and get it realigned. The major issue I have now is, the car is too low. I have about 57 speed bumps between the entrance to my apartment complex, to where my apartment is. I CRINGE every time I see a dip in the road, or I see a speed bump.

tl/dr: They will lower the car, you will bottom out on bumps and have issues with steep inclines. I'm thinking about switching out springs due to it being too low, and would advise you to look at the pros or major brands. Sports say 1.5 in the front, 1 in the back lowering, I would say it's close to 2 inches in the front.

I'll toss a picture up tomorrow.

Thanks for the info sir ! Daily drivability of the car remains a high concern for me - so I'm just afraid to make the wrong spring choice realley - my car sits so high right now I'm afraid I won't be happy with only 1" drop from pro kit and I'm also afraid of too low if I go sport lines so it's a fine line to judge

On another note - $200 to install springs is silly cheap I'm in south east FL I see your in FL too what part ?
Again thanks for info and hope to see some pics of your car on sport line springs

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