Springs.

[Grebnitty]

Hi everyone. I have narrowed it down to 3 spring sets. Either the Eibach pro kit, BMR sp080 or Steeda progressive spring. I have some guys on another forum all telling me to go with Steeda and now I have a rep contacting me and offering me "Good pricing" if I do a write up on the forums about my experience with Steeda. Does anyone here have Steeda springs? I've heard they ride better the Eibach. Also from what I've read BMR are really good and well constructed. Hard to decide but I need to do it soon, I can't stand these garbage SR performance springs much longer!

Josh

[newbiestangowner]

hey Josh - you know what springs I like out of your choices ;). We've used it all over - longest trip to Miami, wife and kids never complained about the ride.

[tulowd]

Springs on their own don't determine ride quality. Assuming all suspension bushings are good and the chassis is stiff ( Full length welded SFC's on Foxes and SN95s) then the other consideration has to be what dampers you're running and what spring rates they are designed to work with.

Out of all your choices, only Eibach actually manufacture their own springs as far as I know. Also depends on the intended use of the car and the final ride height.
Theoretically, variable rate springs give a softer / more compliant ride but are also harder to control properly.

Fill in the missing info and you will get some relevant opinions.

[Armen]

As you know, I have the Eibach Pro kit and oem shocks. The car rides great on the street and handles amazing on the road course. The only thing I've changed on the shocks is the foam bump stops from oem to the ones that come in the Pro Kit.

I have zero complaints about ride and handling

[NickD]

BMR errythang

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[Boomer605]

I've been running Steeda Sport Springs for the last three years and really like them. 1" drop in front with a 1 1/4" drop in back. At the same time I had Steeda Heavy Duty Strut Mount and a Steeda Adjustable Panhard Bar installed. Massive improvement in handling and appearance. Very happy with this setup.

[Grebnitty]

Thanks for the advice fellas. A bit more research and I should have them picked out by next week.

[HyperGT]

add H&R to that list. Better than all above imo with a proper shock/strut.

[Grebnitty]

add H&R to that list. Better than all above imo with a proper shock/strut.

Noted!

[Harbinger]

Eibach is junk. The fronts were too high and my rear was too low . Even zr was confused. Im never buy from them again

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[ZR]

For a Fox, SN95 or New Edge, Pro Kit is an absolute hit or miss on ride height front and rear, said to work well in the newest gen though.

[tulowd]

Eibach is junk. The fronts were too high and my rear was too low . Even zr was confused. Im never buy from them again

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Yea ok. A problem setup on an old car and you diss the entire company and product line. Springs are precision manufactured and the likelihood of something on your car being off as opposed to their production tolerances/mislabelling...well....you get my point.

My Ford Racing M5300-C's sat way too high for my liking when I bought them in 1988. They got cut several times until the car sat right. Sold them in 2011, they had not sagged or broken after 300 000 km of street and track use.

Guess who manufactured them?

[Harbinger]

Yea ok. A problem setup on an old car and you diss the entire company and product line. Springs are precision manufactured and the likelihood of something on your car being off as opposed to their production tolerances/mislabelling...well....you get my point.

My Ford Racing M5300-C's sat way too high for my liking when I bought them in 1988. They got cut several times until the car sat right. Sold them in 2011, they had not sagged or broken after 300 000 km of street and track use.

Guess who manufactured them?
I'm not the only one who had issues. Ive seen a few posts on facebook and in forums of eibachs being uneven. Cutting the springs is not the way to go. Ive had cut springs on my gt and the ride was horrid. I spent money to have my springs installed only to have them not even lower my car right. You make a product it should fit right and not need to be cut or modified.

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[Harbinger]

Also I work hard for my money and it pissed me off that my springs didnt fit right. I heard good things about H & R springs

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[ZR]

Other common problem, we remove a ridiculous number of Eibach fronts that are broken in that same gen Mustang. In the 03/04 Cobra, car sits insanely low with Pro Kit. Bunch we've installed, just like Davids, either front or rear way too high or just plain too high all round, sometimes even higher vs stock. As for their after sales support, after the problem in my own plus another Cobra, Joe shipped them back to Eibach for warranty inspection. Claimed springs are to spec and shipped them back collect. Yes in spite of pics taken both on the ground and on the hoist to prove height is ridiculous / installation correct.

[allicedout]

add H&R to that list. Better than all above imo with a proper shock/strut.

I've only used H&R springs on almost every one of my cars. No complaints here.

[tulowd]

I'm not the only one who had issues. Ive seen a few posts on facebook and in forums of eibachs being uneven. Cutting the springs is not the way to go. Ive had cut springs on my gt and the ride was horrid. I spent money to have my springs installed only to have them not even lower my car right. You make a product it should fit right and not need to be cut or modified.

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Agree they should fit properly and that's why they are the largest aftermarket spring manufacturer on the planet for a lot more cars than Mustangs. First I've heard of their product breaking and crappy customer service; both of which are unacceptable. Haven't heard that anywhere else.
The 2 sets of Eibach's I had in my Vert fit with no cutting required.

As far as the ride height discussion goes, I have to laugh every time someone wants to buy springs that lower their car a certain amount.
HTF can anyone build a spring specific to your car? Different options, springs from the factory and sagging with time make it impossible to match the "lowered 1" other than stock when new, aka 4x4 ride height from Ford......It's called a coilover, lol

Cutting springs is a perfectly good and inexpensive way to reduce the spring height. In general terms, cutting a linear rate spring will increase the rate by 10-15% for every coil removed. Of course you need shocks that can control the particular spring rate, and the spring cannot bottom out/or coil bind.

[RedSN]

cutting a linear rate spring will increase the rate by 10-15% for every coil removed.
I was skeptical of this claim, so I had to look it up. Turns out to be correct. Sorry I doubted you Paul.

Physics Alert:
Hooke's law is a principle of physics that states that the force F (lbs) needed to extend or compress a spring by some distance X (inches) is proportional to that distance. That is: F = kX, where k is a constant factor characteristic of the spring: its stiffness (measured in lb/in)

The spring constant, k, can be calculated by: k = EA/L
where E is Young's Modulus (a material constant), A is the cross-sectional area of the spring, and L is the unstretched length of the spring.

So if you change L, you get a different k.
With that formula, you can calculate exactly what effect cutting one coil off a spring will have on the spring rate.

[tulowd]

I was skeptical of this claim, so I had to look it up. Turns out to be correct. Sorry I doubted you Paul.

Physics Alert:
Hooke's law is a principle of physics that states that the force F (lbs) needed to extend or compress a spring by some distance X (inches) is proportional to that distance. That is: F = kX, where k is a constant factor characteristic of the spring: its stiffness (measured in lb/in)

The spring constant, k, can be calculated by: k = EA/L
where E is Young's Modulus (a material constant), A is the cross-sectional area of the spring, and L is the unstretched length of the spring.

So if you change L, you get a different k.
With that formula, you can calculate exactly what effect cutting one coil off a spring will have on the spring rate.

Sorry, I should have also included the number of coils - typically 6-10 full turns is what I was talking about within the range of typical automotive springs.

Here is the Eibach story; https://www.facebook.com/notes/eibach/60-years-of-eibach-history-from-a-tiny-workshop-to-the-top-of-the-world/208510022545796/
still a family owned business and they were/are a supplier to AMG. There is no way a German company is going to accept building a poor quality product.

LOL @ Don for always trying to catch me :)

Sounds like the typical - US Distributor with the rights to the name is who is stonewalling in the example below.

[RedSN]

LOL, not trying to 'catch' you. I just thought that the length of the spring didn't have an effect on the spring rate. I thought it was a material and cross-section property.

It's easier to think about it as torsion bar instead of a spring. A spring is just a coiled up torsion bar.
A longer torsion bar is easier to twist than a short stubby one.

[tulowd]

LOL, not trying to 'catch' you.

lol....real life = just like at the track :)

[Harbinger]

Ive had cut springs in my mustang gt and the ride quality was abysmal. Micky mouse stuff like that kills it for me. It had one effect: looks and thats about it. Ill read into cutting springs to educate myself further but from what ive been told cutting springs is not the way to go.

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[ZR]

No denying your previous GT rode like ass with cut springs.

[tulowd]

Ive had cut springs in my mustang gt and the ride quality was abysmal. Micky mouse stuff like that kills it for me. It had one effect: looks and thats about it. Ill read into cutting springs to educate myself further but from what ive been told cutting springs is not the way to go.

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If the springs were cut with a torch or plasma cutter, that could be the reason, as the heat treating and specs would go out the window. Nothing Disney about cutting springs properly under the correct circumstances and having the correct dampers. Least expensive way to lower your car and improve the handling if done correctly. I did it on 6 of my cars, all of which I either autocrossed or tracked. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience, but that doesn't determine whether this concept is valid or not.