I am going to look at an 02 GT on Saturday that has been lowered 1.5 inches with Eibach springs. I know absoloutly nothing about lowered cars. Are there potential problems I should look for? Should it have caster camber plates? What kind of ride and handling characteristics can I expect from this car?
alot of mustangs are lowered, idk if alot of them have problems, but just go over bumps slowly..... ted
By problems, I mean alignment problems, strut and shock problems, pinion angle problems. I like the lowered look but I don't want it to cause me headaches. I want to know wheather a 1.5 inch drop affects these things or not.
The car will have a slightly stiffer ride because it is lowered but will handle better in the corners. Take it for a test drive and make sure it does not bottom out when you hit slight bumps. This might be the start of the struts and shocks failing due to the shorter travel length of the springs. A leaking strut is also an early sign of this. I recommend CC plates when lowering but it isn't absolutely necessary. Just make sure the alignment is right or your front tires will wear alot faster. Also, because the suspension is now stiffer from the springs, you may experience more chassis shake. See if the car has subframes on it. It'll help stiffen the chassis and get the front and rear working more in tune through the corners instead of the tail always wanting to come loose. Hope this helps.
Some have reported that Eibachs sag in the rear. Look for that... See what shocks and struts are with the lowering springs. If they're stock, plan on buying new ones. See if there are C/C plates, if not look at the tires for abnormal wear. I'm lowered 1-3/4". I watch my scraping a bit more but my highway handling is superior. But then, I have supersubs with my Bilsteins, H&R SS and MM C/C plates.
i do NOT recommend eibachs because of sagging issues (see my sig )and just the fact that they usually lower the back more than the front to begin with... go with steeda sport springs or possibly H&R sport springs.
If it did need new struts and shocks, would I need to get stock size ones or do they sell different sized ones for lowered cars?
No, the size of the shock/strut stays the same. Basically a new shock will have a different rate at which it moves, so it will cause the car to handle/ride differently. Any new shock will be helpful for a lowered vehicle, because, like was stated earlier, the new springs cause the car the have a stiffer ride....the new shocks somewhat make up for this stiffer ride. Also, if the car still has the stock shocks, then it's likely that they are blown, due to performing beyond their means as designed. New shocks would certainly be a good investment. Also, I have the Eibach springs, and have no complaints. I think Eibach is one of the most highly used springs worldwide today, which helped factor into my decision for choosing them, so you should be good to go!!
I do know a lot of guys buy shocks differently based on how much they're lowered. My bilsteins have "variable valving" or some crap like that. Not all struts do. I think if you run them more compacted than they are intended to be, I would think they would go out quicker. I know when I lowered my car almost two inches the instructions for my C/C plates said to try to make up for that difference by using the spacers in such a way to bring the strut shaft up higher under the hood to make up for the difference. Just my $0.02...
