My Steeda suspension parts arrived yesterday. (On my calendar, this year, Christmas was July 24th.) I'll give a bonus to Steeda on the delivery. I Placed the order on Monday, July 20th, late afternoon, and the parts arrived that Friday at 1pm. Plenty of time left in the day to begin the install.
I ordered:
Steeda Sport Springs
Steeda Pro-Action Dampers
Steeda Rear Sway Bar with Billet Endlinks
This is very similiar to the "Steeda Handling Pack Stage 2", but $300 cheaper, and without the strut brace and front sway bar, both of which I understand are somewhat unneccessary.
I was able to put on the rear springs, dampers, and sway bar in about four hours after the parts arrived. Most of that time was figuring out how to jack up my car (small awkward garage), and fiddling with removing the rear shocks. I did not have the special tool that allows you to loosen the bolt at the top of the shock (in the trunk), while keeping the shock bar from spinning. I had to hold the bar with some pliers to break loose that bolt.
I also had some confusion as to which way was up on the rear springs. Steeda's install instructions state that the "small progressive part of the spring" should face up. I am not sure how your supposed to know which end of the spring is progressive. I did notice that one part of the spring is more tightly coiled. Since that was smaller than the other part, I assume that was the progressive part. Putting that up, the words "Steeda" were also right-side-up, so I am assuming I did it correctly.
Everything else went very smoothly. The new sway bar is a pretty impressive piece of metal. As are the endlinks. Billet aluminum always feels like something special in the hand.
I greased the hell out of everything during the install, as added noise and vibration (NVH) was a concern. Steeda includes two small viles of grease which was much more then enough for all the parts. After a day of test driving, I can report NO additional NVH.
The rear parts have made a very noticible difference. The steering is more precise, obviously less body roll, a tighter, firmer, more confident ride in the back. Especially during tail slides and burnouts, the control is much improved.
There is increased "bumpiness" to the ride. I am not sure if this will even out as the parts are broken in. Roads that before were smooth, now are a bit bouncy. At the same time, huge bumps (RR tracks, drainage, etc) that before were a problem, are much more smoothed out.
Definetly very happy with the parts. I still have to install front springs and dampers (and will post more info once those are installed). But I wanted to share this photo-comparison on the forums for anyone thinking about just rear springs. Its hard to get an idea of what they'll do to the look of a car, because everyone uses different cameras, different lenses, and different perspectives when photographing their cars. So here are some comparison pics for any thinking about just rear lowering springs, all taken with the same camera, same lens, same parking spot, same angle, just different days. (if only the weather had also been the same)
I ordered:
Steeda Sport Springs
Steeda Pro-Action Dampers
Steeda Rear Sway Bar with Billet Endlinks
This is very similiar to the "Steeda Handling Pack Stage 2", but $300 cheaper, and without the strut brace and front sway bar, both of which I understand are somewhat unneccessary.
I was able to put on the rear springs, dampers, and sway bar in about four hours after the parts arrived. Most of that time was figuring out how to jack up my car (small awkward garage), and fiddling with removing the rear shocks. I did not have the special tool that allows you to loosen the bolt at the top of the shock (in the trunk), while keeping the shock bar from spinning. I had to hold the bar with some pliers to break loose that bolt.
I also had some confusion as to which way was up on the rear springs. Steeda's install instructions state that the "small progressive part of the spring" should face up. I am not sure how your supposed to know which end of the spring is progressive. I did notice that one part of the spring is more tightly coiled. Since that was smaller than the other part, I assume that was the progressive part. Putting that up, the words "Steeda" were also right-side-up, so I am assuming I did it correctly.
Everything else went very smoothly. The new sway bar is a pretty impressive piece of metal. As are the endlinks. Billet aluminum always feels like something special in the hand.
I greased the hell out of everything during the install, as added noise and vibration (NVH) was a concern. Steeda includes two small viles of grease which was much more then enough for all the parts. After a day of test driving, I can report NO additional NVH.
The rear parts have made a very noticible difference. The steering is more precise, obviously less body roll, a tighter, firmer, more confident ride in the back. Especially during tail slides and burnouts, the control is much improved.
There is increased "bumpiness" to the ride. I am not sure if this will even out as the parts are broken in. Roads that before were smooth, now are a bit bouncy. At the same time, huge bumps (RR tracks, drainage, etc) that before were a problem, are much more smoothed out.
Definetly very happy with the parts. I still have to install front springs and dampers (and will post more info once those are installed). But I wanted to share this photo-comparison on the forums for anyone thinking about just rear springs. Its hard to get an idea of what they'll do to the look of a car, because everyone uses different cameras, different lenses, and different perspectives when photographing their cars. So here are some comparison pics for any thinking about just rear lowering springs, all taken with the same camera, same lens, same parking spot, same angle, just different days. (if only the weather had also been the same)