Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Suspension Altering Your suspension?

The thing with a "stock" ride is that it requires wheels to move up and down a LOT in the fenders to soak up potholes & al. On a slammed car, that kind of travel will have your wheels contact the inner fenders, not mentioning the front bumper scraping the groung into corners.

You could order a set of softer springs for the GC kit... They are simply 2.5" i.d. race springs, they come in all lenghts and rates from all different brands and will fit the GC kit no problem. Get the specs for the springs that are supplied in the GC kit and buy a spare set of springs of say... 100lbs less rated stiffness, turn the damping way down on the Konis and you'll have a ride that's really close to stock!! Rubbing and scraping galore if you slam the car with that but comfy for sure!

... See where I'm getting at? There's no driving around as low as Antonio's car or mine, tossing it into corners hard and yet feel like you're in a stock SVT.

The Leda kit would probably be stiff and really "controlled" when setup properly. The GC kit is a bit on the harsher side, call it bumpy if you may, due to struts that are not perfectly matched to springs, but still fine to my taste!

well I can deal with the ride being more harsh, I knew that going in. but as you can tell the bounciness is what really concerns me. I can't have that on my SVT

I totally agree

I think I'd like to get more info on the BAT setup, seems like what I'm looking for.

SilverSVT nailed it.
If you go with the GC's and want a stock ride just find a company with "near" stock spring rates and use the stock struts to mount the GC's on.
badda-bing,....

BAT's coil over kit... they have a whole selection of spring rates to choose from.

Koni's on softest setting with Eibachs is pretty close to stock handling. Very comfortable and smooth with slightly increased handling. Not bouncy at all. The only prob is speed bumps. Your car handles almost like stock but is quite a bit lower so you hit em on the way down.

You want the damping level equal to or greater than the spring. In other words, the dampers must be able to control the oscillations of the spring. Again, the early SE's have STIFF springs. If you talk to BAT they mention that their upgrade kits from Europe are very similiar to the early SE spring/strut combo. Unfortunately, the aftermarket spring suppliers seem to treat their rates as "State Secrets". This makes it difficult to co-ordinate aftermarket parts. The single most notable suspension upgrade is the struts. Also, no one has mentioned the great importance of suspenion bushings in terms of compliance, ride and handling.

So,..does anyone know if there is a progressive rate spring on the market for coilover's-BAT or GC's?
BAT's spring's for their coilover's are linear rate. 300,400,etc...

Mysticali, is the first one to give any real feedback w/the Koni/Eibach set-up, that sound's close to what I want,as far as ride quality goes.(compared to stock)

JVT are you around here!


I need to get a ride in your car to see how I like the eibach/koni setup.

I think its a tie between it and the BAT kit. Its just that there aren't any SVT's with it. I wonder if it will be any different than stock. I don't want to pay $600 if it doesn't increase handling. At least I know Koni/Eibach will. How about H&R/Koni? Bouncy, Reduce body roll? I just like how the H&R's are higher in the rear than the front.

Thanks for all the help!
Later

If you are worried about a stiff ride, the H&R's are stiffer than the Eibachs, i.e. don't handle potholes or bumps in the road quite as easily. Usely hits pretty hard. Eibachs seem to be better for everyday driving as you can remain somewhat comfortable with beat up city streets.

If you want it stiffer than just adjust the Koni's for less travel, but at least you have a more comfortable yet sporty spring.