Mad about struts - CEG Archives

not in a good way

my rear struts are toast.. the car only has 74K miles... i dunno but I would have thought they'd last much longer

anyhow last weekend I spot a killer deal on eBay brand new SVT struts and spring going for around $100 and ~$30 shipping

without much thought I put in a bid for $155 bucks (don't know why I picked that amount)

for some reason I thought the auction was ending on Monday... and sure enough on Sunday I check my email and get an outbid notice followed by the "you're a looser" email.... $6 freaking dollars

and ironically the winning usermname is extremely similar to mine

eBAY

I would have gladly paid $250 for them, what the hell was I thinking

now I need to make a decision on what to get... I don't want to spend a small fortune either... yes I'd love to get the BAT kit, but I need to put that money towards repairing the bumper

do an upgrade, you wont regret it. People like the BAT kit because it doesnt lower that much and its still a very refined but fun ride... But the way sales are going the Koni Sport kit is overall better bang for buck.

Sorry to hear about your Strut musfortune, but its a sign just to upgrade

Not all struts last over 70 or 80K its pretty common in a lot of cars for them to wear out at around 80K miles. It depends on the type of driving you do and the roads you drive on. Longest I have EVER seen a strut still have a decent ride was to 100K miles, and you could feel they were about done. I would think a sport tuned suspension wouldnt last longer then your average midsized car.

I hear what your saying, but $600+ bucks is just too much money for me to spend on the suspension

this is my daily driver, I already have a money pit - the Cobra

I would have loved to get the stock SVT struts and springs... still bitter about it

Originally posted by Cobra_Jack:
I hear what your saying, but $600+ bucks is just too much money for me to spend on the suspension

How about $400 + shipping for just the BAT struts? It's a nice combo, big improvement over the stock shocks. I would have prefered the whole BAT, but I didn't want to deal with a 1" lower and scraping the front bumper on everything near me.

Originally posted by captainoblivious:

Originally posted by Cobra_Jack:
I hear what your saying, but $600+ bucks is just too much money for me to spend on the suspension

How about $400 + shipping for just the BAT struts? It's a nice combo, big improvement over the stock shocks. I would have prefered the whole BAT, but I didn't want to deal with a 1" lower and scraping the front bumper on everything near me.

that's still a pretty penny

I think I'll just get the stock SVT replacements from the local Ford dealer $87 each and just replace the rears for now

how do the BAT struts work with the stock springs? I'm not road racing or anything of that nature.. I just need the car to get me around with decent gas mileage... 65 miles round trip daily

Originally posted by Cobra_Jack:

I think I'll just get the stock SVT replacements from the local Ford dealer $87 each and just replace the rears for now

You can get them from Bill Jenkins for ~$65 a strut...

Originally posted by iluvmytour:

You can get them from Bill Jenkins for ~$65 a strut...

Awesome! I just called him and left a message

I'll get all 4 struts.

anyone know how long the stock springs typically last? Is it worth replacing them when using stock SVT struts?

I'm not really looking to lower the car (and if I were to lower it, it would be very minimal), and I'm not into autoX

Originally posted by Cobra_Jack:

Originally posted by iluvmytour:

You can get them from Bill Jenkins for ~$65 a strut...

Awesome! I just called him and left a message

I'll get all 4 struts.

anyone know how long the stock springs typically last? Is it worth replacing them when using stock SVT struts?

I'm not really looking to lower the car (and if I were to lower it, it would be very minimal), and I'm not into autoX

The stock springs don't get much life either. Common problem being that the front spring coils snap. It happened to my friend's 98.5 with about 70k miles. Started backing out of the driveway for work one morning, and the passenger front corner just dropped.

Originally posted by CSVT1214:

The stock springs don't get much life either. Common problem being that the front spring coils snap. It happened to my friend's 98.5 with about 70k miles. Started backing out of the driveway for work one morning, and the passenger front corner just dropped.

what's a good replacement to pair up with the stock struts?

Originally posted by Cobra_Jack:

Originally posted by CSVT1214:

The stock springs don't get much life either. Common problem being that the front spring coils snap. It happened to my friend's 98.5 with about 70k miles. Started backing out of the driveway for work one morning, and the passenger front corner just dropped.

what's a good replacement to pair up with the stock struts?

Either stock, or maybe go with BAT springs, which lower 1 inch, but not sure how well the stock struts will like them.

if the BAT kit lower's 1" .... how much LOWER does the Koni sport kit lower ?? ( 2"'s total from stock height ? ) thanks !

Originally posted by Cobra_Jack:

Originally posted by CSVT1214:

The stock springs don't get much life either. Common problem being that the front spring coils snap. It happened to my friend's 98.5 with about 70k miles. Started backing out of the driveway for work one morning, and the passenger front corner just dropped.

what's a good replacement to pair up with the stock struts?

I have not heard much problem with the stock springs in the '99 and 2000 cars. Shouldn't be a problem. Keep the stock struts you're gonna buy & call it a day unless you see some sort of problem, or want a mild drop.

BAT springs are about $200 a set, give a 1" drop, much less dive & roll. Firm ride. Good all-around combo with stock struts. Any lower a drop & you'll want to upgrade the struts from stock as they tend to wear quickly with 2" drop or more.

Looking to upgrade the ride/handling and stay OEM, without lowering? I ordered a full set of SVT shocks and springs for the manual 2.5L (Same setup as on the SVT) for about $400 new including shipping from Steve at Tousely. The ride is smooth, firm, well controlled, particularly at highway speed, even over rough or uneven pavement. A passenger said it felt like the car was on rails. And, you can load the car with gear or passengers without fear of bottoming out or scraping the front valance. You won't be disappointed--but you will still have some wheel gap common to most stock setups. However, if it's superior handling you really want, with the aesthetics of less wheel gap, and can live with the small drop (Any lowering is nothing to slough off as insignificant), go with the BAT kit or the Koni Kit if you can pull the cash together.

Oh, and don't forget the $550 to install all this stuff if you don't have the tools and/or time. Major expense for these cars with the sophisticated suspensions they have. The stuts are buried in the coils. All totalled, I was out nearly a grand, but the car only has 67M on it, and like new. It was cheaper to upgrade I car I like than buy something else.