Coil-over spring rates

[dville_gt]

Wheel rate on a strut mustang is NOT 1:1 for spring rate. that 1800 lbs you are talking about is more like 2100 lbs. I think the front wheel rate ratio is like .85 but could be even lower. Pull a fender and drop the car on the ground to see the spring behind the wheel. I got $5 that says it's fully compressed. That's an awfully light spring with a boat anchor on the nose with turbo parts added in for ballast. Whatever you do, don't drive it or you are going to bust up a caster/camber plate or strut tower.

The picture above is with the car on the ground.

[Grape]

The picture above is with the car on the ground.

then it is a mile from being coil bound.

[dville_gt]

then it is a mile from being coil bound.

Then why does the front suspension not compress or rebound at all. Even the m3 suspension on my bmw will compress when i push on the fender and i'd assume it is way tighter then this suspension.

[Grape]

Then why does the front suspension not compress or rebound at all. Even the m3 suspension on my bmw will compress when i push on the fender and i'd assume it is way tighter then this suspension.

have no clue

[Baron Von Crowder]

Then why does the front suspension not compress or rebound at all. Even the m3 suspension on my bmw will compress when i push on the fender and i'd assume it is way tighter then this suspension.

The driver's side on our race car would do that. We couldnt find a bind anywhere, and it would move up with a jack under the arm and the suspension worked, but when the judges tech our cars, the first thing they do is push down on the fender, and ours was always rock hard. They would scratch their heads when we jack it up and they saw factoy cut springs and nothing aftermarket.

[aggie97]

then it is a mile from being coil bound.

yup...there is something else either hitting the ground or binding up. Look at the control arms and sway bar links and see if they are hitting something. Other option is to jack the fugger up and drop it hard off the jack and see if it compresses or makes a thud. Kidding.

Only other thing I can think of is that you have SN95/99 struts on the front of a fox which will bottom the strut as they are longer than the fox struts.....

I might be onto something with that one.

[dville_gt]

yup...there is something else either hitting the ground or binding up. Look at the control arms and sway bar links and see if they are hitting something. Other option is to jack the fugger up and drop it hard off the jack and see if it compresses or makes a thud. Kidding.

Only other thing I can think of is that you have SN95/99 struts on the front of a fox which will bottom the strut as they are longer than the fox struts.....

I might be onto something with that one.

These are the ones I am running:

http://www.wolferacecraft.com/detail.aspx?ID=806

S6001EM - 87-93 Mustang (V8 only)

You can see in the picture that there is tube still coming out of the strut housing.

I don't have a sway bar on the front and the control arms move pretty much effortlessly when the strut is not attached..

[aggie97]

These are the ones I am running:

http://www.wolferacecraft.com/detail.aspx?ID=806

S6001EM - 87-93 Mustang (V8 only)

You can see in the picture that there is tube still coming out of the strut housing.

I don't have a sway bar on the front and the control arms move pretty much effortlessly when the strut is not attached..

a strut piston can bottom out internally on a bumpstop and still have shaft visible.....that sounded strangely sexual...? Anyway, pull the spring, check travel. pull the strut check travel. You obviously have some miles on the shocks so they worked once....what changed? Does the car sit lower? Did it bottom out before? with that Lump in the engine bay and 175's you should just about be able to sit on the fender and bottom the car on the ground. are the shocks adjustable? put them on soft or any other setting and see if there is a change.

Anyway, just offering up ideas that may or may not help.

Good luck!

[Grape]

do all of the above, however, at ride height put a piece of tape on fender dead center of spindle, get a height measurement from bottom wheel lip to tape, so you can replicate ride height in the air..........

[Acrotom]

dville,

It sounds like you have eliminated all of the things that could cause it to bind, and if the spring is not coil bound, then installing a stiffer spring probably won't help, but ought to make things worse in that regard.

Your original post says that the suspension is stiff when you push down on the fender, or when you pull up on it.

One things that is not yet mentioned - Perhaps the strut compression and rebound settings are both set to full stiff? If this is the case, you would be able to cycle the strut at slow shaft speed (as you have been doing when checking for binding), but when the car hits a bump or launches, the front end won't bump or rebound because of the stiff shock setting.

From the picture of the spring, it appears that you still have several inches of travel left in the spring before it coil binds. If the spring is coil binding, you should see where the paint is rubbed off between the coils. The tape trick that Grape mentions is a good one.

As for the wear on your strut - as others have stated, a stiffer spring would probably help with that. Assuming that your current springs have a 150lb. rate, the 12" 225lb. spring will probably put the spanner nut close to the same spot on the strut tube.

Hope this helps - good luck,

Tom

[Magnimike1]

If you are serious I will come by Friday night for sure! Either set of those should be a lot better.

Well of course. Be home about 8. PM Sent.

[dville_gt]

a strut piston can bottom out internally on a bumpstop and still have shaft visible.....that sounded strangely sexual...? Anyway, pull the spring, check travel. pull the strut check travel. You obviously have some miles on the shocks so they worked once....what changed? Does the car sit lower? Did it bottom out before? with that Lump in the engine bay and 175's you should just about be able to sit on the fender and bottom the car on the ground. are the shocks adjustable? put them on soft or any other setting and see if there is a change.

Anyway, just offering up ideas that may or may not help.

Good luck!

I tested travel when I had it pulled apart, but when I switch springs I'll recheck. The front suspension never really worked I suppose, it has always been super tight. It has also always made a thud type noise, mainly after driving for 20+ min, that comes from the passenger side front (buddy said he could feel it through the floor pan), but I've shaken, pushed, pulled, etc. on everything under there and it all looks/feels good. I also get a pop sometimes when I crank the wheel hard and it is returning to center (manual steering). Just throwing these things out in case they jog some type of idea.

Appreciate everyones help.

[Grape]

are the tie rods at some god awful angle creating the bind?

[turbostang]

Make sure that you have that sleeve/spacer on the top of the cone at the top of the strut. A lot of people just zip the nut down with an impact and don't pay attention to that spacer. Most of the time it will NOT go down inside of the heim bearing in the CC plate without some devine intervention.

[dville_gt]

are the tie rods at some god awful angle creating the bind?

They are at a pretty aggressive angle upward from the rack to the hub. I figured that even with that being the case the wheels would just go in or out with the suspension.