BKB94 Posted January 6 Report Share Posted January 6 (edited) ST lower springs, New front Tokico blue strut inserts, like new rear Tokico blue rear housings, ST rear sway bar stock front, Poly bushing kit, stock strut tops front and rear. I'm shocked at how soft this suspension is and how under dampened it is. The rear is an issue with the ST springs sagging so bad even after shimming it up 3/8" the tire is up in the wheel well, not a look I like. During this discussion lets remember that a SHP springs are 134.4lbs front 129.5 rear and D2s are 448lbs front and 336lbs rear. This is a fun weekend car not a track car. Also this might be strictly a dampening issue. 1. - Bare minimum fix the rear sag with a camber plate that will raise the back and possible eliminate the sway bar hitting the floor pan. 2. - DIY Coil over sleeve kit with my choice of spring rates. With used springs this could be done very cheaply. But could quickly overpower the already poor valved struts. 3. - Cut a strut Koni adjustable strut cartridges front and back with the sleeve kit. Will take some work to see what strut will work best for a 1" below stock ride height. I would think this would be better then D2s and about 1/2 the price. 4. - Just give up and order the D2s, If it rides like crap swap the springs. It’s just money right. D2s are held in such high regard here but on other cars that have options for suspension they are considered disposable. Everyone has such a different concept of a great riding / handling car. So what are you running and how happy are you with it, what would you change. List spring rates, cartridges used, ride height. I will add that I’m a mustang guy and there are a ton more people tracking mustangs than quests. Both cars have almost the same spring ratio up front so we are comparing apples to apples up front, also most stangs race weight is around 3000-3200 same as a quest. mustang starting points for spring rates up front. mild street 250-325 street & track 350-400 Track 400-425 comp 450-525 Edited January 7 by BKB94 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mech Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 D2's. i've got them they are awesome. Transformed the handling. I paid $1,000 for mine in 2019, now they are almost $1,800?? Wasnt aware that you could still get tokico blues..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKB94 Posted January 7 Author Report Share Posted January 7 (edited) What suspension was on before the D2s? High spring rate doesn't ride hard? D2s front spring rate is 3 times higher than what I run in my 3500lb mustang that handles better then my E36 M3. Edited January 7 by BKB94 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott87star Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 (edited) D2's are the answer, I've used them on flattys and fattys and they do transform the car. My fatty had a coilover setup pieced together from old group buys including Cusco camber plates, the D2's just blew all of that out of the water. I slapped a set on my flatty and autocrossed the piss out of it, they just plain work. I actually have two sets NIB I should sell but they sit at my house in the North, won't be back there until May. Edited January 7 by scott87star Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mech Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 (edited) 5 hours ago, BKB94 said: What suspension was on before the D2s? High spring rate doesn't ride hard? D2s front spring rate is 3 times higher than what I run in my 3500lb mustang that handles better then my E36 M3. Tokico blue with lowering springs before the D2's I'm really blown away at how good the ride is with the D2's. not too hard, but no too soft. The ride is so smooth as well. i actually havent messed around with the dampening settings on the shocks yet. The handling is awesome too. very little body roll. although the car does have full poly bushings and larger sway bars. in fact, if you havent done any suspension work at all, just slapping the D2's on there might not get you the same results. Its a culmination of all the suspension work I've done i suppose, when I described the handling and ride. The D2's were like the icing on the cake. The only issue I have had is a slight clunk on the right front that started a few thousand miles ago (ive put 6k miles on the D2's so far) and since it seems I installed my D2 camber plates on the wrong side, I plan on taking the fronts out, cleaning everything, trying to locate the source of the clunk , and swapping the camber plates if they are in fact on the wrong side. I also just ordered roll center correction shims from mks motorsports and i think that will make an improvement with the D2's. https://mksmotorsport.com/product/roll-center-adjuster-kit-billet/ Edited January 7 by Mech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsi_tom Posted January 7 Report Share Posted January 7 I don’t like my D2s. I get thrown out of the seat going over bumps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKB94 Posted January 8 Author Report Share Posted January 8 (edited) Tom, Let’s go for a ride so I can see what your talking about. Edited January 8 by BKB94 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mech Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 3 hours ago, tsi_tom said: I don’t like my D2s. I get thrown out of the seat going over bumps. have you tried adjusting the dampening at all? I havent ever touched mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techboy Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 My car was running on the OEM suspension when I got it (like most people) and I immediately noticed being a 22 year old car at the time the suspension was shot. I had a set of Eibach springs laying around that I put on the car, but the tires were up inside the wheel well, which was too much of a drop for me on this car - just didn't look right to me. Despite everyone saying the Eibach's were great I removed them and sold them to a member here. For my 2nd go around I replaced the front struts with KYB inserts and was going to replace the OEM springs when I discovered by accident that my front springs were not OEM. I posted some pics here, but no one knew what they were - I think someone thought they were old ST's. My front feels pretty good with the current combo of KYB's and whatever aftermarket spring is on there. The rears I replaced with Mookeeh rears when he was still making them and put the OEM springs back on. I feel like the rear of the car is really "squishy" and "floaty". I thought rebuilding the rear subframe w/ poly bushings would help, but it still feels that way. I suspect the OEM springs are shot, but I don't know of any other NEW spring options if your not going coilovers. So, that's my experience thus far. I've toy with idea of the D2's, but just haven't spent the money yet. I 'd love to know if there's another rear option out there I'm not aware of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKB94 Posted January 8 Author Report Share Posted January 8 Well I hate to say it but the whole time is money thing is starting to ring true for me. As much as I would like to cut off the spring perches and swap Koni yellows in the housing front and back with 300 -250 coil over springs, just buying the D2s is sounding better to me. This car is one huge time suck and there are other cars I would like to build. My mustang is really my bench mark because after 30 years of playing with it I have a car that rides really well and handles awesome. So my tolerance for piss pore suspension is low because there is no need for it. When you look up D2 the biggest complaint I see is bouncing, I will not tolerate that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 I love my ground control coilovers with KYB struts (not sure these are available anymore though). The ST springs is a known issue for over 20 years. I have addeco sway bars and they have been working well. I'll have to look up my spring rates and lengths on the GC coilovers but I went pretty soft and am thankful for it. The ride is really good. edit: Eibach 7" 350 front and 8" 250 rear with the GC coilovers. My only complaint is that they need the rubber bands to prevent clanging on the strut...I can explain how I installed them. I can upload a photo of the stance, if you are interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuze Posted January 9 Report Share Posted January 9 Definitely tried all those Tokico/lowering springs, GC sleeve-over conbos, etc, they are far inferior to even a cheap coilover set. You lose too much travel with the old methods if you lower the car, parts weighs a ton, and damping isn't adjustable. Basically this problem was solved with coilovers, everything before that was just old 90's era solutions because there wasn't a better option. You can get whatever spring you want and it'll fit if you're not happy with what the coilover you have comes with. I've been running D2's forever and wouldn't even think of not using them. Everything else is a compromise and it feels like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuze Posted January 9 Report Share Posted January 9 On 1/7/2024 at 5:46 PM, tsi_tom said: I don’t like my D2s. I get thrown out of the seat going over bumps. Dude there's 32 damping settings on them, you can soften them way down. What kinds bumps are you hitting? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKB94 Posted January 9 Author Report Share Posted January 9 That’s about the stupidest thing I ever heard. It’s the spring rate that concerns me not so much the dampening. You have a strut running a front spring over 200% stiffer the a SHP and undocumented dampening control. Doesn’t matter I bought them and if need be will lower the spring rate to something more street able. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsi_tom Posted January 10 Report Share Posted January 10 22 hours ago, Fuze said: Dude there's 32 damping settings on them, you can soften them way down. What kinds bumps are you hitting? lol At the softest, doesn’t make a difference. How short did you cut your spindles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKB94 Posted January 12 Author Report Share Posted January 12 I freeked out a bit when I looked at the springs and they were labeled 11.5 and 12.5, but now I understand the factory lists the diameter of the wire along with free length in MM. Something totally not logical, spring rates are actually not listed anywhere. Quality is about what I expected not great not horrible. The one huge issue is you have a little over 4" of shaft travel total, guess I know now why they use such high spring rates. So you can only go so low on spring rate before you run out of suspension travel. I need to figure out what I'm going to do for corrosion control, either Powdercoat the parts or 2k clear along with anti-seize. Then decide if I'm going to install now or latter. For now they are going on with whatever spring rate they have and once they break in ill decide if im going to a 350-300. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKB94 Posted January 12 Author Report Share Posted January 12 started powdercoating so had them torn apart. If they really wanted to call this a street kit 6" would have been the better choice, this I would call a drift or stance kit. No torrington bearing just plastic and grease, sure that will last long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mech Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 I'm not really understanding when you talk about spring rates and shock travel. I'm not an expert on this stuff, but maybe you are over complicating it? Are you going seriously track the car? Maybe all of that matters then, but for the street, probably not. I have the D2's, and on my car, i can barely push the front or back of the car down, its really stiff. So i think 4 inches of shock travel is fine. Its not going to bottom out. For the springs, again i am not an expert on suspension tuning...but for mine, i tightened the bottom spring perch nut/collar by hand, until i couldnt tighten it anymore. Just hand tight basically. That will give me a "0" preload. A lot of people make the mistake of compressing the spring to lower the car, but actually you are supposed to adjust the threaded shock body itself. It says that in the instrctions. I think this is why some people complain that the car is too bouncy. And from what I have read, compressing the spring does not change the spring rate at all. So i guess the spring rate is preset and cant be changed? Maybe someone knowledgable can chime in. Not 100 percent sure if you are talking about the bearing betwen the top plate and upper spring perch, but that piece of plastic is actually a bearing. its plastic, but still a bearing. I recently disassembled both my fronts completely after 6k miles to clean everything and check for knocking noise (turned out I had not tightned the lower locking collar enough, or somehow it worked loose over time). I am happy to report everything looks great. Regardless, if we are talking about the same bearing (i think there is only one anyways), all the components have no issues. i installed my coilvers in 2019, so unless D2 has changed something since, you should be fine. After welding, I had the spindles/hubs powdercoated, and installed new bearings, races and seals. Rattle can would work, but nothing beats the longevity of powder coating. I know i took some pics, but I cant seem to find them... Since I just had everything apart, I wish i had noted some measurements, really kicking my self about that. Its been 5 years, trying to remember, but when cutting off the old shock from the spindle, I left 3 inches. I think most people were saying leave an inch and a half. But with 3 inches, that still allow plenty of adjustment for the threaded shock body to go into the spindle/hub when lowering the vehicle. Unless you wanted to really slam the car, then maybe do 2.5 or 2 inches. I also did 3 large button welds, 9, 12, and 3 o clock positions. Honestly i havent even adjusted the dampening on the shock yet. The car rides great, no complaints. I think you will be happy, just keep going and take more pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mech Posted February 10 Report Share Posted February 10 (edited) I was going to post some pics of my install, but it says max total file size 163kB?? i can only post 1 low res pic. Why? Edited February 11 by Mech Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tux Posted February 10 Report Share Posted February 10 You gotta use imgur or Google photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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