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I've just over 200 miles on the car with the rear kit installed. I've not done any suspension tuning yet other than to drop down to a 300 lbf/in spring instead of a 450 lbf/in. Shocks are set at full soft both compression and rebound. It's not quite as soft and gooey as my stock 94 roadmaster wagon (driven within a couple hours of each other), it's far from harsh so there's room to adjust things. I went down in rate, maybe a bit prematurely, but the initial 50 miles was that the back was a bit stiff, but there's so much going on it's hard to tell.
The install wasn't "bolt in" by any means - however I'm putting these parts on a wagon, not a sedan so I'm presuming that's the main difference.
There were frame clearance issues with the coil springs
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That was solved by rolling the lip up out of the way...
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The other issue I ran into was that the lower mount brackets just wouldn't bolt in at a position that would work...Below is where the brackets want to be bolted to the axle and where the shock wants to be.
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I can force it into position as shown below, but that puts a a lot of stress on the upper bushings, t-bar, etc
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So, since I've a welder and am not afraid to use it
I located the lower mounts to where the shock wants to be and welded them to the rear axle bracket. This was just for the initial fit up/test drive - it has since been fully welded and likely stronger than the bolted solution.
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I did have to put a stack of 3 washers on the one side of the T-Bar on top to get things to line up - if you look closely you can see them in the below picture. I'm using M10 hardware so they fit the holes in the T-bar snugly, distribute the forces over a bit more area on the frame and keep things from moving around which is a good thing as it's a bit "busy" in this area...
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The few times I've changed springs, I have not noticed any frame distortion, damage, etc, however it only has ~200 easy miles on it. If it starts to show any signs of damage, I'll be sure to share for everyone's benefit.
I don't have any pictures of the Tender Springs, but have installed them and would recommend them anywhere that it's practical to use them. Ride height adjustments are so much easier!
accutuneoffroad.com
All of the above isn't meant to bash on Speed Tech's rear coil over kit - just explaining what I had to do to make it work on my car. I knew that there are some wagon/sedan differences and wasn't too surprised that I had to do some modifications. The parts are high quality, hardware is good, etc. I've done enough custom vehicle work to know that there are very few things that truly "bolt on" when it comes to these kinds of things. Exhaust, suspension, body etc typically require some sort of ingenuity, modification, etc due to the relatively wide tolerances of the factory parts.
I hope this helps - When I start suspension tuning (likely spring) I'll try to remember to come back and update this thread - Feel free to send me a reminder should I forget
The install wasn't "bolt in" by any means - however I'm putting these parts on a wagon, not a sedan so I'm presuming that's the main difference.
There were frame clearance issues with the coil springs
That was solved by rolling the lip up out of the way...
The other issue I ran into was that the lower mount brackets just wouldn't bolt in at a position that would work...Below is where the brackets want to be bolted to the axle and where the shock wants to be.
I can force it into position as shown below, but that puts a a lot of stress on the upper bushings, t-bar, etc
So, since I've a welder and am not afraid to use it
I located the lower mounts to where the shock wants to be and welded them to the rear axle bracket. This was just for the initial fit up/test drive - it has since been fully welded and likely stronger than the bolted solution.
I did have to put a stack of 3 washers on the one side of the T-Bar on top to get things to line up - if you look closely you can see them in the below picture. I'm using M10 hardware so they fit the holes in the T-bar snugly, distribute the forces over a bit more area on the frame and keep things from moving around which is a good thing as it's a bit "busy" in this area...
The few times I've changed springs, I have not noticed any frame distortion, damage, etc, however it only has ~200 easy miles on it. If it starts to show any signs of damage, I'll be sure to share for everyone's benefit.
I don't have any pictures of the Tender Springs, but have installed them and would recommend them anywhere that it's practical to use them. Ride height adjustments are so much easier!
When are Tender Coils ok to use? | AccuTune Off-Road
accutuneoffroad.com
All of the above isn't meant to bash on Speed Tech's rear coil over kit - just explaining what I had to do to make it work on my car. I knew that there are some wagon/sedan differences and wasn't too surprised that I had to do some modifications. The parts are high quality, hardware is good, etc. I've done enough custom vehicle work to know that there are very few things that truly "bolt on" when it comes to these kinds of things. Exhaust, suspension, body etc typically require some sort of ingenuity, modification, etc due to the relatively wide tolerances of the factory parts.
I hope this helps - When I start suspension tuning (likely spring) I'll try to remember to come back and update this thread - Feel free to send me a reminder should I forget
