Front Susp Setups?

[Weaver]

In case we don't get the run of Eibach springs (and in case something happens to them down the line) ... are there other aftermarket setups that would be good for the front suspension?

[SpartaPerformance]

Not that I'm aware of atleast not to lower it other then cutting a coil of the the stock springs. As for performance front parts there are ADDCO sway bars and I'm working on a lower A-arm bushing that is complete solid poly unlike the hollow rubber turd from factory.

[Mercguy04]

SpartaPerformance : I'm working on a lower A-arm bushing that is complete solid poly unlike the hollow rubber from factory. (http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/member.php?u=10898)

I like that idea let us know when it becomes available
Thanks

[rossv1]

Hey Weaver, where are you located in south jersey?

[Weaver]

Browns Mills/ Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

Went to Rutgers in New Brunswick, didn't have the MM at the time, though.

[rossv1]

Cool. Im about to graduate up here in the fall and hopefully get my law enforcement career starting shortly after. Would like to meet up sometime, since it's hard to find people nearby to talk to. Plus, you have many mods that im curious about. Maybe we can get others nearby as well.

[Mr. Man]

Cool. I'm about to graduate up here in the fall and hopefully get my law enforcement career starting shortly after. Would like to meet up sometime, since it's hard to find people nearby to talk to. Plus, you have many mods that I'm curious about. Maybe we can get others nearby as well.

I've been thinking about a NJ meet as there seems to be a good number of us. My original thought was to meet somewhere in the I-195 area as that would be conducive to both NJ and SJ. Of course it would go w/o saying any of our surrounding state friends would also be welcome.

I'm not overly familiar with that area though, so if someone who is wanted to set something up for June after Carlisle that would be great. Wouldn't have to be fancy maybe at an Applebee's or some other place like that. The restaurant should have decent food and beer/soda/ice tea at a reasonable price and plenty of parking in case we get a lot of attendees or so at least we can segregate ourselves from the riff raff Toyota crowd.:)

[rossv1]

Well there is an Applebee's on Ryders lane here in New Brunswick that has a small car show every Wednesday night. Im not sure when it begins though, but even in we decided to do it on a different night there is plenty of room for the Marauder family to fit in their parking lot space.

[Skilz10179]

I can't believe all the coil spring cutting around here, scarey....

Look into Naake coilovers for the front, I'm helping a friend install them on his car now.

[Krytin]

I can't believe all the coil spring cutting around here, scarey....

Look into Naake coilovers for the front, I'm helping a friend install them on his car now.

Let me know how you make out with that.
I have a set that I removed because they are junk!

[Skilz10179]

Let me know how you make out with that.
I have a set that I removed because they are junk!

What exactly what the problem with them?

[LANDY]

I can't believe all the coil spring cutting around here, scarey....

Look into Naake coilovers for the front, I'm helping a friend install them on his car now. good luck with that. He is going to want them out by the time he gets to the first traffic light.

[Skilz10179]

good luck with that. He is going to want them out by the time he gets to the first traffic light.

What is the problem with them?????

[Krytin]

The springs supplied are not strong enough - the top five coils "stack" at any height. Stacking is when the coils are in phisical contact with each other.
The top stud on the shock is too small to work w/the OEM bushing and the little rubber mounts supplied will not last long and will not stay centered.
The lower mount will not work either and will wear through in less than 10k miles (if it lasts that long!).
The shocks will also start leaking in less than 15k miles.
If you only drive the car a few thousand miles a year you may not care about any of the above!

By the way - there is NOTHING unsafe about cutting a coil off of the front coil springs!

[Skilz10179]

The springs supplied are not strong enough - the top five coils "stack" at any height. Stacking is when the coils are in phisical contact with each other.
The top stud on the shock is too small to work w/the OEM bushing and the little rubber mounts supplied will not last long and will not stay centered.
The lower mount will not work either and will wear through in less than 10k miles (if it lasts that long!).
The shocks will also start leaking in less than 15k miles.
If you only drive the car a few thousand miles a year you may not care about any of the above!

By the way - there is NOTHING unsafe about cutting a coil off of the front coil springs!

Wow, interesting stuff. Was Naake contacted over these issue? What was their solution, if any? I'm wondering if they made any design changes, when my friend ordered them about a month ago they needed him to take a bunch of measurements off his car before they could make the kit for him. We have yet to do any installation of the front, we just spent yesterday removing the factory suspension.

As for cutting stock springs, i never said it was unsafe. I will say its not a good way to achieve a better performing suspension, and it can result in uneven spring rates. If you want to cut your springs go right ahead, i personally would never recommend it.

[Krytin]

Wow, interesting stuff. Was Naake contacted over these issue? What was their solution, if any? I'm wondering if they made any design changes, when my friend ordered them about a month ago they needed him to take a bunch of measurements off his car before they could make the kit for him. We have yet to do any installation of the front, we just spent yesterday removing the factory suspension.

As for cutting stock springs, i never said it was unsafe. I will say its not a good way to achieve a better performing suspension, and it can result in uneven spring rates. If you want to cut your springs go right ahead, i personally would never recommend it.


Naake has been contacted several times over these issues and has offered NO solutions/assistance to anyone.
Having to give this guy measurements is BS - the shocks for '03 & "04 Panthers have EXACTLY the same measurements/dimensions! The problem is that Mike Naake can't remember what size bushings he puts in these kits each time he puts one together or he just simply can't supply the right ones.
The springs are from a GM application and do not have sufficient spring rate for the Panther application.
This has been brought up before in other threads.

I've been modifying suspensions and in some cases cutting springs for over 30 years now with out any uneven spring rates. Kenny Brown has cut more than a few on the Panther platforms with out incident as well.

[Skilz10179]

Are the QA1 shocks rebuildable? Did you try replacing the springs with higher rate replacements?

[MMBLUE]

Wow, interesting stuff. Was Naake contacted over these issue? What was their solution, if any? I'm wondering if they made any design changes, when my friend ordered them about a month ago they needed him to take a bunch of measurements off his car before they could make the kit for him. We have yet to do any installation of the front, we just spent yesterday removing the factory suspension.

As for cutting stock springs, i never said it was unsafe. I will say its not a good way to achieve a better performing suspension, and it can result in uneven spring rates. If you want to cut your springs go right ahead, i personally would never recommend it.

When I did roundy round racing, we used to cut the springs all the time. One coil cut = approx 50lbs of spring weight gain= stiffer spring= better handling=better performance.

[cougar9150]

All of what Krytin said and more. My biggest issue is that you pay $600 (for the Single Adjustable ) or $800 (for the Double Adjustable kit), the ask you for measurements for the correct mount dimensions and all you get is this ridiculously thin 2 piece sleeve and some washers to stack on the ends to take up the remaining slop in the lower mount. The sleeve flexes in the middle pinching and cutting into the bushing and it's mounting area.

I bought mine used so the up front cost didn't hurt me so much. If I paid for these new they would have been back in the box and on the truck the next day. Shouldn't have to heavily modify something that cost this much to make it work right when it is supposedly custom designed/setup for your car.

The used ones I bought; the shocks had just been rebuilt, and were basically new shocks. Still regardless of QA1 or Naake rebuilding them recently the lower bushings were chewed all the way through (must have missed this during the rebuild) and grinding on the aluminum body in the mounting eye.

I had to make custom lower mounts that fit the stock mount location properly (without 3 washers stacked on either side), make my own custom upper mount bushings as the kit tries to reuse half the stock mount unsuccessfully (nothing like having your shock nearly free floating at the top :rolleyes:), and am getting ready to install my stock springs in place of the crappy QA1 GBF series springs that come with it. Basically on top of the cost of the suspension setup I spent almost another $200, several (at least 20-30) hours of my own time to make them fit properly (this included taking them in and out a few items), and I'm still not happy with the kit. We'll see once I get the stock springs in place, I have everything ready to go just no time to do it but am fairly sure I'll have the stock setup back on up front within a year.

The QA1 springs bottom out, creak, barely allow room for height adjustment unless you want the car fairly low, and just are not tall enough for our application. I didn't want to lower my car more than 3/4" but have them set all the way up and I'm down almost an 1 1/4" from stock height.

Oh and I almost forgot the QA1 Thrust bearing kit that they recommended for the lower spring perch rusted out within 2 months of install. I live in Florida so there is no salt in the road from snow and I live nowhere near the beach.

Personally if I had to do it all over: Stock or Kyb shocks up front. I would use a Cut coil with either brand of shocks and would only use the Eibachs springs on the KYB shocks (to bouncy on stock shocks).

Now the Naake/QA1 rears they are a winner. Still had to make lower mounts but the rear shocks work great and I love being able to adjust the pressure. Fronts were a great idea but piss poor execution on mounts and springs.

[Krytin]

Are the QA1 shocks rebuildable? Did you try replacing the springs with higher rate replacements?

The shocks are rebuildable but should not have to be done once a year!!
They have no springs available - that's why people are making new lower spring perches for the front QA1 shocks so the OEM springs can be used.
I did this and it did stop the front end from bottoming out on the spring itself but the issues w/leaks and bushings still exist. The rear lower bushings were the last to go and the last straw for the QA1's!!
I now run the KYB shocks front and rear w/cut coils in the front and the rear air ride set at it's lowest setting possible.

[Skilz10179]

Bringing this thread back from the dead...

Shortly after my last post in this thread I finally got the play with these suspension parts myself. The main concern I had right away once we pieced together the front upper mounts on the coilovers were the rubber bushings. We decided to go ahead and install them as recommended knowing they wouldn't last, we plan to machine solid aluminum bushings to replace them with when they fail. The car rode good all last summer without any issues.

With the front end lowered a good 2.5" we couldn't see to get much of a drop from the rear by adjusting the ride level sensor eye. How much of a drop should you be able to achieve by adjusting the sensor?

[justbob]

Engulfing the rear tires. At least mine did.

[Skilz10179]

Hmmm, my friend said he moved it as far to the drivers side as it would go but it didn't effect the ride height much at all...

[Krytin]

Hmmm, my friend said he moved it as far to the drivers side as it would go but it didn't effect the ride height much at all...

That ^^^ dropped the rear fender well to the top of my 27" dia tires.