So my 2011 GT is coming close to 100k miles, and the suspension is starting to feel pretty worn out (and I have some clunking sounds on the driver side which I think is either coming from the shock/strut or the LCA), so I'm looking at replacing the suspension (and maybe LCA).

I saw some pretty decently priced Kona strut + lowering springs that would drop the height about 1.5 all around (1.4 front and 1.5 rear if I'm not mistaken).

I just installed new tires and I saw that when lowering some cc plates are a "must" to achieve proper alignment. There's some debate on whether it's needed for "not extreme" lowering (less than 2in).

These are over 200$, and at that price a coilover kit wouldn't cost a lot more than the strut+spring and cc plate.

What's your take on this ? Are they a good addition for better alignment and even tire wear, or can I do a 1.5 drop and get it aligned with the stock components ?

I do already have an adjustable panhard in the rear to keep things centered.

Also wondering if I do replace the LCA at the same time if it's worth going for ones with extended ball joint and/or adjustable ones, and whether a bump steer kit would make sense to add as well.

Sorry for all the newbie questions, haven't done much on lowering so far so I want to make sure I get it right and do it "all" at once.

On a side note, I have a staggered setup with directional tires, so no rotation possible for me to even out tire wear.

Thanks for your help !

 

I think you mean Koni, not Kona . . . and 1.5" drop is probably on the cusp of where some of the issues caused by lowering come in to play. To play it "safe" you might go for a little less drop, like Steeda Sport springs at 1" in the front and 1.25" in the rear.

If you lower the car without adjustable camber plates, you will have negative camber that is right about at the low end of the stock range or a little out of spec. This means the wheels are tilted in at the top, and it can result in uneven wear on the tires, with more wear on the inside. However at about 1" drop it is not major and I have seen a few people posting that it did not mess up their tire wear. If I remember correctly the factory spec is 0 -- -0.7 degrees; with no adjustment it's probably around -0.8 or so with about 1" lowering. I have been running -1.7 degrees all summer with no noticeable uneven wear, but I didn't put many miles on the car and I did three track days which tend to even out the wear (hard cornering wears the outside of the front tires).

So if you want your car to be "in spec" for what a normal alignment shop will want to see, per the factory specs, yes the camber plates probably are a "must" -- but, it doesn't matter much if the camber is a little out of spec.

You should at least replace the upper strut mounts with the GT500 version, and I have read that if you reverse them then it will counteract the negative camber of lowering.

Do not buy cheap coilovers. Decent coil-overs cost quite a bit more than good struts and springs.

Do not mess with the extended ball joints unless you are lowering about 1.5" or more AND you want to get a bump-steer kit and have it aligned/adjusted properly. I am not sure where you will find an alignment shop that will know what to do with bump-steer and take the time to do it properly. The simple solution for the front LCA's and ball joints is to go with the GT500 arms that come with the ball joints and the bushings. Unless you are going to road track the car, then you want poly bushings which opens up a "whole nother can of worms."

 

Berts advice is sound. I have all of the parts that you are contemplating on my 2011 including extended ball joints and a bump steer kit. The noise you are getting is most likely the upper strut mount or the worn out hydro bushings on the rear of the lower lca's. You should replace the upper strut mounts with the struts. it is your choice if you go with mounts that are adjustable for camber or not. I used the Steeda HD strut mounts for the 2011 that are camber adjustable instead of the GT 500 mounts. I wanted the adjustability and Steeda gave me a great package price when I ordered them along with springs, shocks, struts, pan hard bar and rear upper and lower control arms. My use may be little different than yours as my car sees a fair amount of time on the track. I have 2 degrees of negative camber and I am still eating up the outside edges of my front tires.

 

Thanks for the replies !

Bert' : thanks a ton for sharing these info and details.

Definitely meant Koni, got autocorrected to Kona before I saw it.

Will definitely replace the strut mounts (the kit I was looking at has GT500 mounts included) as well, but looks like I'll need the camber plates to get the results I'm looking for (don't really care about the car being "in specs" for the alignment shop, but I don't do any track with it for now, and even though I drive it pretty hard I usually don't do "track level cornering" out in the open that would offset the negative camber.

About the bump-steer kit, you mention that I'd have a hard time finding an alignment shop that'd service it properly.
Is it something that you can do yourself ? I did the panhard bar centering on my car myself as the alignment tech seemed clueless when I mentioned it.

I'll look into gt500 arms, should be a little cheaper than aftermarket and I won't be road tracking any time soon.

Again, thanks a ton for your detailed reply and advice !

EF1 : thanks for the info you provided as well ! Will definitely look further into Steeda's offerings as I'll be getting a full suspension kit + LCA, so might be worth reaching out to see if they can work something out (and I've had great experience with their customer service so far). Won't be tracking the car like you do, but definitely appreciate the advice and additional info.

As far as the strut mount / LCA hydro bushing failing, from what I've seen when searching online it seems that it'll most likely be one of these (replaced the sway bar bushing and endlinks recently). Do you know if there's a way to diagnose which one is causing the issue ? Would rather make sure that I actually need to mess with the LCA before replacing them..

Thanks again for the help, I'll keep this post updated as I make some progress on my research as well as once I place the order !

 

regarding the bump steer adjustment -- easiest way to explain it is to look up the Steeda bump steer kit on line, and look at the installation instructions . . basically you have to compress the suspension and measure the toe through the suspension travel, then adjust the bump steer thingies to minimize the change in toe . . . when I looked into this, I talked with a couple alignment shops, and they did not know what I was talking about . . . it will take a lot longer than a standard alignment, I guess they might do it if you paid their hourly rate. I decided I didn't want to deal with a surly alignment guy and try to teach him how to do this and get him to do it right when all he wants to do is get the job done and move on to the next car. You could try calling some shops and ask them how much they would charge to do an alignment with bump-steer adjustment and see if they know what you are talking about. I guess you could do it at home but you need a way to measure the toe and compress the suspension at the same time.

The clunking noises are very hard to diagnose. You could jack up the car and get under there and shake stuff and try to find the noise, but I have tried that and not had much luck. With 100K miles it's probably about time for ball joints and if you buy the complete LCA you can do it yourself for about what a shop would charge to do the ball joints alone.

 

Like Bert said diagnosing suspension noises can be extremely difficult. You can start trying to find the noise by jacking up the car and trying to move everything by hand. A rubber or dead blow hammer can be useful as well as a pry bar to see if anything moves. the rear hydro bushings on the lca's are filled with hydraulic oil. Look for signs of leakage or cracking of the rubber. If you change the lower control arms be careful on how stiff of bushings they come with. The electric power steering units on 2011 cars and early 2012's do not like too stiff a bushing. Stiff bushings will likely introduce a shudder or shake which requires a steering box swap to correct. Do a google search, there is plenty of information out there on the problem.

Also, when you order struts make sure you order the correct ones for the upper mounts/camber plates that you purchase. The GT 500 mounts take the 2010 style strut. The 2011 and up S197's use a different mount and strut. Either will fit your car, you just need to make sue you match the struts to the mounts.

You most likely will not need a bump steer kit unless you use extended ball joints. If you use extended ball joints you really need a bump steer kit to correct the geometry. Most regular alignment shops do not know how to correct bump steer. If you go this route start looking for a race shop that builds/preps road course cars. They are about the only ones that know how to properly install.

 

Again, thank you both so much for your detailed replies !

Bert : Thanks for the explanation on the bump steer. I can definitely see what you mean, it'd be a massive pain to do myself, and the average alignment shop will probably either be clueless or don't adjust it properly..

You mentioned earlier using gt500 front LCAs (would definitely much rather replace these myself than have a shop swap out just the bushings). I was initially looking at Steeda's ones, but they come with extended ball joints which it seems like I won't need. Couldn't find some gt500 front LCAs for my 2011.
Looked around and cheked AM/LMR/CJ, but couldn't find ones listed for 2011. I found some suspiciously cheap ones, or some motorcraft ones that were nearly 400, so at that price I'd rather go with gt500 ones or something nicer than new stock OEM ones. Any info on where I could find these ? I did manage to find some on LMR but they're listed for 2005-2010 gt500..
I also saw EF1's comment about the 2010/2011-14 compatibility "issue", do you know if the front LCA are also affected by this (as in can I or should I use 2010 versions if I get 2010 suspension and strut mount)?


EF1 : thanks as well for your reply, you helped me avoid a headache with that shock/strut mount remark, definitely appreciate it !

I haven't had any luck so far finding the origin of that noise, I tried jacking it up and using a rubber mallet to hit the tire from below to "simulate" a bump, tried putting a pry bar on the LCA around the hydro bushing to see if there was any play, didn't use too much force because I didn't to mess anything up (I still need to commute +80 miles daily until I get this fixed).

Will stay clear of extended ball joints and aim for a ~1 - 1.5 in drop.

Let me know if you have any recommendations on front LCAs, and thanks again so much for your help !

 

The ball joints are a different size between the 2010 and 2011. The 2011 ball joints are a larger diameter. You can use 2010 struts and GT 500 mounts with stock 2011 lca's. Steeda offers lca's for the 2011-2014 cars with standard length ball joints and slightly firmer rubber bushings. I looked at these when I was trying to avoid a steering rack swap, but I really wanted stiffer bushings for my use. I put off the lca swap until my bushings were shot due to the potential for steering issues on the 2011 and early 2012 cars.and then went all in. I stripped down my stock arms and welded in threaded inserts for the Howe Racing adjustable extended ball joints, had them powder coated, and installed with Prothane bushings and a Maximum Motorsports bump steer kit. It forced me to swap the electric steering rack out, but it is amazing on the track now.

 

Thanks again for your reply and help ! Definitely don't want to mess with a steering rack swap at this point (I had a problem with it triggering advancetrack issue due to worn tie rod, and seem to remember there was possibly a way to fix the issue with an update to the rack's software (basically using the gt500 programming to make it less sensitive and avoid the shake/wobble issue iirc)

Anyways so I spent most of the last few days digging up as much info as I could find and checking out different combinations and reviews for struts/mounts.

Based on what you told me and what I could find, here's what I'm currently looking at :

- Steeda standard front LCA (couldn't find anything that explained why the motorcraft ones are 100$ more expensive, don't want to open the can of worms that come with extended ball joints, and couldn't find any other LCA that would be "better than stock" without extended ball joints or firmer bushings). Not 100% sure both need to be changed, but I'm a few miles away from 100k, and thinking that if I'm replacing the whole suspension it probably makes sense to change these as well while I'm at it.

- Steeda HD strut mount : seems beefier than the gt500 ones, and they offer that extra one degree of camber adjustability which should (hopefully) be sufficient to avoid CC plates and not cause issue with suspension (not a big fan about of the "fixed adjustment trick" with the gt500 mounts by installing them in reverse)

- Koni orange : seems like the best price/quality combo. The adjustability of the yellow would be nice for the occasional more aggressive drive on specific roads (or if I ever find time to go to the track), but not sure I'd use it enough to justify the extra cost, and a bit worried about the harshness on a daily even at the lowest setting (apparently still harder than stock and orange). Also saw the Bilstein being either praised or hated, but no adjustability makes it hard to justify the higher cost (pretty much the price of Koni yellow .. )

- for springs Eibach sportline are currently my first choice, seems like a nice set of springs, and I like that the rear gets dropped more than the front (less clearance issues but better stance in the end). I'm just a hoping that the ~1.3 in drop in the front will be adjustable with the Steeda HD mounts (extra 1 degree) and not too much of a pain as a daily (would like to avoid having to take every speed bump sideways at 3mph). From what I've seen from other reviews and thread's they improve handling significantly and don't sacrifice too much ride confort.

I was also looking at Steeda ultra lite or sport, but they're more of a backup and I need to figure out the actual lowering and ride quality difference that exist between these two. Seems to be on the milder end of the spectrum.

There's also some Ford racing springs (apparently made by eibach) but there's many varints (J, P, Ka, etc..), and the specs I saw varied a lot from one seller to another, and it's harder to compare reviews for these.

Might start a separate thread to get some feedback on these, but since you've been some helpful and provided some great advice so far I wanted to check your thoughts on this to if there wasn't something I was missing.

Thanks again !

 

The plan sounds good so far. The Steeda HD mounts are camber plates, but they are not adjustable for caster. They are a quality piece and have held up well for about 5 years now. There is enough adjustment for me to get -2 degrees of camber. I can't speak to the Eibach springs. I am running Steeda sports. I know that the ultra lights are a lower spring rate than the Sports, so not as stiff and they sit a bit lower. When I started down the suspension path I messaged tj@steeda and he put me in touch with one of their suspension people. He asked what I liked and disliked about the stock suspension, what characteristics I wanted to change, and how I planned to use the car. He then laid out a 3 step plan explaining that I could do all of it at once or do the steps one at a time in order. He gave me such good prices on a package that I did the first 2 steps right away. The third step was sway bars which i ending up doing a year or two later. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

Well, it took me some time to get everything in and installed properly, but I'm finally there and even though it wasn't as smooth as I thought I'm overall super happy with the result.

Since I had some trouble finding information (thanks again to the people who helped me on this post and took the time to give detailed and incredibly helpful answers), I figured I'd give an update to share some feedback in case that can be helpful for others.

In my limited experience so far, the pro-kit springs are great, the wheel gap looks much nicer, and I haven't had any issues scraping on anything so far (I actually don't scrape in my driveway anymore since the back is lower so the front doesn't "dip" as much). Ride quality is definitely a bit harsher, but what you loose there you win back in the lack of "floating" and how flat and level the car stays under hard acceleration/braking is incredible. Same in turns, very consistent and predictable, and you're not "thrown around" as much in your seat as on (worn out) stock suspension.

Not sure how much is due to the springs, and how much to the Bilstein, but so far I'm extremely pleased with this combo.

On a side non performance related note, I noticed that my carn tends to roll backwards much more easily on a flat/low incline which I assume is due to the rest and front being at the same height now, not an issue but definitely something to keep an eye on waiting at a red light with a manual..

Now regarding the install :

The lower LCA were probably the worst, mainly because of how frustrating removing that long through bolt is. It's not mentioned everywhere so just in case : you need to put the car's weight back on the suspension before fully tightening the LCA bolts. I achieved that by putting the wheel back on and lifting from under the wheel with wood in between.

The Steeda mounts appear to be of great quality, but can be a bit tricky to get installed :

- you need to re-use the lower part of your stock mounts, which implies a few things : depending on your mileage, you may need some new upper spring rubber, which I haven't been able to find sold by itself, so you need to buy new mounts (can't use gt500 style either I believe). I did, but the steeda mounts also "clip in" some slots on the mount, and the ones I got (I believe they were motorcraft) were ever slightly different and wouldn't fit. Ended up transferring the new rubber on the lower portion of the old mounts, but after all this I was a bit surprised that Steeda doesn't include it or a least offer the option to get the mounts with new rubber spring seats and that small inexpensive lower part of the stock mounts.

The Bilstein definitely look nice as well. For the front you don't need to add a bump stop as it's integrated inside the strut itself, and the hole for the brake line bracket isn't threaded but the stock bolt will thread into that hole if screwed in carefully.

For the rear I'd recommend getting the tool to remove the upper but rather than trying to use pliers or similar.

To torque front and rear suspension upper nuts, if you want to use a torque wrench of simply tighten it properly, you'll need a way to hold the strut rod and prevent it from spinning while tightening the bolt. DO NOT USE AN IMPACT for this, many videos show people doing it but Bilstein specifically warns against, claiming risks of damages and/or partial disassembly. The only tools I found are made by steeda but sold as a whole set and didn't want to wait another week just to torque these so I bought deep sockets and Dremel-ed out an opening to slide an Allen wrench in there to hold the rod. Did the job.

That's about all I can think about at this time, will update if I remember more, and again, thanks for helping me out, it's a blast to be back on the road with that be handling !