Eibach/Intrax spring installation...

[bradman]

I don't know much about suspension upgrades. Are eibach and intrax springs a
"plug and play" installation with stock car/struts? Or, is there some modification
that must be done? Seems like I've read somewhere that it's no that simple.
Should I even mess with aftermarket springs with stock struts? Any advise
would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dave Ladely]

Those stock struts suck! I replace them with Tokicos, great ride! First do that, then worry about springs or do both at once, save labor on second tear down.
I hear Eibach are good, will lower car, work great with Tokico shocks. but the shocks really are more important in terms of ride quality and handling.
Dave
Fellow Seattlite (Fremont, the center of the Universe!)

 

[sdpatt]

The strut change alone is a "plug and play" upgrade, but the addition of the lowering springs will require some suspension adjustment to accomodate. It may be as simple for your car just to drill out the four spot welds on each of the adjustment plates at the top of each front strut tower and then get the car aligned. It wasn't that simple for my 1991. The challenge will be to get the camber within the specified range on the negative side since the lowering of the ride height creates negative camber. The fronts are adjustable, but the rears are not. If the rears are out of range, you may have to install the eccentric inner bushings (I have a set I never used - anyone want them?) or the adjustable lateral links. I just used a little geometry and redrilled the upper strut mounting holes on the passenger side to get it to match the driver side at -1 degree camber.

 

[bradman]

Thanks Dave and Scott! I'm starting to get the idea... it's the mounting plates that have to be modified to allow more adjustment for alignment on lowered cars. Is this only on the rear? The alternative is the eccentric bushings for the rear, right? My '94 MTX needs struts. Sounds like I should go ahead and do springs too at the same time. I know this is subject to opinion, but is it true that most SHO owners prefer the eibach/tokico combination? I've heard at least one owner say SHO's look a lot better with the Intrax springs. I'm just trying to find the best strut/spring combo, but I have very little experience with this stuff. Right now I have stock struts with 115K miles on them. The car is really starting to nose dive during braking and rock back on acceleration. Also, I have a "sqeaking" noise coming from the front end when I turn the wheel right.