We were searching for a lowering spring that would drop the 'Stang no lower than 1.5", still provide a comfortable highway driving experience, and give us better overall handling. Comfort was a major issue since this car sees a good amount of daily driving on highways, not racing. Vogtland appeared to have exactly what we were looking for in their Red Violet Sport Springs. They are a progressive rate spring that produce a 1 3/8" drop for our GT. They have a gorgeous violet color like no other spring color on the market.
Vogtland North America is well know for it's involvement in NASCAR suspension technology but has recently been trying to increase the Mustang aftermarket's need for performance parts. The quality of these springs are unmatched and highly superior to other springs currently available. The price tag for a set of GT springs is approx. $250-$299 which is slightly higher than some brands, but as you read below, you'll discover why. The old saying is true...you get what you pay for! CLICK HERE for a list of Vogtland Dealers in your area.
Installation
We could have done the springs installation anywhere, but we chose to have Custom Performance install the springs for us on a lift in their shop in Concord, NC. It was much easier to take the step-by-step photos for this project and they whipped it out in under 2 hours.
Once the car was put on the lift, all 4 wheels were removed. Included in the spring kit is a new pinion snubber. There is a bracket directly over the rear differential that holds the rubber pinion snubber. Remove the 3 bolts there to drop down the bracket. Install the new snubber on the bracket and reinstall. You'll see a big difference in the snubber size.
Next they started removing the rear springs by disconnecting the top bolt of the smaller quad shock. This allows more travel of the suspension to lower the suspension enough to get the stock spring out. You may need a prybar to pry the bottom of the spring out of the cradle. The new springs are shorter, so they are easier going in. After you've transferred the rubber isolators over to the new springs, you can slide the new spring into place by setting the top first, and then forcing the bottom into place. Do that for both sides and reinstall the nut for the quad shock.
Next up was the front springs. These take a little more work, but is still fairly easy. Start by removing the top nut of the front sway bar. Don't lose the blue bushing. Disconnect the brake line bracket from the lower strut mounts and hang the metal bracket as seen in the photo below.
Next, remove the brake caliper (2 bolts) and carefully hang it with a bungee cord or wire hanger so that it doesn't put tension on the brake line itself. Once you have the brake components off, you will be removing the lower strut mounts. BEFORE YOU DO THIS, remember that the spring is under compression so you'll need to put a jack or jack stand under the A-arm to keep it from suddenly releasing tension and damaging your car. Set the jack so that light pressure is applied on the A-arm. Remove the 2 strut mounts. Slowly lower the jack to relieve tension on the spring until it's as far down as possible. Now you can use a prybar under the bottom coil to remove the stock front spring. Make note of the exact position of the spring coils because the new one will need to be turned the same direction.
Transfer your rubber isolators to the new spring. One neat trick is to spray WD-40 around the base of the A-arm where your spring coil sits. This will aide in sliding the new spring into place.
Push the new spring in using a prybar or other object. Make sure the bottom spring coil is pointing the same direction as the old spring. Once you have it seated properly, you can begin reassembling in the reverse order. Jack the A-arm up so that the bolts of the strut line up with the mounting holes. Mount the strut. Put the caliper back on carefully sliding over the brake pads. (As long as you are keeping the same brake pads, you will not have to compress the caliper pistons.) Reinstall the metal brake line bracket over the strut mount bolts. Reinstall the sway bar nut and bushing. You're done!
Analysis of Springs
Before and after the installation, we made note of the exact drop of each corner. The springs need to be broken in for a short period of time before they will settle exactly right. So after driving for a week, we measured the drop and the advertised 35mm drop (1 3/8") was pretty close. To correctly measure the drop, you measure from the bottom lip of the rim up thru the centerline of the wheel to the fender lip edge for an accurate number. The front dropped 1 1/2" while the rear dropped about 1 1/4".
The new ride stance was aggressive (as you can see in the photos) and we were delighted to see the 4x4-look disappear without providing a bottomed-out asphalt scraper.
As for ride quality, we were not expecting what we discovered. We were worried, as with any new spring evaluation, that the ride would be harsh and uncomfortable during daily trips to work or the grocery store. When we pulled away from the shop, the first few miles I was questioning whether or not we had even changed the springs at all! There was no harsh or stiff jolts as we crossed over light bumps and road changes. The ride was much better than predicted. I'm sure other people driving along beside me were wondering exactly what caused the big smile across my face.
After further driving, we found that over speed HUMPS or big dips, it does feel a little more stiff so you have to take those slower than before. But 95% of our driving is on open roads with minor potholes and road changes so really we don't even notice the springs being lowered while driving. You actually FORGET you have the car lowered! Going over tall speed BUMPS we noticed our convertible scraped just a little bit on the crossmembers. Coupes will probably not see this problem. The vert has extra support under the frame that hangs another inch below the hardtop.
Handling improved 100%! The old stock Mustang suspension tended to lean greatly going hard into a corner. This reduces your overall grip on the road and ability to take the turn at higher speeds. After the spring change, we took those same curves again, and the car stays much more flat and accelerates more smoothly out of the turn without the body roll. There are tons of suspension upgrades to go even further with handling improvements, but a simple spring change is a great first start in that direction.
Conclusion
We've tested many different brands of springs and they all have their own characteristics that make them unique. The main benefit we liked about the Vogtland springs was that the ride comfort of daily driving was not compromised at all. Cruising down the road at 80mph (did I say 80? I meant 65...), the car was as stable as before with no bounciness, or stiff jolts sometimes associated with lowering springs. We also discovered there was a total of 7 pounds dropped from the unsprung weight of the car.
We found the price of the Vogtland's to be a little higher than other brands, but I think in the long run, it will be worth it to spend the extra cash to get a good riding spring. After all, you want to make sure your driving experience is as pleasureable as possible. It's hard to determine what brand of springs to purchase in this huge aftermarket arena, so I hope this review will give you a little more insight to your springs consideration.
Written by: Steve Shrader
