Well after a comedy of other errors, I finally got the front struts installed on my 1999 Taurus SHO. This is a long review, but I thought I'd try to repay everyone on the site for the advice I've gotten here. For the record, I decided on a combo of G3 springs/G4 struts for the front and G2 Cargo Coils/G4 struts for the rear – here is the set-up I used:
Rears (installed first in May):
My previous G2 SHO had Eibachs and Tokicos and so I thought some driving impressions/comparisons would be helpful to folks looking for a suspension upgrade - HERE is my first post on this. In total, I've driven on the new struts for maybe 50-60 miles, evenly split between 1) very curvy, smooth country roads, and 2) at highway speeds on straight rough to smooth roads. It's not a lot, but enough to walk away with some impressions. The first 10-20 miles was with the new springs/struts was on old, last generation Eagle GT's (225-55-16, 48k miles and 3/32” to 5/32” of tread). After getting her fixed and aligned, I drove her on new Conti DWS Z rated tires (stock size) another 30-40 miles.
The “Good”: Initially (on the old tires), I did not notice a huge difference in overall handing, but the ride was slightly better – I would describe it as very pleasant on the highway, but it was still a bit stiff over little bumps. I think a big part of the stiffness was because the Eagle GT's were near the end of their life. FWIW, these were great tires, but they were hard as a rock after almost 5 years and 50k miles. The ride is softer over over bumps than the Eibach-Tokicos, but the bumps are still noticeable. The big improvement was side-to-side roll on the curvy country roads – let's face it, after 135k, the OE springs and struts were shot, loosey-goosey, and hissed at me over speed bumps (I swear they were saying “enough already”).
The “Bad”: There was one disappointment: the front end was quite a bit softer than the rear with the cargo coils. Let me emphasize this is NOT ALL THE TIME, but it is there. The softness shows up as a second rebound or front-end dip over large bumps or big pavement dips. By comparison, the rear has basically no rebound, and deflects very little – it's a one-and-done, small deflection. As a result, over the dips/big bumps the car feels like it is pivoting around the rear tires. It is sort of like a 1970's luxo-barge floaty ride – again, it's not obnoxious or constant, but it's definitely there. Oddly, it's fine pulling into our HUGELY steep, rain gutter style driveway entrance into at low speeds. If it the front-end was truly luxo-barge soft, I'd expect it to dip and sway side to side entering the driveway. Instead, the front end damped quickly and felt firm.
Last Friday night, I drove about 10 miles with new the Continental DWS tires with a new a front end alignment (oh, and a new tightened spindle nut and lower DS ball joint - see comedy of errors below). Not surprisingly, the front end felt much tighter and responsive; BUT I was MORE disappointed – the float seemed worse with the Contis. I think that's because the Conti's have a very soft sidewall which I'm guessing make the front suspension work a little harder to dampen the big dips and bumps. So after the Friday night drive, I was feeling disappointed and began to consider a new front end set-up with different parts.
On Saturday morning I decided to give the faithful old girl a tank of fresh 91 octane; this time, however, I drove her faster and more aggressively. I did not care if I went into the ditch or the trees, I was going to get to the bottom of this car's handing. On the curves and the highway at higher speeds, the “float” was still there, but did no seem as pronounced at higher speeds (maybe my first driving impressions were exaggerated/was over-critical???). In the curves, the car felt much better at higher speeds – firm, responsive, less FWD understeer, and a very nice balance between ride handling and handling. I would describe the feel as “soft GT.”
Verdict: After all this, I spent the last couple of days thinking about the set-up. I also drove our other cars for comparison. If I had to make guess as to why I'm getting the front-end float, I'd say the front springs are too soft. The front struts are probably part of, but not the main source of the problem (the struts/damping maybe only 25% of the problem). The struts and springs seem to damp out the small bumps very well (no 2X rebound) and are well-behaved over the big bump into the driveway. I also think the soft sidewall Conti's deflect more exacerbate the issue. I'm welcome to thoughts on this one, BTW.
Is this set-up as good as stock SHO? The new suspension is more compromised than I'd hoped, but not “horrible.” Sort of better, but less balanced because the rear is stiffer than the front by quite a bit. BUT with the Cargo Coils, there is no Taurus SAS. Since I'm hauling large, hairy teenage boys to school in the back seat, eliminating the SAS is a HUGE plus in my book. I'd give the Cargo Coil/G4 strut set-a B+ grade – it's completely liveable under 90% of the conditions, but not perfect.
How does it compare to the Eibach-Tokico set-up on the G2? Well, the Eibach-Tokicos were balanced front-to-back in firmness, but they vibrated everything in the car loose. They also introduced other issues like horrible front end push under hard turn-in (sticky tires and STB needed). The Eibach-Tokicos were no-compromise, handled exceptionally well but had “stiff as hell” ride quality the 90% of the time you weren’t pushing the car and just driving it. This made them livable 10% of the time. It gets an A+ for handling and C- for ride quality, so a B grade overall.
Which would I choose? In automatic, daily driver cars, I'd choose the soft set-up. I might even get the stock springsif the car was a "one person car" all the time. In manual cars, hell have some fun and go high performance (Eibachs, Konis, whatever) all the way.
Knowing what I know now, what would I do differently? The only other springs that I could find for the SHO were Raybestos, but I could not find specs on them. As a result, I went with Moogs who had specs available and were comparable/similar to the SHO OE spring specs. Also, Raybestos engineering seems to have become “less robust” in recent years and I've always had good luck with Moog. If I had to do it again, I'd probably give the Raybestos or other SHO-spec springs a try.
Why the Contis? For tires, I wanted to go with the Michelin Exaltos. I chose the Conti DWS, because Michelin Exaltos are being discontinued - if one gets destroyed, you are screwed (Eagle GT's are also being discontinued). Also, the DWS are top rated on Tire Rack in all conditions, and are really reasonably priced. As I agonized over tire choice, I kept defaulting to the Contis. I did not choose them, but sort of landed on them. In the end I'm reasonably happy, especially since mine were even made in the USA! I'm just wondering if something more aggressive would help the front end float.
Comedy of Errors for your Reading Pleasure at my Expense:
Taurus-induced Hernia: After finally installing the correct, new rear ABS sensor (broke while doing the rear struts – read this), I was putting the rear tire on and felt a pop and I was the proud daddy of a bouncing baby hernia. One month later, I had the operation; two months later I was cleared for moderate physical activity and finally got back to the SHO struts in mid-August.
DIY Front DS Strut Removal: Well the passenger side strut was out and in a little over 2 hours (no need to drop sub-frame). The DS pinch bolt would not come out, so I thought I'd take the whole knuckle out and either remove it on the bench (using the hot wrench) or take it to the machine shop. Well I wrecked the lower ball joint and could not get it out even with my OTC ball joint tools or pneumatic pickle forks. So I had to give up and have her towed to my mechanic.
Front DS Strut Outsource: My mechanic was great and put in the new ball joint and strut – it was worth the $140 he charged. Unfortunately, the DS spindle nut loosened while on the way to get new tires. So, after the tires were installed I had her towed back to my mechanic – he replaced the spindle nut free of charge even though I made it clear I did not blame him and told him he could charge me for it. It's really nice to know there are still good guys out there.
New Tires: While the car was on the tow truck with the loose spindle nut, the driver secured the tires with nylon tie downs over the tires. This is when I noticed the sidewalls deflect quite a bit and were very soft. The Tire Rack reviews on the Conti's are pretty good, but the deflection I saw makes me think they may be best suited to softer, less performance oriented vehicles (like a Mercedes E320 or BMW 525i).
Grumbling from the Front Right Wheel: And after ALL of this, I have a low level grumble/rumble from the front passenger side. I'm thinking it's a wheel bearing in the early stages of failure.
Well sorry for the length – hope this helps someone at some point in the future.
Rears (installed first in May):
G2 Moog CC859 Cargo Coils
G4 Rear Motorcraft Struts (AST52)
Ford Mounts courtesy of Tasca
Fronts:G4 Rear Motorcraft Struts (AST52)
Ford Mounts courtesy of Tasca
G3 Moog 80108 Springs
G4 Front Motorcraft Struts (AST50 and 51)
Moog cushions and mounts/bearings
Junkyard washers LINK to this adventure
Ride and Driving Impressions: G4 Front Motorcraft Struts (AST50 and 51)
Moog cushions and mounts/bearings
Junkyard washers LINK to this adventure
My previous G2 SHO had Eibachs and Tokicos and so I thought some driving impressions/comparisons would be helpful to folks looking for a suspension upgrade - HERE is my first post on this. In total, I've driven on the new struts for maybe 50-60 miles, evenly split between 1) very curvy, smooth country roads, and 2) at highway speeds on straight rough to smooth roads. It's not a lot, but enough to walk away with some impressions. The first 10-20 miles was with the new springs/struts was on old, last generation Eagle GT's (225-55-16, 48k miles and 3/32” to 5/32” of tread). After getting her fixed and aligned, I drove her on new Conti DWS Z rated tires (stock size) another 30-40 miles.
The “Good”: Initially (on the old tires), I did not notice a huge difference in overall handing, but the ride was slightly better – I would describe it as very pleasant on the highway, but it was still a bit stiff over little bumps. I think a big part of the stiffness was because the Eagle GT's were near the end of their life. FWIW, these were great tires, but they were hard as a rock after almost 5 years and 50k miles. The ride is softer over over bumps than the Eibach-Tokicos, but the bumps are still noticeable. The big improvement was side-to-side roll on the curvy country roads – let's face it, after 135k, the OE springs and struts were shot, loosey-goosey, and hissed at me over speed bumps (I swear they were saying “enough already”).
The “Bad”: There was one disappointment: the front end was quite a bit softer than the rear with the cargo coils. Let me emphasize this is NOT ALL THE TIME, but it is there. The softness shows up as a second rebound or front-end dip over large bumps or big pavement dips. By comparison, the rear has basically no rebound, and deflects very little – it's a one-and-done, small deflection. As a result, over the dips/big bumps the car feels like it is pivoting around the rear tires. It is sort of like a 1970's luxo-barge floaty ride – again, it's not obnoxious or constant, but it's definitely there. Oddly, it's fine pulling into our HUGELY steep, rain gutter style driveway entrance into at low speeds. If it the front-end was truly luxo-barge soft, I'd expect it to dip and sway side to side entering the driveway. Instead, the front end damped quickly and felt firm.
Last Friday night, I drove about 10 miles with new the Continental DWS tires with a new a front end alignment (oh, and a new tightened spindle nut and lower DS ball joint - see comedy of errors below). Not surprisingly, the front end felt much tighter and responsive; BUT I was MORE disappointed – the float seemed worse with the Contis. I think that's because the Conti's have a very soft sidewall which I'm guessing make the front suspension work a little harder to dampen the big dips and bumps. So after the Friday night drive, I was feeling disappointed and began to consider a new front end set-up with different parts.
On Saturday morning I decided to give the faithful old girl a tank of fresh 91 octane; this time, however, I drove her faster and more aggressively. I did not care if I went into the ditch or the trees, I was going to get to the bottom of this car's handing. On the curves and the highway at higher speeds, the “float” was still there, but did no seem as pronounced at higher speeds (maybe my first driving impressions were exaggerated/was over-critical???). In the curves, the car felt much better at higher speeds – firm, responsive, less FWD understeer, and a very nice balance between ride handling and handling. I would describe the feel as “soft GT.”
Verdict: After all this, I spent the last couple of days thinking about the set-up. I also drove our other cars for comparison. If I had to make guess as to why I'm getting the front-end float, I'd say the front springs are too soft. The front struts are probably part of, but not the main source of the problem (the struts/damping maybe only 25% of the problem). The struts and springs seem to damp out the small bumps very well (no 2X rebound) and are well-behaved over the big bump into the driveway. I also think the soft sidewall Conti's deflect more exacerbate the issue. I'm welcome to thoughts on this one, BTW.
Is this set-up as good as stock SHO? The new suspension is more compromised than I'd hoped, but not “horrible.” Sort of better, but less balanced because the rear is stiffer than the front by quite a bit. BUT with the Cargo Coils, there is no Taurus SAS. Since I'm hauling large, hairy teenage boys to school in the back seat, eliminating the SAS is a HUGE plus in my book. I'd give the Cargo Coil/G4 strut set-a B+ grade – it's completely liveable under 90% of the conditions, but not perfect.
How does it compare to the Eibach-Tokico set-up on the G2? Well, the Eibach-Tokicos were balanced front-to-back in firmness, but they vibrated everything in the car loose. They also introduced other issues like horrible front end push under hard turn-in (sticky tires and STB needed). The Eibach-Tokicos were no-compromise, handled exceptionally well but had “stiff as hell” ride quality the 90% of the time you weren’t pushing the car and just driving it. This made them livable 10% of the time. It gets an A+ for handling and C- for ride quality, so a B grade overall.
Which would I choose? In automatic, daily driver cars, I'd choose the soft set-up. I might even get the stock springsif the car was a "one person car" all the time. In manual cars, hell have some fun and go high performance (Eibachs, Konis, whatever) all the way.
Knowing what I know now, what would I do differently? The only other springs that I could find for the SHO were Raybestos, but I could not find specs on them. As a result, I went with Moogs who had specs available and were comparable/similar to the SHO OE spring specs. Also, Raybestos engineering seems to have become “less robust” in recent years and I've always had good luck with Moog. If I had to do it again, I'd probably give the Raybestos or other SHO-spec springs a try.
Why the Contis? For tires, I wanted to go with the Michelin Exaltos. I chose the Conti DWS, because Michelin Exaltos are being discontinued - if one gets destroyed, you are screwed (Eagle GT's are also being discontinued). Also, the DWS are top rated on Tire Rack in all conditions, and are really reasonably priced. As I agonized over tire choice, I kept defaulting to the Contis. I did not choose them, but sort of landed on them. In the end I'm reasonably happy, especially since mine were even made in the USA! I'm just wondering if something more aggressive would help the front end float.
Comedy of Errors for your Reading Pleasure at my Expense:
Taurus-induced Hernia: After finally installing the correct, new rear ABS sensor (broke while doing the rear struts – read this), I was putting the rear tire on and felt a pop and I was the proud daddy of a bouncing baby hernia. One month later, I had the operation; two months later I was cleared for moderate physical activity and finally got back to the SHO struts in mid-August.
DIY Front DS Strut Removal: Well the passenger side strut was out and in a little over 2 hours (no need to drop sub-frame). The DS pinch bolt would not come out, so I thought I'd take the whole knuckle out and either remove it on the bench (using the hot wrench) or take it to the machine shop. Well I wrecked the lower ball joint and could not get it out even with my OTC ball joint tools or pneumatic pickle forks. So I had to give up and have her towed to my mechanic.
Front DS Strut Outsource: My mechanic was great and put in the new ball joint and strut – it was worth the $140 he charged. Unfortunately, the DS spindle nut loosened while on the way to get new tires. So, after the tires were installed I had her towed back to my mechanic – he replaced the spindle nut free of charge even though I made it clear I did not blame him and told him he could charge me for it. It's really nice to know there are still good guys out there.
New Tires: While the car was on the tow truck with the loose spindle nut, the driver secured the tires with nylon tie downs over the tires. This is when I noticed the sidewalls deflect quite a bit and were very soft. The Tire Rack reviews on the Conti's are pretty good, but the deflection I saw makes me think they may be best suited to softer, less performance oriented vehicles (like a Mercedes E320 or BMW 525i).
Grumbling from the Front Right Wheel: And after ALL of this, I have a low level grumble/rumble from the front passenger side. I'm thinking it's a wheel bearing in the early stages of failure.
Well sorry for the length – hope this helps someone at some point in the future.