Hey guys, so I've had the new aerostar springs in for about a month now and was wondering how long does it normally take for the springs to settle? It looks a hell of a lot better than stock height but I still feel it has that *** dagger look and I would like it to be even. Here's a new photo from today. It really only need about another inch drop I think and then it would be perfect. Thanks! George
depending on how much its driven , id say 6 month's to a year. but i doubt you will get an inch of settle.
Could take a while to make them droop if you don't drive the wheels off it. This photo shows the next two tricks to getting it down - one is spendy - the other pretty reasonable.....disc brake spindles are the high zoot method ...... and the 1 inch aluminum "spring pan spacer" method isn't quite so steep. The spacers will take it down another two inches. It will take about 36 inches of 1 x 1 type 6061 aluminum bar to make the four spacers - they just move the spring pan straight down off the A-arm - which is moving the spindle up relative to the frame.
Yeah, I was just thinking about using the spacers but that will give me too much drop and throw off my shock compression and extention measurements. What would it take to get and inch drop cutting coils?
If you used the "variable rate" Aerostar springs - they are right at 600# per inch compression - and cutting them will raise the rate. it never seems to be quite what you thought. Food for thought - one of the nice things about the spring pan spacers is that they don't change the spring rate - the compressed spring height and shock doesn't change. Maybe just use 1/2 x 1 wide bars to get one inch lower - and leave the springs and shocks as they are.
I personaly would just raise the back end up to make it level and call it good. Then it would look much better and drive and handle better. As it looks now it just looks like you have weak springs in the rear with a big load of tools in the trunk.
One thing to consider, when you cut coils off a spring, the rate changes so much the ride gets very "bouncy", and the shocks need to be replaced every year. I used square steel tube to lower the spring buckets. Solid aluminum looks cool, but is hard to locate where I live. The rear of your car looks to be very close to bottomed out on the frame. Is there still verticle movement?
This outfit is a "square dealer" of aluminum shapes (and other) metal bars that you don't just find everywhere..... http://www.onlinemetals.com/index.cfm They've been very good at getting just what I wanted - for a fair price.
If you decide to go with the square tubing to lower the front, there's a place in San Bernardino that I buy all my metal from called Patton's. They have always had anything I wanted and will cut it to any length you want for about $1 per cut. http://www.pattonscorp.com/catalog/
I added 1/2" thick steel spacers to my spring pockets to get the 1" drop I was looking for. I probably have about $10 in the steel and hardware.
i agree with kenymac. about the only person who will notice will be you. or, get a couple of big freinds to ride up front and put the skinny folks in the back.
Put slightly smaller Tires up front, that will give ya the inch ya need, thats how mine is set up.......Roach.
there is a place called butch's cool parts? or butch's rod parts, he sells the lower a-arm spacers for like 90 bucks. i know its cheaper to build your own, but if you dont have the means to make them this place sells them with the hardware and the whole bit!! im thinking about running these in my car if it doesnt settle enough once its on the road
Have you measure the front and rear to see what the difference is ? I think it really looks great but that's me . One thing you have to remember is when you are looking at the rear of a car , it will always look lower just because the rear tires are covered up more by the car . The front wheels are totally open and not covered up at all so the front will always look higher than the rear will be . Just give it some time for the weight of the engine and the bumps in the road to take away some of the tension in the springs . Now if you want to hurry the process up some , just use a torch with the wide heat tip and heat the spring up some but don't get them red hot ! Just a thought ! Jim
Yeah, I've had mine in for about a year now or so...have driven it about 1,000 since getting it all together and inbetween the ups and downs of other things going haywire with her, and I don't think mine has settled an inch. dropped it the initial 2 and 1/2 or so, but nothing much since I don't believe.
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