Ride Height

[908ssp]

A past Mustang racer champion said of the spring rates "The Boss 302S car is going to be something close to 500 front, 325 rear" that's a bit more than the 302 street car,.

 

[Mark]

The spring rate that comes on the street Boss is no where near close to the race versions. The Ford Engineers did an excellent job of setting up the street Boss for the average Joe driving on public roads with respectable Summer tires. To say that, little to no improvement could be made from the factory shows how very little the average Boss enthusiast knows about race suspensions (no offense intended). I laughed when someone in another thread stated that the Boss, from the factory, will have little to no body roll, lol.

I don't mean to be so harsh, but statements like these serve no purpose but to bury the truth.

Dave

Ford set the car up to be great on the track....for a street car. Those looking to buy a race car should look elsewhere. I don't think anyone here is saying that no further track performance can be had. A car that is great in both environments is what most here are expecting and is no simple task.

 

[stuntman]

Ford set the car up to be great on the track....for a street car. Those looking to buy a race car should look elsewhere. I don't think anyone here is saying that no further track performance can be had. A car that is great in both environments is what most here are expecting and is no simple task.

What is "great" for the street comfort/track ability compromise will always be subjective to the buyer. The BOSS 302 is touted as faster than a BMW M3 on track (which I think is awesome of Ford to be doing) but that hardly means you can't get either the M3 or the BOSS quicker around a track with a better tire, more camber, or an aftermarket suspension. There are also high quality affordable coilovers that many find the compliance to be acceptable or even better than factory while delivering improved track performance. But there are also many more offerings that are 'harsh' and 'crash' over bumps on the street.


0.02

 

[VoodooBoss]

What is "great" for the street comfort/track ability compromise will always be subjective to the buyer. The BOSS 302 is touted as faster than a BMW M3 on track (which I think is awesome of Ford to be doing) but that hardly means you can't get either the M3 or the BOSS quicker around a track with a better tire, more camber, or an aftermarket suspension. There are also high quality affordable coilovers that many find the compliance to be acceptable or even better than factory while delivering improved track performance. But there are also many more offerings that are 'harsh' and 'crash' over bumps on the street.


0.02

cloud9, here you go.

Stuntman, any thoughts about using the stock Boss suspension and lowering the car approximately 1" from stock GT height? Mine will be tracked 3-4 times a year. I'm not going to change much if anything on the suspension with the exception of lowering it if that doesn't mess up the handling.

 

[cloud9]

What is "great" for the street comfort/track ability compromise will always be subjective to the buyer. The BOSS 302 is touted as faster than a BMW M3 on track (which I think is awesome of Ford to be doing) but that hardly means you can't get either the M3 or the BOSS quicker around a track with a better tire, more camber, or an aftermarket suspension. There are also high quality affordable coilovers that many find the compliance to be acceptable or even better than factory while delivering improved track performance. But there are also many more offerings that are 'harsh' and 'crash' over bumps on the street.


0.02

cloud9, here you go.

Stuntman, any thoughts about using the stock Boss suspension and lowering the car approximately 1" from stock GT height? Mine will be tracked 3-4 times a year. I'm not going to change much if anything on the suspension with the exception of lowering it if that doesn't mess up the handling.

Yea, I think I'll go with my initial plan of putting on c/c plates and starting at -2 degrees, R-comps, brake cooling kit, DOT 4, DTCs and a Watts link. I will give it one or two track events before making a decision on springs/shocks, but won't be surprised if they get changed this summer.

 

[stuntman]

cloud9, here you go.

Stuntman, any thoughts about using the stock Boss suspension and lowering the car approximately 1" from stock GT height? Mine will be tracked 3-4 times a year. I'm not going to change much if anything on the suspension with the exception of lowering it if that doesn't mess up the handling.

The problem with lowering springs on any car is that it only lowers the car - reducing your suspension travel in compression/bump. If you lower your car an inch, you reduce your travel by an inch because travel is dictated by the shock body.

I'm not sure how many inches of compression travel the BOSS/GT has but lets say it's 4" of travel, you lower the car by 1" of travel leaving 3" left. Now lets say on your drive to work you can't avoid hitting bumps that take up 3.2" of travel. With your new lower setup you will be hitting the bump stops for a very jarring ride.

Most lowering springs are slightly stiffer than factory which will help reduce the above problem. Lowering springs on a brand new shock with healthy damping often dosn't bottom out, but as the shock wears out or as the spring starts to settle or "sag" due to cheaper metallurgy, you might run into the bottoming out problem later on.

Lowering springs might be a simple, cheap, and easy fix for the visual (and possibly slight performance enhancing) but I personally would view it as a temporary solution. I've done this to many cars in the past with consistent results and since every time the suspension bottoms out it damages the shock -worsening the problem, i'm following the formula of leaving it alone or *invest* in a quality coilover that will suit my needs of comfort/trackability - like Roush TrackPak, KW V2 or V3, JRZ RS/Pro, etc...


0.02

 

[VoodooBoss]

Thanks Stuntman.

 

[iDrive]

cloud9, here you go.

Stuntman, any thoughts about using the stock Boss suspension and lowering the car approximately 1" from stock GT height? Mine will be tracked 3-4 times a year. I'm not going to change much if anything on the suspension with the exception of lowering it if that doesn't mess up the handling.

The problem with lowering springs on any car is that it only lowers the car - reducing your suspension travel in compression/bump. If you lower your car an inch, you reduce your travel by an inch because travel is dictated by the shock body.

I'm not sure how many inches of compression travel the BOSS/GT has but lets say it's 4" of travel, you lower the car by 1" of travel leaving 3" left. Now lets say on your drive to work you can't avoid hitting bumps that take up 3.2" of travel. With your new lower setup you will be hitting the bump stops for a very jarring ride.

Most lowering springs are slightly stiffer than factory which will help reduce the above problem. Lowering springs on a brand new shock with healthy damping often dosn't bottom out, but as the shock wears out or as the spring starts to settle or "sag" due to cheaper metallurgy, you might run into the bottoming out problem later on.

Lowering springs might be a simple, cheap, and easy fix for the visual (and possibly slight performance enhancing) but I personally would view it as a temporary solution. I've done this to many cars in the past with consistent results and since every time the suspension bottoms out it damages the shock -worsening the problem, i'm following the formula of leaving it alone or *invest* in a quality coilover that will suit my needs of comfort/trackability - like Roush TrackPak, KW V2 or V3, JRZ RS/Pro, etc...


0.02

The title of the thread is "Ride Height". Why would you want to lower a body other than it looks good?

Dave

 

[PJWANNABE]

I thought the Boss was already lowered compared to a GT? ??? If you dropped it any lower I don't think you could drive it on the street.

 

[Mark]

The title of the thread is "Ride Height". Why would you want to lower a body other than it looks good?

Dave

Lower it to look good? You need to RAISE it so everyone can see you...Here I am just the other day.

 

[iDrive]

I thought the Boss was already lowered compared to a GT? ??? If you dropped it any lower I don't think you could drive it on the street.

Actually, there are specific reasons for lowering a car. I just wanted to see if Stuntman would elaborate.

Dave

 

[cloud9]

I thought the Boss was already lowered compared to a GT? ??? If you dropped it any lower I don't think you could drive it on the street.

I measured the front of my lowered GT500 and compared it to the Boss. GT500 4", Boss 5". I drive my GT500 on the street every day (when it's not winter ;D)

 

[Mark]

I thought the Boss was already lowered compared to a GT? ??? If you dropped it any lower I don't think you could drive it on the street.

the Boss is only 11MMs lower in the front as compared to a GT (less than an inch difference). Probably about right as a factory "lowered" setting but easily streetable.

 

[BossJockey]

Does anybody know the spring rates of the stock Boss 302 springs?

Does anybody know if these FR springs (M-5300-P) will fit our strut mounts and dampers? And what the spring rates are?
http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts/part_details.asp?PartKeyField=10553

The spec say they lower the GT 1". That should lower the boss 1/2" in front and an 1" in the rear, removing some of that ugly "lifted" look.

For 1.5" drop there is the M-5300-K springs. Anybody the the spring rate of these?

For $225 I might try one of these.