Adjustable coil-overs.

[papatedroach]

Originally Posted by Jrs2000

Those springs are CHEAP. Has anyone tried them? O_o

I had them for 1 year, the car handeld great but rode like a brick. I thought I was gonna break my teeth everytime I hit a small bump.

They didnt fit my struts so I had to grind down the sides of my struts to make them fit. (grinding on struts is really not recomended) Took me about 3 full days of work to make these fit the car. As with all coilovers you need to cut the spring pearches off your struts which can be difficult and which means that you can longer use these struts for anyhting but coilovers.

The bearings that are supplied lasted about 5 min before I crushed them. So I had to get heavy-duty ones from mcmaster carr.

They lock in place using a set screw, which after 2 months rusted in place so bad that we couldnt break it lose with anything. So they were not longer adjustable.

Then I broke one of the spring pearches.

And finnaly I sold what was left of them to another memeber for spare parts

In the end it was a huge wast of time and money and I had to buy a whole new suspention so that i could drive the car. ( strut mounts, bearings, struts, springs, upper seats.... about $750 )

[Jrs2000]

At $750 you shouldv'e gone with a D2 suspension system, I've seen them for like $1100...

D2 Racing RS Coilover Damper Kit Ford Contour 1996-2001 D2-F16

Why would someone buy Ground Controls with Koni's?

The springs are like $400, Then the struts are like 180 a piece...

At that rate why not save the time and just go with a D2 system?

[papatedroach]

D2 system wasnt always ready available. When I did mine it wasnt available at all.

And this wasnt a lets save up and get a new suspention, this was more of a " oh crap, I just broke my suspention on a car I need to drive everyday to work" So I had to put it back togather as fast as possible. Since I had the coilovers on I had no need for most of my stock suspention parts, so they sat at my moms house till she threw them out casue I said I dont think I need them anymore

New Suspention
BG springs $250
kyb struts $300
Front mounts $100
spring perches $50
strut boots $20
strut bearings $30

Total $750

[ND4SPD]

Originally Posted by Jrs2000

At that rate why not save the time and just go with a D2 system?

Originally Posted by papatedroach

D2 system wasnt always ready available. When I did mine it wasnt available at all.

ditto... I bought mine in 2003. I don't think D2's for the cougar were even a dream yet.

[kevxr2002]

Originally Posted by papatedroach

D2 system wasnt always ready available. When I did mine it wasnt available at all.

And this wasnt a lets save up and get a new suspention, this was more of a " oh crap, I just broke my suspention on a car I need to drive everyday to work" So I had to put it back togather as fast as possible. Since I had the coilovers on I had no need for most of my stock suspention parts, so they sat at my moms house till she threw them out casue I said I dont think I need them anymore

New Suspention
BG springs $250
kyb struts $300
Front mounts $100
spring perches $50
strut boots $20
strut bearings $30

Total $750

why did you need to pay 50 bucks for spring perches? I thought they came on pretty much any replacement strut for the cougar.

[papatedroach]

upper spring perches, not the ones on the struts, those would be the lower. The upper perches are not a part that usualy gets replaced, but when you no longer have any of the stock suspention, you find out quick that you need them.

Front Suspention layout The upper perch is the part between number 7 and 8

Also all those prices are approx becasue this was a few years ago so I dont remeber exactly.

[kevxr2002]

Originally Posted by papatedroach

upper spring perches, not the ones on the struts, those would be the lower. The upper perches are not a part that usualy gets replaced, but when you no longer have any of the stock suspention, you find out quick that you need them.

Front Suspention layout The upper perch is the part between number 7 and 8

Also all those prices are approx becasue this was a few years ago so I dont remeber exactly.

oh that makes sense thanks for clarifying i was a little confused when i saw that. lol

[blustreak]

Originally Posted by Jrs2000

At $750 you shouldv'e gone with a D2 suspension system, I've seen them for like $1100...

Not everyone wants to constantly ride around on a racing suspension either. For most people it's overkill. It seems the best reason to get the D2 system is if you're autocrossing.

[gamiller]

Originally Posted by Jrs2000

At $750 you shouldv'e gone with a D2 suspension system, I've seen them for like $1100...

D2 Racing RS Coilover Damper Kit Ford Contour 1996-2001 D2-F16

Why would someone buy Ground Controls with Koni's?

The springs are like $400, Then the struts are like 180 a piece...

At that rate why not save the time and just go with a D2 system?

i've seen you post this in a couple places, but D2 doesn't show support for our application. do you know the manufacturer part number?

KSport denies that their coilovers are the same as the D2 coilovers, but everybody else think they're darn close. There is talk that the spring rates are different. The KSport coilovers part number for the Ford Contour application is (CFD110-KP)

[gamiller]

This is interesting, for those using coilovers:

Originally Posted by Rara

I have two issues with them, and to be fair, the same two issues are common on a lot of coilover kits.

1. The swaybar mount. Koni uses this same method for sway bar attachment on thier high dollar racing struts for the Koni Challenge Mustang kit; I've seen two $130k+ Mustangs nearly get destroyed because of this design. They loosen up very easily, and the mount can swing out into the wheel, which locks the wheel and can spin the car.

2. The strut to knuckle attachment has no retaining tab. In harsh conditions, over hard bumps etc. there is nothing to prevent the strut from getting pulled out of the knuckle other than the friction to the knuckle pinch area. While this is an unlikely occurance, the end result would be catastrophic.

Like I said, I've already talked with Ksport support, and it is currently on me to provide them details of my concerns, which I hope to do in the next few days.