Verdict is in: Car handles like a boat

[luxuryrules]

Springs can be made softer than the air ride and stiffer than the air ride, but not both. Air will absorb the small bumps and keep things nice & tight in the corners... it's a win-win situation.

Since you already bought the springs, either return them or sell them off, or stick them in your garage until the air gives you a problem you can't solve. Short version is that, in your quest to improve your car's handling, coils are a step backwards.

Put swaybars in it, get a set of Firehawk Wide Ovals, and get Cobra shocks for the rear with metal shock mounts & poly bushings. When you are ready to take it to the next level, look into using Bilstein inserts into the front struts and swap all the chassis bushings to poly.

 

[RedCellSix]

I switched over to the strut/coil,shock conversion sold by the retired Lincoln Tech, real nice guy too. With the airbags the car seemed to wallow around a lot. There's a lot of country roads around here and sometimes I'll open it up around visible corners or unpopulated straight a ways. I prefer this setup. However, after reading some of the earlier posts, it may have just been due to the age of my bag system (94). I'm still contemplating adding the smallest (and solid ) Addco sway bar down the road.

 

[Speed Demon]

1.5 drop here.I just got back from a short trip over the weekend, fully loaded passengers and trunk. Handled great and no sag or squeaks. I keep hearing horror stories about these conversions but I really don't understand them. I'm not against air ride, but I do love my conversion kit. No headaches, no bottoming out, no squishy roll. No problem. Lets not go crazy knocking down these conversions, they're not that bad. No I'm not in denial, and I'm not selling my car off ebay either. I am looking at the ADDCOs. I know the 1/4 are supposed to be super stiff. Are the 3/8 close as far as handling benefits? Will you notice a big difference between the two? I love taking corners hard, and I'm used to stiffer performance handling cars. Still deciding.

 

[IllinoisMarkVIII]

1 3/8 bars

They are stiff......I have them front and rear........turning into parking lots with a incline will lift a tire off the ground................but car handles like it is on rails...............I have stock hgt. coil conversion, edelbrock shocks, all new suspension parts..............it does ride rougher, but I think most of the harshness is from the big bars...............go with the 1 1/4 if you are worried about ride over performance

 

[Rich88LSC]

is it possible to replace the strut without the bag, or is it internal. I did my reat shocks cause they were shot but my front end is still a bit thunky. I love the air tho... when this goes im replacing it with more air!

Yes and know. I know I have seen pics of someone doing it. Personally I wouldn't bother utting the effort in on used bags anyway. I just got new front bags/struts for less then $400

 

[RedHotMark96]

Thanks for the input on the sway bars. In my original post what I was wondering was how it will feel with new coils vs the old air susp, not wether New coils are better than New air ride.
As far as coil complaints, from my searching it seems like most of them were older (several years ago) and from owners who did not buy the conversion from American Air Suspension. Ideally yes I would keep the air ride, but the budget didnt allow for that at the time, and now I feel the extra couple hundred bucks could be better spent in my case, say on a rear sway bar.


So now I'm just wondering wether to go 1 1/8" or 1 1/4", it seems like the 1 3/8" would be a little too stiff for me.

 

[Icarus]

They are stiff......I have them front and rear........turning into parking lots with a incline will lift a tire off the ground................but car handles like it is on rails...............I have stock hgt. coil conversion, edelbrock shocks, all new suspension parts..............it does ride rougher, but I think most of the harshness is from the big bars...............go with the 1 1/4 if you are worried about ride over performance

The 1 1/4" bars will lift the tires too, as I have them front and rear on mine. It's great being able to jack up one corner and having three wheels off the ground

 

[davidm]

I went with the 1/8 ADDCO bar, with standard air. It does a nice job of stability without the firmness, less roll in the turns also.
Order the Thunderbird/Cougar version,same catalog numbers but at a lower price.

David

 

[poniesviii]

1.5 drop here.I just got back from a short trip over the weekend, fully loaded passengers and trunk. Handled great and no sag or squeaks. I keep hearing horror stories about these conversions but I really don't understand them. I'm not against air ride, but I do love my conversion kit. No headaches, no bottoming out, no squishy roll. No problem. Lets not go crazy knocking down these conversions, they're not that bad.

Just depends who you are and how you like your car set up.

If I had coils, and ran at the same height, I'd never be able to have rear passengers and not worry about a bad ride for everyone and scraping everywhere. But, if you don't like to be that low, (which handles as well or better than any coil IMO..,) then coils might be right for you. I don't know how far I'm dropped, but I'm guessing it's 3" or better around town. In my instance, coils are NOT an option. Like I said, there's different kinds of enthusiasts.

 

[poniesviii]

Thanks for the input on the sway bars. In my original post what I was wondering was how it will feel with new coils vs the old air susp, not wether New coils are better than New air ride.
As far as coil complaints, from my searching it seems like most of them were older (several years ago) and from owners who did not buy the conversion from American Air Suspension. Ideally yes I would keep the air ride, but the budget didnt allow for that at the time, and now I feel the extra couple hundred bucks could be better spent in my case, say on a rear sway bar.


So now I'm just wondering wether to go 1 1/8" or 1 1/4", it seems like the 1 3/8" would be a little too stiff for me.

Read this.


Another thing for you to take into consideration when choosing which sway bar,.. And what anyone says on this whole "air vs coil" -- "plus which sway bar is best for you" -- is really really trivial in my opinion.

One example: you can be VERY low [[with air]], use a 1 1/8 bar, not have your swaybar bolts shortened to level out your bar the way it should be, and you'll have a mushier ride than someone with shorter bolts and the same setup. And you'll have a quieter ride just because you have air, and not have to worry about hauling passengers. Simply shortening the bolts will change it completely.

If you are very low with [[coils]], still use a 1 1/8" bar.. shorten your bolts, you're going to have a noisier ride and handle just as well. And not be able to haul passengers as readily.

If you're at stock height the 1 3/8" isn't going to be as stiff as being lowered with the 1 1/8" bar no matter if it's coils or air.

So you should ask yourself.. Do I haul people? Am I lowered? Will I mind a bit of extra road noise from coils?

THEN you can decide.. if you want coils or air..

And THEN you can decide which bar to go with.