Round 2: Lowered / Flushed GT

[Nygman]

Looks great I do like the bronze on green. Classic combination and the drop looks nice and aggressive

I do like the lowered look and the wheels, but have a question. I have always been taught that spacers alter the geometry of the suspension and negatively impacts handling, stress suspension, and the spacer can fail and fall off. The correct way to adjust the look is to either get a new set of rims with a different offset or have your rims modified, which would give the same look. Either is a safer option. Granted both are a lot more money than spacers, but I don't like to go cheap on safety. I have always gone with new rims when I dropped my last two cars, and sold the old. Did you consider this option?

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[markboris]

Looks great I do like the bronze on green. Classic combination and the drop looks nice and aggressive

I do like the lowered look and the wheels, but have a question. I have always been taught that spacers alter the geometry of the suspension and negatively impacts handling, stress suspension, and the spacer can fail and fall off. The correct way to adjust the look is to either get a new set of rims with a different offset or have your rims modified, which would give the same look. Either is a safer option. Granted both are a lot more money than spacers, but I don't like to go cheap on safety. I have always gone with new rims when I dropped my last two cars, and sold the old. Did you consider this option?

I will butt in here and say I can see your view on safety and I think everyone wants this but I don't think spacers are unsafe. I had spacers on my Ranger (1" front, 2" rear) and my F-150 (2" front and rear) and never had an issue. The F-150 had 280K miles when I sold it and was much heavier than the Mach-E. I have used spacers on many other cars without issues. I do understand and believe that new wheels with a different offset is the way to go but I don't think spacers are unsafe.

 

[Code 3]

Looks great I do like the bronze on green. Classic combination and the drop looks nice and aggressive

I do like the lowered look and the wheels, but have a question. I have always been taught that spacers alter the geometry of the suspension and negatively impacts handling, stress suspension, and the spacer can fail and fall off. The correct way to adjust the look is to either get a new set of rims with a different offset or have your rims modified, which would give the same look. Either is a safer option. Granted both are a lot more money than spacers, but I don't like to go cheap on safety. I have always gone with new rims when I dropped my last two cars, and sold the old. Did you consider this option?

Appreciate it! The bronze on green really is such a classic combo, and honestly, the wheels were the main reason I went with this car in the first place. I did consider getting wheels when I had my white GT, but with this one, I’m in no rush. I’m just in love with the M3-style wheels and plan on keeping them. Maybe down the road when my oldest son takes over the car, he’ll want to swap wheels, and that’s when we can explore that option.

 

[Machivy]

I wish I can lower mine. I added a front lip

 

[markboris]

I wish I can lower mine. I added a front lip

You can lower it no problem. Just be aware of your front lip. Measure the ground clearance of your front lip then deduct about an inch if it were lowered. I bet it would not be as low as 3 1/2" which is the clearance I have on the front lip on my GT500.

 

[CKGorham]

Clean ride! Spacers will definitely give you an aggressive stance. Are you on Eibach’s as well? Your car looks lower than mine. Perhaps it’s your tires.

Yeah their Eibach, -1.4” Front -1.3” rear.

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

Your Mach-E looks great! Those bronze wheels really compliment the Eruption Green. I highly doubt I was the reason you purchased a second Mach-E. They are just great cars and I would not be on my third if they weren't.

I have to ask, why didn't you replace your sway bars with the Eibach's while you had the springs done? If you have read any of my suspension posts, I always mention how their bars are the single best mod you can do to this car. The car will handle much better and even ride smoother. Those bars compliment their springs very well. Looking forward to seeing what other mods you will be doing.

Mark,
Forgive me for my ignorance but seems you have messed with these cars since the beginning. I'm not interested in lowering the car; but have you or anyone else messed with the suspension to make it a little less "firm"? Would a certain spring/sway-bar combo help it? The firmness of the suspension seems to be my #1 complaint about my MME. I've still got a few more years to drive her til swapping out.

OP, that Eruption Green with the Bronze package has me "Green with Envy"!!! Beautiful combo!!!!

 

[markboris]

Mark,
Forgive me for my ignorance but seems you have messed with these cars since the beginning. I'm not interested in lowering the car; but have you or anyone else messed with the suspension to make it a little less "firm"? Would a certain spring/sway-bar combo help it? The firmness of the suspension seems to be my #1 complaint about my Mach-E. I've still got a few more years to drive her til swapping out.

OP, that Eruption Green with the Bronze package has me "Green with Envy"!!! Beautiful combo!!!!

Hey Rich,
Bottom line is Ford created a "sporty" SUV which means it is lower than just about any other SUV out there. They wanted to give it that "Mustang" handling. Only issue is, it has a massive, heavy battery. Since this vehicle is low, it has very little suspension travel. All Mach-E's have a 2 1/2" suspension travel and the GT's are 2". Most all SUV's have between 3 1/2" to 5 1/2". With only 2"-2 1/2" of travel on a 5000 lb car, you need very stiff springs so the car will not bottom out going over bumps in the road and it also needs to be able to carry passengers and luggage without bottoming out. So, Ford uses springs in the rear with 1000 lb spring rates which are very high. The car also has a tendency to bounce in the rear because the shocks they use are not firm enough to keep the stiff springs from bouncing more than once when going over bumps. This is why I modified special Koni shocks to keep those rear springs from bouncing and many members here have installed these modified Koni's. They will NOT soften the ride. They are only meant to reduce the bounce that some get over particular road surfaces.

Ok, back to making the car ride smoother. There are several ways this can happen but none will ever make it ride like a Lincoln. Springs are the best way to soften the ride but we need more suspension travel otherwise the car will bottom out to easily. A couple of years ago, Eibach created progressive rate springs that go from softer to more firm than the OEM springs giving a little better ride. Unfortunately these springs are lowering springs and shorten the suspension travel even more. To compensate, for this, we cut the bump stops down 1" so that we gain that suspension travel back but that can cause two issues. One, when you do bottom out, it is much more harsh since the bump stop has less give and two, for those who have aftermarket wheels with offsets that push out the tire (or if wheels spacers are used) the car will now go so low when bottoming out that the tires will contact the fender lip moldings. For several years many here have installed the Eibach progressive lowering springs to achieve a slightly smoother ride and it has worked well.

Last year, Ford came out with the Rally trim for the GT which raised the car by about 1". Every reviewer praised the driving of this car because it was so much more compliant over irregular road surfaces. The reason is because the Rally springs are 30% softer than the OEM springs and they can do this because they raised it up 1". Installing the Rally springs on any Mach-E will soften the ride even more than the Eibach lowering springs and so far everyone that has done this loves the way the car rides. I personally have installed 3 sets on members cars both on Premium's and GT's. Of course you will now have a car that looks more like a normal SUV (Escape, Edge) because of it sitting higher.

Next modification you can do to make it ride better (but lesser than the springs do) and I have always done this while changing the springs, is replacing the OEM front and rear sway bars with the Eibach bars. Ford uses vulcanized rubber mounting bushings on their bars which is an inexpensive way to firm up the handling but it does not allow the bar to move freely also giving you a more firm ride. The Eibach sway bars use a conventional bushing that allows the bars to move freely which will give a smoother ride. These bars are also stiffer than OEM which will greatly improve the handling.

The last and least modification that will give you a softer ride are the tires. The Mach-E come with tires that have shorter sidewalls than most SUV's, especially the GT's. Shorter sidewalls give you a harsher ride. This is why when it comes time to replace tires, so many here on the forum go with tires that are one or two sizes larger to give a little more cushion on those sidewalls.

Sorry for rambling on and hope you understand all this but bottom line, OEM Rally springs, Eibach Sway Bars and taller tires will greatly improve the ride of any Mach-E. I have mentioned this in several threads and again, here are the part numbers if you are interested in having this done:

Ford OEM Rally springs:
RK9Z-5310-A (Front) Approx $110 each
RK9Z-5560-B (Rear) Approx $92 each

There are many places online you can purchase them. I usually use https://www.tascaparts.com/

These are the Eibach sway bars:
https://eibach.com/product/E40-35-0...JPIpXc3eRqX4Nc-Eov94QXEzekn48c6-15OI9aDVfDhyc

As far as tires, that depends on the wheel you have. Mach-E's come with 18", 19" and 20" wheels. They all have different widths so depending on what wheel you have, I can recommend a tire size and type that would work well.

 

[PalsyWalsy]

Hey! That's a great-looking car, congrats! I have a question about your wheel spacers. Did they fit with the OEM studs, or did you have to replace them with longer ones? Also, with the car being lowered, do the tires touch the fenders at all?
I'm asking because I've also lowered my Mach-E and I'm trying to decide which spacers to install. I'm worried that 20mm spacers might cause the tires to hit the fenders, and I've heard that with 15mm spacers, the original studs might need to be trimmed.

I lowered mine and have the Eibach sway bars. I used spacers as well. I went with 15mm as I thought that had the best appearance of being in line with the wheel wells (oh, and I put 255's on it as well). I did have to trim the bolts. I only hit the fenders if I hit something with speed, like a speed bump or a large pothole. Has happened maybe twice in about 16 months of this setup. Have had no stability or safety issues.

And yes, I intentionally took this picture to show how my gray looks so much better than the gray egg in front of me.

 

[Machivy]

You can lower it no problem. Just be aware of your front lip. Measure the ground clearance of your front lip then deduct about an inch if it were lowered. I bet it would not be as low as 3 1/2" which is the clearance I have on the front lip on my GT500.

Thanks Mark, I love it when you share your knowledge, it's appreciated! I had a 16 gt350 and that thing barely got out of my driveway. Same thing with the mach but I will measure

 

[Machivy]

I will butt in here and say I can see your view on safety and I think everyone wants this but I don't think spacers are unsafe. I had spacers on my Ranger (1" front, 2" rear) and my F-150 (2" front and rear) and never had an issue. The F-150 had 280K miles when I sold it and was much heavier than the Mach-E. I have used spacers on many other cars without issues. I do understand and believe that new wheels with a different offset is the way to go but I don't think spacers are unsafe.

I agree, I've had spacers on my 20 ranger for over 70k miles and safe so far. Just a couple of weeks ago, I had a full blown out on the rear driver side tire, the valve was bad, and we we're able to exit safely.

 

[67 Stang Convertible]

Hey Rich,
Bottom line is Ford created a "sporty" SUV which means it is lower than just about any other SUV out there. They wanted to give it that "Mustang" handling. Only issue is, it has a massive, heavy battery. Since this vehicle is low, it has very little suspension travel. All Mach-E's have a 2 1/2" suspension travel and the GT's are 2". Most all SUV's have between 3 1/2" to 5 1/2". With only 2"-2 1/2" of travel on a 5000 lb car, you need very stiff springs so the car will not bottom out going over bumps in the road and it also needs to be able to carry passengers and luggage without bottoming out. So, Ford uses springs in the rear with 1000 lb spring rates which are very high. The car also has a tendency to bounce in the rear because the shocks they use are not firm enough to keep the stiff springs from bouncing more than once when going over bumps. This is why I modified special Koni shocks to keep those rear springs from bouncing and many members here have installed these modified Koni's. They will NOT soften the ride. They are only meant to reduce the bounce that some get over particular road surfaces.

Ok, back to making the car ride smoother. There are several ways this can happen but none will ever make it ride like a Lincoln. Springs are the best way to soften the ride but we need more suspension travel otherwise the car will bottom out to easily. A couple of years ago, Eibach created progressive rate springs that go from softer to more firm than the OEM springs giving a little better ride. Unfortunately these springs are lowering springs and shorten the suspension travel even more. To compensate, for this, we cut the bump stops down 1" so that we gain that suspension travel back but that can cause two issues. One, when you do bottom out, it is much more harsh since the bump stop has less give and two, for those who have aftermarket wheels with offsets that push out the tire (or if wheels spacers are used) the car will now go so low when bottoming out that the tires will contact the fender lip moldings. For several years many here have installed the Eibach progressive lowering springs to achieve a slightly smoother ride and it has worked well.

Last year, Ford came out with the Rally trim for the GT which raised the car by about 1". Every reviewer praised the driving of this car because it was so much more compliant over irregular road surfaces. The reason is because the Rally springs are 30% softer than the OEM springs and they can do this because they raised it up 1". Installing the Rally springs on any Mach-E will soften the ride even more than the Eibach lowering springs and so far everyone that has done this loves the way the car rides. I personally have installed 3 sets on members cars both on Premium's and GT's. Of course you will now have a car that looks more like a normal SUV (Escape, Edge) because of it sitting higher.

Next modification you can do to make it ride better (but lesser than the springs do) and I have always done this while changing the springs, is replacing the OEM front and rear sway bars with the Eibach bars. Ford uses vulcanized rubber mounting bushings on their bars which is an inexpensive way to firm up the handling but it does not allow the bar to move freely also giving you a more firm ride. The Eibach sway bars use a conventional bushing that allows the bars to move freely which will give a smoother ride. These bars are also stiffer than OEM which will greatly improve the handling.

The last and least modification that will give you a softer ride are the tires. The Mach-E come with tires that have shorter sidewalls than most SUV's, especially the GT's. Shorter sidewalls give you a harsher ride. This is why when it comes time to replace tires, so many here on the forum go with tires that are one or two sizes larger to give a little more cushion on those sidewalls.

Sorry for rambling on and hope you understand all this but bottom line, OEM Rally springs, Eibach Sway Bars and taller tires will greatly improve the ride of any Mach-E. I have mentioned this in several threads and again, here are the part numbers if you are interested in having this done:

Ford OEM Rally springs:
RK9Z-5310-A (Front) Approx $86 each
RK9Z-5560-B (Rear) Approx $ 89 each

There are many places online you can purchase them. I usually use https://www.tascaparts.com/

These are the Eibach sway bars:
https://eibach.com/product/E40-35-0...JPIpXc3eRqX4Nc-Eov94QXEzekn48c6-15OI9aDVfDhyc

As far as tires, that depends on the wheel you have. Mach-E's come with 18", 19" and 20" wheels. They all have different widths so depending on what wheel you have, I can recommend a tire size and type that would work well.

Do You have pic of any of the cars with the springs that have been elevated one inch? And Thank you for all the Awesome Info!!!

 

[Code 3]

Hey Rich,
Bottom line is Ford created a "sporty" SUV which means it is lower than just about any other SUV out there. They wanted to give it that "Mustang" handling. Only issue is, it has a massive, heavy battery. Since this vehicle is low, it has very little suspension travel. All Mach-E's have a 2 1/2" suspension travel and the GT's are 2". Most all SUV's have between 3 1/2" to 5 1/2". With only 2"-2 1/2" of travel on a 5000 lb car, you need very stiff springs so the car will not bottom out going over bumps in the road and it also needs to be able to carry passengers and luggage without bottoming out. So, Ford uses springs in the rear with 1000 lb spring rates which are very high. The car also has a tendency to bounce in the rear because the shocks they use are not firm enough to keep the stiff springs from bouncing more than once when going over bumps. This is why I modified special Koni shocks to keep those rear springs from bouncing and many members here have installed these modified Koni's. They will NOT soften the ride. They are only meant to reduce the bounce that some get over particular road surfaces.

Ok, back to making the car ride smoother. There are several ways this can happen but none will ever make it ride like a Lincoln. Springs are the best way to soften the ride but we need more suspension travel otherwise the car will bottom out to easily. A couple of years ago, Eibach created progressive rate springs that go from softer to more firm than the OEM springs giving a little better ride. Unfortunately these springs are lowering springs and shorten the suspension travel even more. To compensate, for this, we cut the bump stops down 1" so that we gain that suspension travel back but that can cause two issues. One, when you do bottom out, it is much more harsh since the bump stop has less give and two, for those who have aftermarket wheels with offsets that push out the tire (or if wheels spacers are used) the car will now go so low when bottoming out that the tires will contact the fender lip moldings. For several years many here have installed the Eibach progressive lowering springs to achieve a slightly smoother ride and it has worked well.

Last year, Ford came out with the Rally trim for the GT which raised the car by about 1". Every reviewer praised the driving of this car because it was so much more compliant over irregular road surfaces. The reason is because the Rally springs are 30% softer than the OEM springs and they can do this because they raised it up 1". Installing the Rally springs on any Mach-E will soften the ride even more than the Eibach lowering springs and so far everyone that has done this loves the way the car rides. I personally have installed 3 sets on members cars both on Premium's and GT's. Of course you will now have a car that looks more like a normal SUV (Escape, Edge) because of it sitting higher.

Next modification you can do to make it ride better (but lesser than the springs do) and I have always done this while changing the springs, is replacing the OEM front and rear sway bars with the Eibach bars. Ford uses vulcanized rubber mounting bushings on their bars which is an inexpensive way to firm up the handling but it does not allow the bar to move freely also giving you a more firm ride. The Eibach sway bars use a conventional bushing that allows the bars to move freely which will give a smoother ride. These bars are also stiffer than OEM which will greatly improve the handling.

The last and least modification that will give you a softer ride are the tires. The Mach-E come with tires that have shorter sidewalls than most SUV's, especially the GT's. Shorter sidewalls give you a harsher ride. This is why when it comes time to replace tires, so many here on the forum go with tires that are one or two sizes larger to give a little more cushion on those sidewalls.

Sorry for rambling on and hope you understand all this but bottom line, OEM Rally springs, Eibach Sway Bars and taller tires will greatly improve the ride of any Mach-E. I have mentioned this in several threads and again, here are the part numbers if you are interested in having this done:

Ford OEM Rally springs:
RK9Z-5310-A (Front) Approx $86 each
RK9Z-5560-B (Rear) Approx $ 89 each

There are many places online you can purchase them. I usually use https://www.tascaparts.com/

These are the Eibach sway bars:
https://eibach.com/product/E40-35-0...JPIpXc3eRqX4Nc-Eov94QXEzekn48c6-15OI9aDVfDhyc

As far as tires, that depends on the wheel you have. Mach-E's come with 18", 19" and 20" wheels. They all have different widths so depending on what wheel you have, I can recommend a tire size and type that would work well.

Very informative! Maybe it’s just me, but the car feels smooth. I’ve driven sports cars since I got my license, so maybe I’m just used to it. Either way, I’m hoping to buy and install the sway bars by Thanksgiving break.

Mark, if I remember correctly, you’re running 265s up front and 295s in the rear? I’ve only put a few thousand miles on mine so far, but I’m already itching to give it a more aggressive stance in the back. Any recommendations?

 

[Code 3]

I lowered mine and have the Eibach sway bars. I used spacers as well. I went with 15mm as I thought that had the best appearance of being in line with the wheel wells (oh, and I put 255's on it as well). I did have to trim the bolts. I only hit the fenders if I hit something with speed, like a speed bump or a large pothole. Has happened maybe twice in about 16 months of this setup. Have had no stability or safety issues.

And yes, I intentionally took this picture to show how my gray looks so much better than the gray egg in front of me.

I’ve always been a fan of your flower-style wheels—they look even better in person. The 15mm spacers really suit your car, and honestly, I think you could even pull off 20mm in the rear if you wanted to get more aggressive.

 

[Code 3]

Thanks Mark, I love it when you share your knowledge, it's appreciated! I had a 16 gt350 and that thing barely got out of my driveway. Same thing with the mach but I will measure

Dang, that’s practically kissing the ground! They actually make driveway ramps you can place at the bottom to help prevent your lip from scraping.

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