Softer Suspension?

[markboris]

For anyone wanting to soften the suspension as much as possible on this car, two things need to be done. One, change out the springs with Ford's OEM Rally springs like I mentioned above and two, change out the tires with ones that have a higher load rating/grand touring category as Brian mentioned above.

Ford's OEM Rally springs have a softer spring rate and are taller giving the car more suspension travel. Both of these things will give a softer ride. Some might not want their cars lifted an inch taller but it will definitely help with the ride. OEM Rally springs can be had for $300 including shipping. Installation can be anywhere from $500 and up. An alignment will be required which will be around $125. Also adjustable camber bolts are needed to get the front camber back in spec. Those run around $30. Total to have the springs replaced with alignment can be had for as little as $955

Replacing the tires can cost a bit more than having the springs done depending on the tires purchased but definitely worth doing to further soften the ride. Brian mentioned if you have 19" wheels, size up to 245/50/19 105XL. You can run these tires at a lower pressure (37 psi) and choosing from the grand touring category, will help with the ride. Looking at two popular tires in that size/catagory, Vredestein Quatrac Pro+ are about $1070 for the set, Michelin CrossClimate2's are $1185 for the set. For 20" wheels, 255/45/20 105XL tires in the grand touring category, three popular ones are Vredestein Quatrac Pro+ are about $1040 for the set, Michelin CrossClimate2's are $1270 for the set, Michelin Primacy Tour A/S $1310 for the set. Depending on the tire dealer, install may be free or not. Bottom line, probably looking at at least $1100 or more to change out the tires.

All that said, you would be spending around $2200 or more to do the best you can to soften the ride and it definitely will.

EDIT: As Steve mentions in a post further on, both of these things will slightly reduce your range. Raising the vehicle and running lower tire pressure.

Sponsored

 

[mbrownwvu]

Hi Tony, there are numerous posts about this and bottom line, no, there is not a way to soften the ride without changing the ride height. As far as changing springs and dampers to the '25 version, my recommendation to others that have asked this same question was to go take a test drive in a '25 that is the same model as your car and see if the difference is worth you spending $$$$. So far no one has done this nor have we seen any reviews that the '25's ride is significantly better than the past years. This is not a luxury car. It is a sporty SUV with almost the identical suspension as an ICE Mustang. It was never designed to ride smooth and has very little suspension travel. Changing out your springs for the OEM Rally springs which have a softer spring rate and are almost 1" taller would be your best bet and the least expensive route.

Mark, I know I’ve seen you in the Eibach spring threads and this is the first I’ve seen you recommend the Rally springs over those. So you’ve driven both and feel the latter is the better investment? I have a 2021 First Edition and will likely do one of the two choices this summer. Thanks.

 

[giwu42]

I just put the Rally springs on my RWD ER with many thanks to Mark Boris! I'll post a review about it soon, but it is substantially softer w/o much ride height change.

 

[markboris]

Mark, I know I’ve seen you in the Eibach spring threads and this is the first I’ve seen you recommend the Rally springs over those. So you’ve driven both and feel the latter is the better investment? I have a 2021 First Edition and will likely do one of the two choices this summer. Thanks.

Hi Mike, I have not driven both, only the Eibach progressive lowering springs and have driven multiple MME's with those springs. Because they are progressive springs they have a softer range than the linear OEM springs and give a softer ride but at the expensive of lowering the car. The issue with that is there is even less suspension travel and the more travel you have, the better the ride can be. With the Rally springs, even though they are linear, they have a softer spring rate than the OEM springs plus they provide almost an inch more of travel. I believe these would be a little better as softening the suspension since they offer more travel. As giwu42 said in the above post, we've been going back and forth over suspension mods for the last 6 months and he has just installed the Rally springs and they have really helped out on the ride. He still has some fine tuning to do but that will happen in the next couple of weeks then he will post a review.

 

[HuntingPudel]

A caveat to putting lift springs on the car: If you are concerned with range, these will reduce your highway efficiency. ??

A caveat to running higher load range tires: If you are concerned with range these will reduce efficiency at all speeds due to having to run lower pressure. Running wider wheels will alleviate this somewhat but will once again hurt your highway efficiency since aftermarket wheels have terrible aerodynamics. ?‍?

 

[markboris]

A caveat to putting lift springs on the car: If you are concerned with range, these will reduce your highway efficiency. ??

A caveat to running higher load range tires: If you are concerned with range these will reduce efficiency at all speeds due to having to run lower pressure. Running wider wheels will alleviate this somewhat but will once again hurt your highway efficiency since aftermarket wheels have terrible aerodynamics. ?‍?

Thanks Steve. Didn't think of mentioning this as range efficiency is not part of what I care about at all on a vehicle but I know it is huge for some.

 

[tuminatr]

A caveat to putting lift springs on the car: If you are concerned with range, these will reduce your highway efficiency. ??

A caveat to running higher load range tires: If you are concerned with range these will reduce efficiency at all speeds due to having to run lower pressure. Running wider wheels will alleviate this somewhat but will once again hurt your highway efficiency since aftermarket wheels have terrible aerodynamics. ?‍?

True but with inflation pressure it makes very little difference. Out of Spec reviews just did a highway range test on a Lucid Air and did not realize until lucid called them that the tires were under inflated by 8 psi. The 516 mile range was only reduced by 8 miles. They inflated properly and got the full EPA range

 

[4sallypat]

A caveat to putting lift springs on the car: If you are concerned with range, these will reduce your highway efficiency. ??

A caveat to running higher load range tires: If you are concerned with range these will reduce efficiency at all speeds due to having to run lower pressure. Running wider wheels will alleviate this somewhat but will once again hurt your highway efficiency since aftermarket wheels have terrible aerodynamics. ?‍?

My lift springs from Eibach has been the best - much more in tuned with the road.

I got a 2" lift all around and range has not suffered a bit.

Probably because I drive city streets and live in warm sunny So Calif.

 

[phil]

With the Rally springs, even though they are linear, they have a softer spring rate than the OEM springs plus they provide almost an inch more of travel. I believe these would be a little better as softening the suspension since they offer more travel.

Might the Eibach lift springs then be even better than the Rally springs for softening?

@4sallypat reports good performance, with 2" lift that could provide room for more travel. I expect we'd need a direct comparison to be certain, but it seems at least possible.

 

[markboris]

Might the Eibach lift springs then be even better than the Rally springs for softening?

@4sallypat reports good performance, with 2" lift that could provide room for more travel. I expect we'd need a direct comparison to be certain, but it seems at least possible.

The Eibach lift springs give a softer ride because they are taller giving more suspension travel. However they have the same firm spring rate as all the other Mach-E springs. The Ford OEM Rally springs not only are taller but have a softer spring rate than any other Mach-E spring so they will be even better at softening the ride.

I have installed the Eibach lift springs in a members car (Eric) who kept them in for a month. During that time he noticed a better ride just like Pat does. What he didn’t like was his range went down a bit because of the lift. After a month we replaced them with Eibach GT progressive lowering springs. He got his slight increase in range back and still has a softer ride. Now maybe I can see if he wants to try the OEM Rally springs. ?

EDIT: We installed the Rally springs on Eric's car and he is extremely happy with the ride now. The Rally springs have a much lower spring rate (softer) than any other springs that are available at this time.

 

[moncobb]

The Eibach lift springs give a softer ride because they are taller giving more suspension travel. However they have the same firm spring rate as all the other MME springs. The Ford OEM Rally springs not only are taller but have a softer spring rate than any other MME spring so they will be even better at softening the ride.

I have installed the Eibach lift springs in a members car (Eric) who kept them in for a month. During that time he noticed a better ride just like Pat does. What he didn’t like was his range went down a bit because of the lift. After a month we replaced them with Eibach GT progressive lowering springs. He got his slight increase in range back and still has a softer ride. Now maybe I can see if he wants to try the OEM Rally springs. ?

Mark, I have Eibach lowering springs installed on my premium awd extended range. After the install I noticed a tendency for the BlueCruise to arc too high on right hand long curves. Dealer says it may be due to the lowering springs and refused to recalibrate the BlueCruise because he said it could cause the control module to self destruct. Have you heard of anything like this? The latter part about the module self destructing in calibration makes no sense to me. Any ideas about the effect of lowering springs on BlueCruise accuracy in curves?

 

[markboris]

Mark, I have Eibach lowering springs installed on my premium awd extended range. After the install I noticed a tendency for the BlueCruise to arc too high on right hand long curves. Dealer says it may be due to the lowering springs and refused to recalibrate the BlueCruise because he said it could cause the control module to self destruct. Have you heard of anything like this? The latter part about the module self destructing in calibration makes no sense to me. Any ideas about the effect of lowering springs on BlueCruise accuracy in curves?

There have been many members here that have lowered their cars with these springs. I've lowered quite a few myself and 2 of them were my personal cars. I never had any issues with BlueCruise and never heard anyone with a lowered car that has. Let's say you don't have a lowered car but you fill the frunk and trunk area with cargo and load the car with 5 passengers. Is BlueCruise not going to work because the car is lower? We can flip that around and there are many here that have lifted their cars with the Rally springs. I've personally installed them in 9 cars and have not heard of anyone complaining about BlueCruise. Maybe I missed this if someone did have issues but I do know quite a few with the lifted car that use BC without issues.

Did you tell the service writer that you lowered the car? Sometimes dealers will use any excuse to get out of servicing a car if they feel there will be an issue. I cannot see why any modules would self destruct either. That is a funny one. Personally I would go to a different dealer and have them look at it and wouldn't mention you lowered it and see what happens.

 

[IgorKl]

There have been many members here that have lowered their cars with these springs. I've lowered quite a few myself and 2 of them were my personal cars. I never had any issues with BlueCruise and never heard anyone with a lowered car that has. Let's say you don't have a lowered car but you fill the frunk and trunk area with cargo and load the car with 5 passengers. Is BlueCruise not going to work because the car is lower? We can flip that around and there are many here that have lifted their cars with the Rally springs. I've personally installed them in 9 cars and have not heard of anyone complaining about BlueCruise. Maybe I missed this if someone did have issues but I do know quite a few with the lifted car that use BC without issues.

Did you tell the service writer that you lowered the car? Sometimes dealers will use any excuse to get out of servicing a car if they feel there will be an issue. I cannot see why any modules would self destruct either. That is a funny one. Personally I would go to a different dealer and have them look at it and wouldn't mention you lowered it and see what happens.

I can confirm that installation of rally springs has 0 effect on my BC.

 

[KennyMc]

I too can confirm no issue with BC and Rally springs.

 

[azerik]

Did the springs go up in price? lowest I can find them is $80 each + ship.

Sponsored