Welcome to 74Customs, this article focuses on safely and effectively modifying your car’s suspension cheaply to increase your track times or to help your street car handle better simply.
Although I can’t promise that your Crown Vic will stay planted while taking a hairpin turn at 90mph, I can guarantee that from the factory if you invest in these high-quality modifications you will notice a substantial increase in the handling and traction of your vehicle.
Before Modifications
Before you start throwing your vehicle around corners, it is critical to make sure that your car can handle normal driving conditions. Are your suspension bushings beaten, cracked, and falling apart? Does your A-frame look like it’s ready to fall off of your car? Chances are if your vehicle is older than 10 years old, maybe even newer, you should be replacing some components of your suspension first.
Some of your suspension is going to be in less than ideal condition to withstand the stress you are about to put it through which is fine, just ensure you don’t neglect this step if you want to see maximum success with minimal setbacks by diminishing the risk of premature failure of any worn out or old components.
Suspension Mods
1) Sway Bars
When it comes down to good cornering ability sway bars are a must. Sway bars also known as Anti Roll Bars or Stabilizer Bars are pieces of equipment designed to reduce your vehicle’s body roll, increasing traction and overall handling.
A sway bar connects your suspension system’s left and right sides. This helps to reduce body roll by distributing the pressure evenly between the two halves of the car. The bars made from the factory can be weak and flimsy and tend to bend under hard cornering, an aftermarket sway bar is designed to be more rigid and firm to reduce any flexion further reducing body roll.
2) Polyurethane Bushings
Polyurethane is a plastic polymer that is harder than your factory rubber. Aftermarket companies make bushings and mounts out of them to help maximize the effectiveness of your vehicle’s components by minimizing play in your, suspension, engine, or transmission.
The reason this modification is so great is that it is cheap, easy, and extremely effective, you can virtually replace every bushing with polyurethane, however, because it is much harder than your factory bushings you will start to trade comfort for performance. Here is a list of common bushings replaced with polyurethane:
- Sway bar bushings.
- Sway bar end link bushings.
- Caster Bushings
- Trailing arm Bushings.
- Control Arm bushings.
- Engine/Transmission mounts.
I have put this section after sway bars because if you are planning on adding an aftermarket sway bar your stock sway bar bushings likely won’t fit especially if you had bought polyurethane. Keep the size of parts in mind before replacing them with polyurethane.
3) Strut Tower Braces/Strut bars
Upper strut tower braces are another great modification for enhancing your suspension at an affordable price. Strut tower braces reduce any binding between your strut towers both in the front and rear by connecting the upper portions of the strut towers together. These are large stress points in your chassis. This reduction of flex and binding helps to increase the effectiveness of your entire suspension system.
Sometimes your vehicle will have these from the factory but likely not, making strut tower braces a worthwhile modification, especially in older vehicles.
4) Lowering springs
Lowering springs are a great modification for enhancing both the handling and aesthetics of your vehicle by lowering the overall center of gravity along with a higher compression spring rate.
Upgrading your springs to aftermarket lowering springs while also ensuring the correct shock will have an enormous effect on how your car performs. Lowering the center of gravity of your vehicle while also stiffening the suspension minimizes weight transfer allowing the other components of your suspension to work more effectively increasing grip and cornering ability.
By reducing the weight transfer, your vehicle can stop quicker and accelerate quicker as well. Lowering springs will please almost any automotive enthusiast with a tighter budget and a need for speed!
Now before the comments start, yes Coilovers are better than Lowering Springs. The addition of adjustable camber, dampening, and ride height is usually made of good-quality parts and provides maximum traction and adjustability. Coilovers might be out of the budget of someone trying to modify their vehicle affordably and might be too extreme for some just looking for an easy way to enhance their suspension.
5) Weight Reduction
Weight reduction is an incredible way to increase the performance of your vehicle quickly, cheaply, and efficiently. Sounds too good to be true but it isn’t!
Weight reduction will help to reduce the momentum of your car through corners. The extra momentum created from the added weight is what causes excessive oversteer or understeer both of which are not ideal for speed and traction. Extra weight will also impact your ability to brake and accelerate quickly.
Weight Reduction Ideas
Here is a small list of free and purchased things you can do to reduce the weight of your vehicle. Don’t feel limited by this list I encourage you to check forum groups and speak with other enthusiasts to find all the ways you can reduce the weight of your vehicle for whatever your needs.
Free Weight Reduction Ideas
Free weight reduction is excellent however your trade-offs are the luxuries and comfort as these are the heaviest and most unnecessary for performance so consider that before beginning.
- Removing spare tire and jack.
- Removing cruise control.
- Removing unnecessary engine brackets/covers.
- Remove backseats (You can create/buy rear seat delete kits also).
- Remove door cards.
- Remove speakers/stereo.
- Lose some weight yourself.
- Remove carpet/panels/roof liner.
- Remove sunroof window motors.
- Remove sound deadening.
Purchased Weight Reduction Idea
Purchasing lightweight parts allows you to keep the luxuries and comforts of your vehicle while gaining the performance however at the cost of expense.
- Carbon fiber hood/body panels.
- Lightweight wheels.
- A/C delete kit.
- Racing/Lightweight seats.
- Replace the sunroof with fiberglass, carbon fiber, or Lexan.
There is an endless list of things that are continuously being found or created to decrease weight and depending on the parameters or vehicle you own weight reduction will look different for you.
The Key (Important)
If you want anything here to work well you are going to need to make sure that you are stuck to the ground first. Making sure your car has the appropriate tires is critical to see the best performance gains from your vehicle.
Whether you are using your car on the track or the streets make sure you are using the highest-performance tires that the climate in your area will allow. The added grip will ensure the best handling, braking, and acceleration increasing both the speed and safety of your vehicle.
Where to Buy Parts?
The question is where should I buy quality parts? Sometimes even on a budget, it is inevitable you will have to spend money because this is not a cheap hobby but there are ways to acquire great performance parts without breaking the bank!
Buying New
The first is to buy new high-quality parts from a renowned company or supplier. This will ensure you are getting the best pieces of equipment in new condition potentially even having a warranty guaranteeing the greatest success at the highest price.
Used Parts
Next up is to buy aftermarket parts either from a Pick-Your-Part type junkyard or from other automotive enthusiasts, Kijii or Facebook Marketplace are great places to look. Both are great and viable ways to obtain aftermarket performance parts of any kind for a more affordable price!
Be careful when purchasing these parts however, there is likely a good reason people are selling used parts but sometimes there aren’t, and hidden issues and problems may not be apparent and potentially dangerous. Do not sacrifice your or your passenger’s safety to save money, sometimes a used part may not be a worthwhile purchase.
How To Save More Money
Something I learned growing up that helped me to save up and buy more car parts was a clever tip, not everyone has the dedication for or thinks of which is to re-service and resell their old parts. Often people are not looking to modify their vehicles and are trying to fix a broken component of their vehicle for a discounted price. By selling your OEM/factory parts you can gain back some of the money you spent on a performance part.
Ensure the part you are selling is in good working condition with no breaks or fractures. It also helps to clean up or even repaint a part to hopefully gain a little bit more money on a sale!
For more tips check out: How to Modify Your Car on a Budget.
Disclaimer
Before making modifications to your vehicle, I encourage you to research your local laws and regulations to ensure you avoid unnecessary fines and work, or at the very least are aware of these laws and the consequences associated. Improper installation of any of these modifications could potentially be harmful to you or your vehicle so it is advised to seek professional help or instruction, if you do not feel fully confident in your abilities.
Conclusion
Having a better-handling vehicle enhances your experience every time you drive. It’s essential to proceed with caution, considering legal regulations, safety concerns, and potential risks. Ensure you prioritize your maintenance and prioritize buying quality parts, having to rebuy cheap parts will not help you to save money in the long run!
With this knowledge, you can move forward modifying with confidence. If you have any further questions or concerns feel free to reach out at 74Customscompany@gmail.com, Thanks for reading and make sure to subscribe to the 74Newsletter to stay updated with the latest modification information!
