Its here and ready. Steve Spohn has answered the problems other companies have yet to address with running coilover for Road Racing type applications.

With the new release of custom STEEL strut mounts that mimic the function of the original billet aluminum units, the new steel mounts come standard with the top hat provision welded underneath inside the strut mount for use with coilover springs. These things are tough and sturdy. With the addition also of the underneath fender support plates to brace the top and bottom sides of the strut towers, the steel mounts are now capable to handle very harsh spring rates on an extremely lowered car application without bending or bottoming out on travel. They will work at factory height adjustment as well.

This is a first of its kind. It is all TIG welded and custom CNC machined one of a kind parts that can not be pieced together from any other source. Lots of time and testing has gone into these units assuring quality and strength and making absolutely certain that the strut towers and steel mounts & reinforcement plates can handle anything thrown at them- It has been engineered with success and tested with absolute confidence. This kits also includes Torrington bearings and thrust washers on the tops and bottoms for bind free adjustment and turning radius- No one else on the market provides this pivot steering feature for roadracing coilovers on a strut application.

Great Job Spohn Performance
http://www.spohn.net/productimages/737_big.jpg

 

Wow, I was on his site earlier today (or was that yesterday) and he had not added all those new products yet.

The "Pro-tour" setup is priced right at $595. The newly redesigned strut mounts alone are $250. So you are saving $50 through the kit.

I see that Spohn is now offering Delrin bushings in their tubular front A-Arms.

It's always great news when Spohn adds new products for our cars.

 

Time to save up for the new strut mounts

 

Looks pretty sweet. Will this kit work woth koni yellows?

 

durn, three months after I bought bilsteins..

 

Has there been a thread in this forum discussing the conflict of using Bilsteins with Spohn's coil-over kit? If there was, I missed it.

I might eventually drop my Bilsteins in favor of Koni yellows so I can run this kit.

 

any of the kit mounted, the smaller dia still is a disapointment.

 

Yeah, there was. I believe it was embedded in another thread though. I can't recall. All the coilovers don't work with the Bilsteins. I hoped Spohn's would be different, but there is a disclaimer now. My Bilsteins has an OD of a hair under 3". Not good. It's a real bummer, but my Bilsteins are about 7 years old, so it may be time to change.

 

yeah i had to have a custom set to run my bislteins... was well worth it only to keep the bilsteins. coilovers in themselves i'd take or leave them..

 

steve/kat, question on this if you dont mind?

Will this kit and strut mounts eventually be sold in different colors like your other parts? Or possibly raw material like you can on the sfcs?

Looks great! Adding to the b-day list or starting to save the cash

 

Yep you can custom order any color ya want. Just will take about two weeks to get it or so.

Just call up Steve and ask

Kat

 

Good to see Spohn is constantly coming out with new products.

No Bilstein support is the only reason I won't be switching.

 

Shame my front suspension was a package deal. Then I could have gotten the coilovers from Steve with the Strut towers! Though I wonder how the strut towers will work with my AJE coil over kit. Speaking of which I was also told there were some struts I could not run with AJE...bet from what I have read here, it is probably bilsteins as well!

I will know more when I get the AJE kit. Then I will look into purchasing a set of the strut towers. Glad they are out...perfect timing! This would really finish out my set up. Plus I have been looking at ordering the torque arm. See if the coil over kit, plus the spohn torque arm will help my track traction!

 

Would this setup, or any other coilover for that matter pretty much mandate a strut tower brace?

 

Yup.

Kat

 

I have a few things with the torque arm I would like to change, but honestly it feels damn solid and smooth. Back end doesnt jurk like it use to, stops a little better also. Still a pleased person. I dont doubt it will help.

 

How is this setup different from original coil-overs Spohn was selling?

I got a little bonus this spring and decided to not wait till prices of metal/labor go up more and bought my entire suspension including the original coil-over kit along with billet aluminum strut mounts.

I also have dropped spindles so I don't have to lower coil-overs too much. Does it make sense to attempt upgrade to this kit? The car is being built for road racing.


btw, Dean, I was hoping you would see this thread and give us your input on this suspension setup.

 

Which rear kit is recommended to run with the pro-tour front?

 

If you have drop spindles, I would stay that route.

WHY? Because when you lower the car, the spindles will help retain the A-arms at the proper geometry for suspension travel swing while maintaining less camber change. It also helps keep the tierod angle better. You will still most likely need a bumpsteer kit to set it perfect, but your sarting position is much more favorable and you can get the tierod angle down low enough. The drop spindles keep the front roll center higher which is good.

To do this with the "new" Spohn kit on an EXTREMELY (note I emphisize extremely) lowered car, you will have to install extended balljoints to correct the A-arm angle. Most lowered car heights on these boards (your typical Eibach pro and sport kit drops) the A-arm angle is fine and will not need to be corrected, only the bumpsteer angle of the tierods.

 

What do you think needs changing?

 

the front mount/cross member needs more work still. They have changed it thru the production, but it still needs changed. On my 5sp the top horizontal bolt is VERY close to hitting my trans. Have thought about grinding the head down some.

Part way down the tunnel, the arm rubs a bolt that holds the gas lines. I removed the bolt and no side affects yet.

Rear is so low that I had to beat part of the tunnel up so that the axle mount didnt hit the floor at full compression. I have not cut my rear bump stops because of this. Axle measures very center as far as I can tell.

Axle mount has two different bolt patterns, no clue what thats for This somewhat goes with top as if their was a bit less meat on the top(like round the cornor some), it may not hit. But for this dual bolt pattern, it needs to be there.

Bolts that hold the axle mount to the axle, which are stock, need to be about 1" longer. Maybe include new ones, or make it an option to buy.


Overall, it performs well and I still recommend it.

 

With the new spoon kit,

What amount of backspacing can be run on a 17 x 9.5 wheel with 275 40 17 tires?

On my current set up the strut is already close to the tire with the 5.5 backspacing.

I seem to rember that the the strut mounting bracket the sheet metal welded to the strut to mount it to the spindle has a flange on it that sits inside my wheel now.

I am concerned that the tire may touch the spring with the coil over.

Any comments appreciated.

 

1. If it isn't hitting the trans don't worry about it. You should see some of the clearances in a engine

2: It depends on the car. My IROC I didn't have to bother with it, but yet, on a friends Formula and 86 IROC with the iron rear disc's I had to..

3: If you already lowered your ca that is why it is hitting the floor. remember, these parts were designed arround a stock car not a modded one. Once you change something on the car that will affect another part, that is on you to make it work .

4: Dunno what ya mean about rounding a part of the bracket.. The dual patteren is for 10/12 bolts and the other one is for a 9" rear.

5: yes I beleive Steve has a link at the bottom of the pages for the longer bolts. FYI I'm using the stock ones without the washer. Been working fine for 15,000 miles now.

Kat

 

So I should beable to grind it down with no problems?

However, even on a stock car at full suspension compression, I would see how this would still hit the tunnel. I havent cut the bump stops. So even a stock car/suspension could still be in the same position mines in. Mine would just be their more often.

I also mentioned the car being lowered, because I know raif is lowered

 

Jay(Dale),
I just let mine run its course. I could see back when I installed the TQarm that is was going to make contact with the chassis sheetmetal. This is a much heavier duty Tqarm than the stock and there technically isn't very much room up there for anything but the stocker. I just installled it and let it run its course in hammering away at the sheetmetal rather than trying to beat the chassis with a hammer.

There is nothing up on the topside to worry about. I figured it was either 1)let it hit on its own (I lowered my Shock adjustments as much as possible and let the suspension travel fly), 2) take a BFH too it and dent it in places maybe not needed and look like a dent, or 3) cut out that section and place it on an english wheel to shape it for more room and weld it back in.

I of course just opted for the #1 route and lte the TQarm stretch the chassis sheetmetal on its own shaping it as to what was needed. Its fine and with the shocks turned back up it does not hit anymore.

Dean

 

Yea, thats about where mines hitting.

I pulled the springs out, jacked the suspension up, marked with a paint stick where it touched. Lowered it all the way down and took a bfh to it. It appeared that above it is the underside of the rear seat area. No biggie.

It still hits just ever so slightly. I think if I was to get stiffer shocks and/or springs, it wouldnt be such a big deal. But next time I'm in that area, I'm going to grind a bit on the top mount.

 

Thanks for the info Dale and Dean. Yes Raif is lowered and will be lowered further by the time it is all said and done! Just want to get as much info ahaed of time so I can plan! See now I know to contact Steve about the longer bolts!