New Tires and Wheels, Question about Leaf Springs

[82firebird]

Day 1 with our Cuda, we knew the tire combination was not going to work. 255/70/15 in the rear with an 8" wide wheel and 215/65/15 in the front on the standard 7" wheel. Some may love this look but I do not. I might have been able to live with it if there wasn't an inch gap between the rim and the beauty ring.

Here is the before:



Tires before, off the car. Bigs and Littles..





I bought new 15X7 Rally wheels and installed 235/60/15's on the front and 255/60/15's on the rear.

After:









I am hoping the rear comes down a bit, not to mention the gas tank is on E. I am wondering if a high lift spring was installed to allow for the monster truck tires. The springs on the car are stamped: 80556PN 1365 and 3412003. Any idea of what this means?

[dfrazz]

Have you adjusted the torsion bars?  They look higher with the new bigger front tires.  T bars are not just for lowering the front.

[brads70]

Have you adjusted the torsion bars?  They look higher with the new bigger front tires.  T bars are not just for lowering the front.

 

[82firebird]

Thanks guys I will look into how to adjust the torsion bars!

[KillerBee]

That leaf spring part number sounds like a Mopar competition spring.
They usually don't settle a whole lot.
 http://www.summitracing.com/oh/parts/dcc-3412003/overview/

IMO the car does sit a little too high both front and rear as I like the top of the tires to be slightly under the body, but ride height is a personal decision.

I went through leaf spring musical chairs with a few trips back and forth to Summit Racing before I found what I wanted.
http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=100088.0

[Chryco Psycho]

Take the weight off the front using a jack , there is a 3/4 " bolt inside the lower control arm  , undo those an equal amount of turns start with maybe 5 full turns to lower the nose of the car

[KillerBee]

Take the weight off the front using a jack , there is a 3/4 " bolt inside the lower control arm  , undo those an equal amount of turns start with maybe 5 full turns to lower the nose of the car

Not sure if you want to drive in our current weather conditions but after you adjust the torsion bars(up or down) you have to drive the car for a few miles before the front end settles to it's final height.

[82firebird]

Thanks for the information guys. I checked the link you sent me and I also noticed Summit makes a "stock height" spring. It sounds like that might be the spring I want. I will put a few miles on the car with things as-is and see if it settles at all and then go from there.

http://www.summitracing.com/oh/parts/dcc-4452985

[dfrazz]

i have found stock height springs tend to make the rear lower than the front, and be careful buying springs from China.  I would not buy springs from anywhere except ESPO because they are USA made. 

http://www.springsnthings.com/

[brads70]

i have found stock height springs tend to make the rear lower than the front, and be careful buying springs from China.  I would not buy springs from anywhere except ESPO because they are USA made. 

http://www.springsnthings.com/

   That's where I got mine when I had steel springs.

[82firebird]

i have found stock height springs tend to make the rear lower than the front, and be careful buying springs from China.  I would not buy springs from anywhere except ESPO because they are USA made. 

http://www.springsnthings.com/

Do you have any pictures of what you mean with the rear lower than the front? I'm going for a stock, level stance. Like this:





In the second picture you can see the stamp on the spring: P4452985

[dfrazz]

Here are a couple of examples.  There are many threads on here with more examples and stories of sagging springs.  I would talk to ESPO and tell them what stance you want.  You could always go +1" just to be safe but that might also raise the rear again.  This also vary's greatly on tire size and your torsion bar settings.

[82firebird]

Thanks for the pictures. Those cars are way too low than what I am going for!

[KillerBee]

Thanks for the pictures. Those cars are way too low than what I am going for!

I don't think you're going to be happy with stock ride height springs.

This is what BRAND NEW stock XHD Mopar Performance leaf springs looked like on my Challenger the day I installed them and many claim they will settle/lower even more.
This was not acceptable, I immediately removed them, (didn't even drive the car) and took them back to Summit Racing.


These XHD springs are the ones that factory HD 440 Six Pack Hemi cars came with.
Remember these are meant for 14" factory wheels and short bias tires and if you look at pictures of these cars when new, they sit very low in the rear(lower in the rear than in the front like stated above)

My rear tires are 275/60-15 and are taller than yours so my rear tires do go up into the quarters more.

After suggestions from Mopar suspension expert DR. Diff I ended up going with lighter Mopar Super Stock springs from an A body(Dusters, Darts, etc.)
This gave my the low, (but not too low) ride height I was after with a softer riding spring that was still a race spring for when I take the car to the dragstrip.

My suggestion to you is to lower the front torsion bars and wait until spring so you can drive it and let everything settle.
I've found that lowering the front ride height a bit actually lowers the rear a small bit.

If those are Super Stock leaf springs on your car you also might NOT be happy with it's stiffer ride.

After driving it for awhile determine if your happy or not, if it's still sitting too high in the rear figure out how much you want to lower it.

If your happy with the ride and only wish to lower the rear an inch or less you can replace the front leaf spring hanger mounts with ones that have 2 mounting holes.(see pic below)
Using the bottom hole will give you stock ride height, using the top hole will lower the car about an inch.


If you think you want new springs I would suggest the ESPO springs (stock height or +1") from Springs and Things over Mopar Performance springs.
I would still get the suggested front spring hangers with the 2 holes so you can fine tune your ride height +/- 1"

I would search here for pictures of Cuda's with the same rear tire height as yours.

Good luck and beautiful 'Cuda...love the color.

[82firebird]

Thanks for yet more great info! These are the hangers I have on the car now.



Just for clarification, are the XHD springs the same as the "stock height" spring? And the SS springs (which I have now) are a bit higher?

Your rear tires are roughly 1.5" taller than mine. I will take your suggestions. Thanks again and I hope we can meet up sometime!