Does anyone sell softer springs for the Expedition?

[jastevenson]

I find the ride in the rear seat of my Expy to be very harsh. My understanding is that the springs rather than the shocks control the harshness (the car does not seem to have an issue with oscillating after hitting bumps, but rather, jolting the car every time a small bump is hit!

My tire pressures are good and I have tall sidewall 17” wheels so that’s not the issue.

Are there any third party manufacturers of softer springs than what comes standard? I don’t tow or even carry heavy loads so I don’t need the stiffness.

Thanks!

 

[wakeboarder]

Do you have the HD tow package?

 

[jastevenson]

No, just a regular XLT without tow.

 

[dlcorbett]

The stiffness actually comes more from the shock than the spring. The spring is actually somewhat soft, it has to be flexible because the springs are also used on the ccd setup. The shocks are tuned firmish to keep the truck planted during emergency moves while carrying heavy loads. It also helps the rebound rates on more road surfaces. The springs are soft to help minimize harshness. However, the coil over shock design negates this mostly. Ford used this design to make make it easier to hit their ride targets, but they tune it very direct for a family car. They do the same for most all theyre trucks and suvs. Their cars usually handle well but feel busy over bumps and imperfections for this reason. I always felt the trucks suspension handled bumps better as a unit then each wheel individually. Why they didnt tune the trucks without the tow pkg a bit softer is beyond me, probably for moneys sake.

Your best bet would be to replace your rear shocks and springs with the setup for the 2018 - 2019 base lincoln navigator(premier trim). However, even the setup for the model i read was a bit stiff for a luxury truck. Try before you buy. If that doesnt work, you may wanna look at a gm with the base setup or something smaller. Ride is subjective, but even at its stiffest, i felt the ride in the expy was better than the others but the base suspended gms(magneride suspension is trash to me, its way too harsh).

 

[Calidad]

What tires do you have? These full sized SUVs are basically giant Lazy boy chairs on the road. Outside of going to a Big floaty American Sedan there isn’t really anything that rides as boat like as the big full sized SUVs.

 

[duneslider]

Just curious but what tire pressure you running? Going too high on pressure makes it ride like trash. Also, what tires do you have? If you have 17" wheels those aren't stock, do you have load range E tires? Going to a P rated tire will be softer.

 

[dlcorbett]

34-36 was the sweet spot on my 20s for the most part. But seeing as you put on smaller wheels to ease the ride, in thinking it may be the ride on yours. Do you go test drive another expy yet? That way you can see if its your car or just the car. Try a model like yours origonally and ones with the 20s and ccd.

 

[Soliyou]

I am interested too. I find the ride very tiring after couple of hours on the highway. Seats are hard and the suspension is stiff. Even my kids think the old minivan is more comfortable for road trips.

Also I am afraid this harshness will lead to crazy interior rattles within a year or two.

Is there any Model specific air suspension kit for the expy??

 

[bushpilot]

man our ccd/limited/max/HD tow is too SOFT (in eco mode)!

 

[Deadman]

I'm BETTING your rear shocks are blown and leaked all their oil out. Its a very common issue on the lower trim models.
Get under the car and look for oil on the shocks/struts. Many of them are being replaced after just 10,000 miles because they puke their oil out. They were on national backorder because of this at one point!
Check yours!

 

[jastevenson]

Thanks for the input thus far!

I checked my shocks and didn’t see any fluid leaking. Although I suppose it’s possible that they leaked before I bought it and they are now “dry” so I can’t tell. I had really hoped it was this since so many others had the issue. I also took it to dealer and they said no leak, but my Ford dealer is the shadiest dealer I have ever been to and I can’t say I trust them (they have a 1 star rating for a reason).

The ride was bad on the 20s it came with so I switched them out for 17s to improve the ride. I’m at 35 psi on 3” smaller wheels and while the ride is slightly better, it is still extremely harsh in the back.

I know I’m not crazy since my last car was a Tahoe on 18s and I had no complaints with the ride. Everyone says the Expy rides better (as it should due to independent rear suspension, unlike Tahoe, and now I’m running smaller wheels too).

My next step is to try taking it to another dealership and ask them to look. But my current dealer said that if they look and find no issue, they will charge me $170, which is BS since I frankly doubt they even looked.

 

[Soliyou]

I am in the same boat. My front shocks failed the rear ones are still good. But the ride is very stiff compared to the Tahoes. I am not bashing Ford as it seems that this is the general direction of the industry to make everything sporty and bust our kidneys.

I think our only current solution is Icon suspension upgrade, but I can’t justify the $4,000 for the kit. I am also not sure if it will be actually softer than OEM suspension in its lowest setting. I would love to try them!

 

[Deadman]

Go test drive a brand new one with your same package. You will quickly know if your shocks are worse than the new one...

 

[wakeboarder]

My post below is from the blown shock thread. Not only was my shock leaking, it only had about half of the travel. I’m planning to take it with me on my next service visit and have the advisor note it. I hate to think of the additional stress put on the suspension components. Something similar could be going on with yours.

My advice would be not to delay getting the shock replaced after they start leaking. One of my front shocks only had 1.5 inches of travel when I pulled it off. The other had about 3.5 inches. This was probably causing extra strain on the suspension components when the shock bottomed out.

 

[Soliyou]

Go test drive a brand new one with your same package. You will quickly know if your shocks are worse than the new one...

I can try this next service..