artdohc

Hey everyone,

I bought a 2011 Mustang GT last month with the Brembo package. While the car is impressive my buddy bought a 2013 BMW M3 this week and while my car does OK against his on a canyon road, the suspension is too soft for my liking.

My first Mustang was a 1992 LX 5.0 with literally every available suspension piece from Maximum Motorsports...it was their car they brought to track events to show off parts. While the handling was awesome, the ride was too aggressive for my tastes.

My last Mustang was a 2007 GT that I installed Steeda Sport Springs, Steeda front and rear anti-rolls bars, Steeda strut tower brace and Steeda adjustable PHB. While the ride was OK I didn't feel the suspension felt right, I think due to lack of shocks/struts.

This time around I'd like to get it right. I have a budget of $1100 and I'm looking for a daily driver setup that offers an improvement in handling with a mild drop, and I DO NOT want to go all out. This is what I'm thinking:

Eibach Pro + Kit (springs, shocks/struts, F&R anti-roll bars) - $880
Ford Racing GT500 strut mount $105
Eibach Camber adjustment bolts $25 (not interested in adjustability, just getting it dialed back to neutral)
J&M Adjustable PHB $110

This puts me at my budget. Is this a good setup for a DD with a bit of corner carving mixed in? Should I add something? I am willing to add $200 to my budget, should I be looking at a PHB brace or a front LCA brace or? Something else?

Thanks in advance.

jayman33

You really don't need Sway bars, one of the last upgrades I would do on the suspension. You could get much better dampers that would improve your suspension much more than the sways or eibach dampers ever could. If you're set on the Eibach springs this is what I would recommend.

Koni yellows
Eibach pro kit
GT500 strutmounts
Freedom racing PHB

you don't need camber bolt, a good alignment shop should be able to get them into spec without.

jpplaw

+1 on the Konis

Norm Peterson

I'd put that money toward Steeda HD strut mounts. Seriously. Especially since spirited driving is clearly in that car's future.


Norm

UPRSharad

I'd choose Koni Yellows over the Eibach dampeners. (I did on my car) I'd also go with UPR LCA, UCA, and PHB because they are beefier than J&M.

Pass on the camber bolts. You need some negative camber for improved front grip. (my front end is at -1.8° with UPR/Eibach pro springs and the front tires are pretty evenly worn)

And good swaybars (Eibach or similar) will make a great improvement in handling.

NOTE- my suggestions are based on mods I'm running on the street and track.

DocSnickers

I would recomend taking a look at Whiteline sway bars, panhard bars. Also highly highly recommend doing Whiteline rear upper and lower control arms. These new Mustangs have a bad wheel hop habit. If your taking a corner and your rear wheels hit something they are going to hop and you can imaging what kind of issue that's going to cause when your driving and all of a sudden your wheels hop a few feet to the right or left.

But I would highly suggest Whiteline over Eibach for sway bars, panhard. Eibach makes great springs but their other equipment is just nowhere near the quality of Whiteline. You will see the difference hoping up a Whiteline sway bar and an Eibach. Eibach's are better than stock but really not by much.

The Whiteline Panhard Bar support brace will help a bit also to go along with a new Panhard bar but that can be added on a lot later. Same goes for shocks and struts, the control arms are really the first thing that needs to be done.

Once you lower you really want to do the camber bolts and panhard bar to get the tires flat. Then I would do the control arms to stop the hop. The control arm relocation brackets would be a good option for the control arms. I am not running them as of yet since I am not pushing any crazy amount of horse power. It is something I plan on installing later.

UrS4

The Brembo cars have a slightly beefier/stiffer suspension from the factory over the regular GT 5.0.

Call me crazy, but what I would do with your budget is this:

Koni streets or yellows
Watts link
Steeda HD strut mounts to dial in -1.5 to -1.8 camber

The Brembo cars have stiffer, shorter springs and bigger sways already.

CMcNam

This would be a killer setup.

tj@steeda

You looking for something like this?


Let me know if we can put the Steeda parts together to get you to your ultimate goal.

Best Regards,

TJ

artdohc

Thanks for the replies so far everyone.

I am resistent to Koni yellows due to their high cost, $800 for shocks and struts is too much for me and I'm not interested in adjustability. $360 for STR.T shocks and struts seems much more reasonable, as does the $420 for Steeda units.

I was always a little bummed by the ride height of my Steeda springs on my 07 GT, the car seemed a bit too tall. I know that's looks and not function, but it is part of the reason I was looking at Eibach. I want the suspension lowered, so not buying springs is not an option.

I enjoyed the Steeda video (I've seen it before), the concern I have with the Stage 2 is the cost as the kit has components I'm not sure I need (does the stock Ford strut tower brace not work well on our cars?) while missing parts I want (strut mounts & PHB). To go buy those parts separate would cost $220 more. If the stage 2 suspension from Steeda didn't come with the strut tower brace (assuming the stock one works fine) that $180 savings would almost make up for the additional parts cost.

My BIGGEST concern is purchasing stocks/struts that aren't matched to the springs. I'm concerned that buying Koni or Steeda stocks/struts and Eibach springs isn't the smart approach since they weren't designed to work together. I've owned Bilstein shocks/struts with H&R springs and it took buying two different sets of springs and mis-matching them to get my 92 LX to feel right...I don't want to go through that again.

I'm still undecided on my approach, but my new 19" black SVE Drift wheels showed up yesterday which means I need to get cracking on a suspension solution.

What I'm hearing so far is:

Eibach springs are OK, as are their anti-roll bars, but the shocks/struts are suspect.

Koni makes great stuff.

Upper and Lower rear control arms are something I might want to consider.

Steeda makes good stuff.