Best "bang" for my buck suspension wise

[CrazyAl]

Glad to hear it worked out for you! You will love the D-specs when you get them on there. The ride quality difference is huge!

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[ponyman]

CrazyAl,

I have a question on the adj. pan hard from BMR. Do you recommend the one with the poly bushings, or the rod ends??? Is there going to be a whole lot of NVH increase between the poly and the rod ends? Does the poly bushings have the same binding situations for the panhard that can occur with the LCA's???

Thanks

[CrazyAl]

With the panhard bar there is not a binding concern. The choice between poly or rod-end comes down strictly to stiffness. With that said, I think the poly-poly bar is perfectly acceptable. I would not run the double-rod-end bar on a street car as the noise increase is significant.

Personally, I think the best option for the Panhard is one from Spohn. They make a "combo" type with one poly bushing and one rod end. This is stiffer than the poly-poly, and it stillhas very nice noise blocking becasue of the one poly bushing. BMR doesn't make a combo bar like this.

[steelcomp]

I'm running the combo LCA's and panhard, and although not unbearable, the NVH increase was moderate. Alsao running the BMR UCA w/ the spherical bearing and teh poly bushing in the rear hsg, and the adjustable BMR UCA mount. This is where the majority of the noise comes from. Trans and diff gear whine are much more noticable, and also on-and off the throttle ring and pinion backlash "clunk". It's quiet when the rear end is cold, but almost impossible to shift without hearing it when things warm up. I also had a problem with the UCA...the spirolock that holds the spherical bearing in place was improperly installed. I had a terrible clunk that I identified in the UCA, and when I took it back apart, the bearing had pushed the spirolock most of the way out of the groove, and was rattling around in the bore. I had to completely disassemble, and re-install the bearing and spirolock. I wasn't real happy about this...the spirolock was disformed, and I had to straighten it out...hopefully it stays put untill I get a new one, along with a replacement bearing.
Note:
The stock hardware on the mustang LCA and UCA mounting pointsand panhard mounting points is metric, but the bushings are SAE. (even on the stock parts) There is way too much slop with the factory bolts, and they are depending on the clamping force to keep things from moving. I replaced, (and recommend doing so) all the mounting hardware with SAE 9/16" grade 5 bolts and nyloks, course or fine thread,dosen't matter.This is in eight different places. The LCA mounting points- front and rear, the two UCA mounting points, and the two panhard mounting points. The holes in the chassis are also SAE, and there's no drilling or mods needed in any way.

[CrazyAl]

You may want to check your pinion angle. That "clunk" type sound when shifting is often the result of the pinion angle being out of whack.

Also, if you are running the OEM 2-pc driveshaft it does have a lot of slop in it. Switching to a 1-pc will remove that and gain you some power to the ground at the same time.

[steelcomp]

Thanks Al...pinion angle is correct. There are a lot of "noises" that come from this car over hard bumps and through driveways. A one piece driveshaft is on the list for sure.

Just a note about BMR. I called them yesterday about the UCA and without hesitation, they offered to send me a new bearing and spirolock, 2 day express. No charge. Really nice people to deal with.

[redxls]

as stated earlier by many others, there is alot of great info on the site. I have any interesting dilemma. I have acess to ford, roush and steeda parts at dealer cost. so with that said which parts exactly would you guys get. I figure at those prices I probably cannot put together anything cheaper. dealer cost is not free by any means but it is still a savings. suspension guru's help.

[caneboy]

Well after many e-mails to Crazy Al i have ordered all my suspension parts. BMR - Adj. LCA (street), UCA, relocation brackets, heavy duty UCA mounting bracket, rear sway bar - cost right around $900. StangSuspension - Tokio D-Spec shocks - cost $530. Stage3motorsports - Roush rear lowering springs - cost $125. Spohn - Adj. combo panhard bar, UCA bushing. Brenspeed - Panhard bar support bar - cost $110 (BMR was out of stock on this part and would have taken 3 weeks to make one). Total is around $1,800......i hope to have all the parts by the middle of next week and get them put on soon after that.

[CrazyAl]

ORIGINAL: redxls
as stated earlier by many others, there is alot of great info on the site. I have any interesting dilemma. I have acess to ford, roush and steeda parts at dealer cost. so with that said which parts exactly would you guys get. I figure at those prices I probably cannot put together anything cheaper. dealer cost is not free by any means but it is still a savings. suspension guru's help.

I suppose it comes down to what the actual prices are, and what you want out of the car.

I am pretty anal about my part choices. If "brand A" is better than "brand B", but brand B is cheaper, then the price difference would have to be pretty big in order for me to choose B over A....but that's just my personal opinion. I would happily buy a $200 panhard bar over a $100 panhard bar if the $200 one is a better product.

Mind you, a lot of the Steeda, Roush, etc, parts are good, it's just that if you want the best setup you have to mix and match. For example, Steeda's springs, rear sway bar, and LCA relocation brackets are very good. I wouldn't hesitate to use those--and it's especially good for you if you can get 'em at cost. But I would NOT use their LCAs, panhard brace, or strut tower brace, becasue other companies make better ones (often times for less money, as steeda is pretty expensive most of the time).

[pete97GT]

poor college student with an 06 mustang gt?? haha