Lowering your 05/06 Mustang GT

[F1Fan]

Hi pcfrisch, Hmmm, keeping your stock OE springs is an option but this makes for less cornering performance and a slower responding car. The trade off of course is that you will have plenty of ground clearance for driving in the snow and on dirt roads 8^) Here is what I recommend for a stock spring S197 chassis to improve handling performance and grip. Tokico D-Spec struts and dampers, much improved ride and better control, adjustable to suit road and/or type of track and conditions Eibach adjustable camber bolt kit, allows setting increased negative camber for much better corning grip under cornering load Steeda front anti-roll bar, decreased body roll for less camber loss and improved tire contact patch, adjustable to alter F/R handling balance Steeda rear anti-roll bar, decreased body roll for less camber loss and improved tire contact patch Steeda front control arm bushing insert kit, improved steering response and handling feel Steeda or BMR fixed lenght tubular lower control arms w/poly bushings on both ends, reduces wheel hop, improved axle location Steeda or BMR adjustable upper control arm w/poly bushing, reduces wheel hop, improved axle location, adjusts pinion angle Larger 18"X9" wheels of your choice with 255/45X18 dry performance tires Precision thrust alignment, you'll need ths once you install the new struts and camber bolts, ideally set camber -1 to -1.5 degrees camber and 1/16the toe out loaded This setup will get you most the performance of a lowered car but without the advantages of a lower CG and increased spring rates (which greatly decrease brake dive, rear-end squat and body roll). You don't need to bother with the front or rear control arm relocation work because you are keeping the stock ride height so the control arms retain the stock geometry relationships which is very good to start with. If this is a car that will go to the drag strip running DOT slicks or drag slicks very often you may want to consider the BMR LCA brackets to improve your car's launch grip. You also probably don't need or want adjustable lower control arms either as you can set your pinion angle using the adjustable UCA. I hope this helps! Got anything else? Just ask! Cheers ORIGINAL: pcfrisch Hi F1Fan, Could I get away with superior handling if I don't lower the car and just add the components you mentioned earlier to the stock springs? Thanks!

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[W1ldcat]

From what I'm reading, If you want a better handling car it's almost an all or nothing deal. Something to save up for and not do a step at a time. Is my thinking correct?

[F1Fan]

Hi w1ldcat,

Oh no! Just do it in little steps that can be grouped together based on function and installation. For example if you are going to install springs and eventualy install shocks just do them both at the same time to same installation costs. The labor on installation for the front struts and rear dampers should be about $180-$240, the cost of a good set of sport springs is only about $220 so if you install springs $220+$200 to install them you are spending $420 JUST for springs. Then say you decide to install a set of D-Specs that wil be about $530+$200 to install them totaling about $730 so doing them seperately comes to $1,150 OR if you do them both at the same time only $950 saving you at least $200 or about the cost of the springs! If you wanted to install a set of adjustable camber bolts you could be into it for $30 and $90 for labor for a total of $120. But if you install them during the strut and spring instalation it cost you $0!

The best order of installation will depend on what you are going to install and what your ultimate handling goals are and how quickly you want to get there. A lo of people like to install it all at once and get it ALL and then make minir adjustments to the setup and alignment to find what works or them. Others like to do it a bit at a time and see how stuff works nd stop at some point once they are happy. Others still like to do it one item at a time to stay interested and have some thing to lok forward to for their car. Like I said, it really depends on what you ultimately want in your car and what level of experience you have and your expectations of performance. A lot of people think the new S197 Mustangs ride too hard and handle perfectly well already while others think they are soft and need help. It all depends on where you are coming from and what you expect your car to be able to do and what gives you the most pleasure. The usage of your car makes a huge difference also, daily driver, garage queen o something in between?

It's what you need the car to do and where you want to go that counts. If you look at my signature you can see my car is pretty much a hard core street car that is track capable. Ride issues for me are less of an issue for me but I hate road and suspension noises. Ive learned the hard way (yes, more than once, several times actually), that rod ends and spherical terminations while fantastic on the track should stay only on the track. Other folks are even crazy enough to go all spherical ends and full double adjustable damper coilovers supposedly on the street and in daily drivers. Trust me, while they are sporting sexy hardware they are HATING the drive to and from the track.

So the question is where do YOU want to go? Get back to us here and let us help you!


Cheers

ORIGINAL: W1ldcat

From what I'm reading, If you want a better handling car it's almost an all or nothing deal. Something to save up for and not do a step at a time. Is my thinking correct?

[W1ldcat]

Great reply,
I want to go in steps because of money and mostly because I like looking forward to the next step and the shoping and research that goes along. I want to know exactly the hows and why certin items perform well.
Springs and struts/shocks are a must. I don't want to lose the ride for when my wife and I do the Sunday cruise so the adjustable Tokico's are a given. I don't want to lower the car enough to scrape or worry about it. I have to stay with my 18in 235 tires till I wear them out (cost). My friend told me for what I want to just lower it in the back a little and put a front sway bar on and I would be happy. He just put a new sway bar on and it did make a diffrence.
I will probably will never go to a track, but like the idea I could.
Thanks,
Joel / W1ldcat

[F1Fan]

Hi joel,

For your use I'd recommend the basic core stuff plus the geometry correcting items if you have smooth roads in your area. The thing is that there are a couple of ways to approach putting together a nice driving and riding street car, softer lowering springs with big anti-roll bars or stiffer springs and softer anti-roll bars. Which way is the better choice in strategy depends on how smooth the roads are in the area you drive most and also if you expect to run the car casually (not racing so much as say an HPDE), on a road course.

Here is what I suggest for the best possible ride with smoother roads like I drive on here in sunny SoCal. I'd suggest stiffer springs and a medium lowered ride height. For a first stage I recommend installing a set of Tokico D-Spec adjustable struts and dampers held up by Eibach Pro-Kit sport springs and don't forget the Eibach (or SPC), camber adjusting bolt kit. I also HIGHLY recomend installing at this point a Steeda adjustable Panhard bar and the matching H.D. Panhard bar brace. The reasons are two fold, adjusting the Panhard bar makes the car handle much better and makes for a much more responsive car and your alignment will only needs to be done once instead of twice. Also note that you should probably order a set of new replacement bolts for the anti-roll bar end-links. The original nuts are stretched during assembly at the Ford factory and will not stay tight once removed to install your new D-Spec struts. Buy a bag of 4 pieces as you may need them later if you install anti-roll bars. This setup is probably where 98% of the drivers out there will stop they just can't drive any more car than this.

After you have driven on the above setup for a while maybe even gone to a HPDE you may had the oportunity to push the car hard enough to find it's faults. If you find that you can't live with them and want to refine the chassis feel and balance then read on.

For a next step I suggest installation of the suspension geometry correcting items, Steeda's control arm relocation kit with their control arm bushing insert kit and a G-Trac brace. At the rear of the car in this step install BMR's weld-in lower control arm relocation brackets and and Steeda adjustable upper control arm. These parts will correct your suspension geometry problems caused by lowering the car with the short sport spring kit improving your handling feel and behavior at the limits of grip. The adjustable upper control arm allows you to set the correct pinion angle and greatly reduces wheel hop on high traction surface launches.

With the above setup your car will be amazinly good handling and still have a very good supple ride with minimal noise increase. Clearly you will have some increases in the sharp impact noise but in general the car will be as smooth or smoother than in stock form. Do not underestimate the amount of cornering grip of your stock 17" wheels and tires, the limits are very high and you will be able to probe and ride very close to the edge of these limits very easliy in this car. At this point your small tire car will likely be FASTER around a small road course than a car with larger wheels and tires because you can feel what the car is doing so much better the car will be more predictable and better behaved when pushed and you can drive it with throttle which the fat tired cars simply cannot do.

At this point your car will be very fast but you may not be able to get that "perfect" handling balance you would like by using the usual tire pressure and shock adjustments. Only if you can't get the car to work the way you like to should you go to anti-roll bars and only if you really need to, don't do this lightly. If you do install anti-roll bars I highly recommend Steeda's anti-roll bars and the adjustable street anti-roll bar end-links because they are fully adjustable, very well designed and have good stiff mounting hardware. You can set the balance by adjusting the front anti-roll bar end-link points and/or by changing the rear anti-roll bar out for a larger diameter "race" bar which Steeda offers but does not show in their catalog. But that said I suggest that you try to avoid installing anti-sway bars to keep your ride supple over bumps and help to keep your ride as nice as possible.

There is more obviously that could be done to the chassis but for a street car, especially a street car that is not going to be a race car I can't recomend it. As you get farther down the list your ride and noise levels go up so you need to see what you can deal with handling wise vs the noise, vibration and harshness factor.

Hope this helps!


Cheers

ORIGINAL: W1ldcat

Great reply,
I want to go in steps because of money and mostly because I like looking forward to the next step and the shoping and research that goes along. I want to know exactly the hows and why certin items perform well.
Springs and struts/shocks are a must. I don't want to lose the ride for when my wife and I do the Sunday cruise so the adjustable Tokico's are a given. I don't want to lower the car enough to scrape or worry about it. I have to stay with my 18in 235 tires till I wear them out (cost). My friend told me for what I want to just lower it in the back a little and put a front sway bar on and I would be happy. He just put a new sway bar on and it did make a diffrence.
I will probably will never go to a track, but like the idea I could.
Thanks,
Joel / W1ldcat

[Mister Roper]

Roush springs, Steeda adj panhard bar, Eibach adj camber bolts





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[W1ldcat]

I ordered Roush rear springs only. I saw pics and like that stance. I can always get the fronts if I change my mind. Going to see if I need the panard bar after install. I have the CDC chin spioler on order too and think that makes the front look lower.

[Agleon]

Since i have no knowledge of this . Around how much does it cost to lower a car?

[F1Fan]

Hi Agleon,

Nothing, just get 3 of your biggest friends to pile in your car!

Seriously, what do you mean when you say "lower a car?" do you mean for style and looks? Do you mean to maximize race track performance? Obviously one costs a LOT more to do than the other. Fill us in on what you intend to use your car for and I'll get back to you.


Cheers

ORIGINAL: Agleon

Since i have no knowledge of this . Around how much does it cost to lower a car?

[Agleon]

ORIGINAL: F1Fan


Hi Agleon,

Nothing, just get 3 of your biggest friends to pile in your car!

Seriously, what do you mean when you say "lower a car?" do you mean for style and looks? Do you mean to maximize race track performance? Obviously one costs a LOT more to do than the other. Fill us in on what you intend to use your car for and I'll get back to you.


Cheers

Im going for looks and style, as long as it dosent affect my driving towards the worse.