Stoenr

I did the rears only because I thought only the rear needed adjustment. I was tired of looking at the wheel well gap, and the bouncy rear end on power shifts, and hard accels.
I do plan on a chin spoiler and thats another reason for not lowering front. And I didnt want to sacrafice the nice ride she has stock.
If I was unhappy I could either remove them, (15 minute job) and sell on ebay. Or order the fronts. But thats more work and money than rears.

Murphyd311

I did H&R's all the way around, just springs. It took about 3-3 1/2 hours but if I had to do it again I could in like 1. The rears were extremely easy. Unless you know mustangs you can't really tell it's been lowered. But it no longer looks like it's on stilts and got rid of a lot of body roll.

EDIT: Posted this pic for People who want to see what they look like... I'll get better pics later...

[IMG]local://upfiles/12823/5D63E809EBBF48B39472428743715D31.jpg[/IMG]

LHANGLEY

I just bought Tein S type lowering Springs and was wondering if I need to do anthing with Roller Rockers or Panhard bar also ?

smedin

Just finished my Steeda Spring install. The install went very smoothly, did it myself. I have an air ratchet, must have saved me at least 90 minutes. I haven't replaced the stock dampers yet. Took it for a quick ride, it is not much stiffer under normal, bad-road conditions (I'm in the Twin Cities, and the weather has been hovering around freezing, good for making nasty potholes...) Have not taken it to the Freeway yet, hopefully it won't hop too bad on the expansion joints. Have not checked the rear axle alignment yet, but there is nothing obviously misaligned when eyeballing.

Anyways, I Highly Recommend the Steedas for those on a budget. You could easily get by without new dampers or sways. I probably should get the adjustable panhard...

The car looks "right" now. I am pleased.

Sorry for the crappy pics. More to come once it's light out...
[IMG]local://upfiles/25430/FE18AFB1CEAB4CF9A709E4FCBFFD456D.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/25430/3B2B4CBCF2034A2C80CB6A9C5992B391.jpg[/IMG]

Dan04COBRA

Excellent pictures and information in this thread. Keep it coming!

smedin

A few days after the Steeda Spring install, I measured my rear axle, and if I moved it 1/8" to the right, it would be perfectly aligned. I'm having a hard time convincing myself to spend $120 to accomplish that. However, my front end is a different story. The tops of the wheels are 1/2" further inboard than the bottoms, or about 2 degrees out. Is there any way to correct that without buying any hardware? Loving the stance and the handling, BTW.

Any advice is appreciated! Thanks.

F1Fan

Hi smedlin,

When you tightened the rear shocks at the axle did you do it with the car on the ground? This can make a big difference in ride height and will affect you axle centering measurement.

As far as correcting your camber, 2 degrees negative sounds high given that Steeda's springs don't even lower the car an inch in front. I've got Eibach Pro-Kit springs which with Tokico D-Spec struts which lowered the car about 1.5" and my car has about 2 degrees of negative camber even though I pulled the wheels out to get back as much camber as I could before snuging up the bolts. You should have much less negative camber if you do this.

No luck, you must buy something to fix your camber problem. But there are inexpensive ($20-$40), offset bolts to correct the problem without spending $200 for Steeda's billet camber kit. You have NO IDEA how much better handling your car would be with a set of Tokic's adjustable D-Spec struts and dampers. You are leaving 75% of your car's cornering potential and handling on the table without good adjustable dampers. Adjustability is incredibly important in matching your spring rates to your dampening rate. If you buy a set of springs from vendor "A" and struts and shocks from vendor "B" there is almost no chance that they will be optimal for each other. The ability to adjust the dampening to match the spring rate and conditions is really important if you like the feel of a well tuned suspension setup.

HTH

Professor Wizard

Personally... ... ...

I am waiting to see how long it takes before someone installs Hydraulics on a mustang and a Magnesium plate to make sparks in the night on the highway.

I bet someone out there already has an 05/06 Hopping 4 feet into the air!

The Lowered Profile looks really nice. Not all that great if you live in an area with steep driveway or parking lot entrances or high speed bumps. Unfortunately for me that is just the area I live and if I lowered my car I would be constantly replacing the chin spoiler. []

smedin

I tightened the shocks while the car was still up in the air. Should I loosen and retighten them while on the ground? The 1/8" axle shift seems minimal, I didn't think that it was worth worrying about...

The 2 degrees in front is only an estimate, it may be a little less. The Steedas lowered the car more than I expected, I think it's more than an inch, especially in back. I did order camber bolts.

The Steedas spring rate is not that much different than stock, the ride is actually quite nice. Even Steeda admits that the stock shocks are aggessive enough to deal with their springs. That said, I probably will get shocks eventually.

Overall, I am digging the change. And I am digging this thread. Thanks for all the advice, keep it coming.

F1Fan

Hi smedin,

Based on the images you posted I'd say you need to loosen and retorque the lower shock bolts to release the bushing preload. Yes, you should raise the car and loosen the bottom shock bolts so they are free enough to let the shocks move freely. Then lower the car and give it a several big bounces to release any stiction in the suspension, then get you air wrench or socket wrench on the lower bolts and retorque. If you tightened the lower shock bolts with the car in the air and the axle at full droop and don't redo the lower shock bolts you'll have left some preload on the lower shock bushings forcing the car's rear end up and making the bushing bind in their normal level position. Once you redo the lower shock bolts carefully re-measure on a level poured slab or level shop floor using fishing line and a plumb bob to take your measurements, take your time. It's very unlikely that the axle is only shifted left 1/8" if your car is straight and you are measuring correctly (after the lower bolt redo), on a flat level surface. Check the floor with a 6 foot level or use a leveled computer alignment rack to take your measurements (this is how I centered my own axle), or a muffler shop drive on lift. The car needs to be settled and a few miles on the new springs to set them on their seats, also have at least a half tank of gas when you do this measurement and adjustment. I think you'll find that the shift is larger than you found the first time. If you hope to get larger, wider wheels and tires an 1/8" can make the difference between tire or fender damage and a perfect fit.

All of the current Steeda catalog springs lower the '05 GT's about the same amount, about 1" in front and about 1.2" at the rear of the chassis. Trust me, it just seems like more drop than they say. If you measured before and after you would see that you did not get the car all the way down on the springs, you still have more to go. Did you buy Steeda Sport springs or Steeda's Competition springs? Steeda's Sport springs are not as high a rate spring as the Steeda Competition springs or Eibach's or H&R's Sport spring kits do. If you got Steeda Sport springs you may be able to get away with the stock struts and rear dampers until they loosen up at 8-10K, then they will start too feel too soft and the car will oscillate or bounce too much on the highway and in the turns where you are working the springs more.

Steeda's Competition springs are too stiff for the stock GT valve rates and you will be pogoing down the road just like Eibach's and H&R's Sport springs do on the stock GT struts and rear shocks. I had the Eibach Sport-Kit springs on my car for a few months when it was brand new and the shocks were O.K. but the valving was off, too much compression dampening and not enough rebound dampening. But after a couple of thousand miles the dampers softened up and the car was all over the place when I pushed the car at all. This is on top of the rear wheel-hop problem that arose once the stock shocks had broken-in when launching hard from a dig. Trust me on this, if you DRIVE the car you will need the adjustable struts and rear dampers. The Tokico Spec-D struts and dampers are only $600 for all four corners and the difference is truly amazing. If the guy you talked to a Steeda said that the stock struts and dampers are stiff enough as is, he has NOT driven a new GT with broken in stock struts and dampers sitting on sport springs. The other possibility is that he needed the sale and felt you were not going to pony up for the Tokico's up front. If you get the Tokico Spec-D's and are located in SoCal come on over to my house and I'll help you install them. I have shop air in my garage and a special fridge in the garage full of beer. It only takes an hour or two depending on how much bench racing we do while installing the dampers.

Cheers