vsop

The propriatary ones are designed to work with a high end unit. D-specs are really just a mid level unit. Bilstiens are OK, but for high end use they need to be revalved for a more aggressive setup.

Koni adjustable are pretty much top of the line, KYB are good and I have heard good thingsabout the tein setups on other cars, have not tried out the stang setup yet as $1900 is a bit more then I'm wanting to spend

F1Fan

Hi vsop,

I only mention Tokico's D-Specstruts and dampers because I assumedthe OP was interested in a street oriented adjustable camber setup with decent dampers. IMO, for the money there is not another adjustable gas pressure strut and dampersetup availablewith decent performance at anywhere near this price point. The next best think is KW's v3 double adjustable coilover setup because it still retains the stock design chassis attachment system. As to Bilstien, theyare only offering the HDline dampersandare not planningto offer a sport version productwhichwould provide the shorter piston rods andfirmer damping rates we need. Even if you revalved the Bilstien HD's theycouldstill have issues on loweredS197s because they are still using full lengthrods.

All of the propriatary struts with dedicated camber plates I've seenare not verystreet friendly parts due to NVH issues and cost. If you want to build a race car where NVH, 100,000 mile reliability and cost areless important than performance and ability to adjust damping traitsthere are much better struts/coil over and rear dampers available. Personally I like Koni racing dampers but in the racing world Konis are mid-packat best. Ohlin, Penske etc. all offer stock damper bodies or will build to spec and these aremuch better dampesthan Konisin my experience. This is from a road racing perspective, off road and drag racing damper rquirmentsare very differnt animals.

HTH

jayel579

I accually planned on going with Bilsteins on my car. Ive had them on other cars of mine and absolutly loved the performance they provided. I was at a car show over the summer and talked to a rep from Bilstein. From what he told me, at that point of development, they were working on stuff for these new mustangs. Ive been hoping for a PSS-9 setup from them. I have been on the phone with Bilstein to get some kind of answer as to where they are or if they are going to develop a system like that.

Koni's I know are very compariable to Bilstein. Penske or Ohlin are just way to hard core for what I want and exspensive.

With the more I read on here, I am slowly changing my mind to the Tokico D-specs instead. I read nothing but great stuff about them. My concern is the "D-spec" being drift spec. No offense to anyone that is into it, but this whole new "sport drifting" thing I find dumb and nothing to do with racing at all. But the adjustablility of these shock/struts is very intrguing.

Of course all of this is all off subject, all I am looking for is a set of camber plates. We all know the benefits they provide, hence why I would like to have them in my car. Alot of events I can compete in are driving distance away from where I live. Being able to change the car from street setup to race setup and back would be great.

And now Im waiting for a mod to shoot this down and move it to the "handling" catagory.

F1Fan

Hi jayel,

The Bilstiens currently offered are NOT performancetuned damping rates! For the street performance line you need to look at the Bilstien Sport line of dampers. Go to Bilstein's website, they used to explain what the differences are between the different lines such as HD, Sport etc.

Penske and Ohlins are professional race dapmers and way too muchfor a street car. Too expensive, too narrow range of operation and too much to maintain on the street not to mention the fact that they generally use solid ends to improve performance but rattle your teeth out of your head.

Tokico's designation ofthe D-Spec line stands for "damping specific" or bump and rebound dampening ratiosengineered for the specific vehiclewith a range of adjustability wide enoughto work for most any motorsports application. The D-Specs may not do every thing perfectly but they can be adjusted and sucessfullyused for most motorsports with a productionbased streetcar. Like I said, for the money there is not a single competetor to the D-Specs flexibilityon the market even at twice the price.

HTH

jayel579

HTH, Thank you for correcting me on that. Ive always thought that D-spec meant drift. You are warming my heart tword the Tokicos BTW.

PonyGT2005

F1Fan, hmmm...not sure about anything new wrt camber adjustmentfrom Steeda for the S197 - is this recent release a strut tower mounted mechanism? I am using the camber plates that have been out for over a year - I would have liked a camber/caster type strut tower plate like they have forSN95s.

jayel, in order to put the camber shims in (the little plates that adjust the camber) you will need to elongate the bolt hole in the D-spec strut...not a big deal at all but its something you need to take slow.
You might want to test the shims through the entire range before you mount the strut into the car...put '0' in and bolt up and make sure it sits good, then put something likea -1.5 in and do the same...my '0' shim took a bit of work to get so I rounded out the hole in the strut a 'tad' more and it works nice.

As for the D-Specs, I love them too!....the adjustability is great and makes for a nice complete "system".

dkegel

Is this really feasable? The reason I ask is becausetypically changing the camber also affects the toe. So in most cases you can't just crank in more camber at the track because the toe will be way off. Does camber not affect toe on the Mustang?

Dave Kegel

RodeoFlyer

I just had camber/caster plates put on my car. They are from a company called K-Mac. They are out of Australia. My sponsor sells them. Check WildPonyMotorsports.com

F1Fan

Hi PonyGT2005,

Yup, pretty new part. This is a strut tower mounted strut precision bearing/camber plate systemintended for street use (no additional NVH!),but it lacks caster angle adjustment.Steeda's billet camber plates require grinding out the strut ears which is not necessary, cost a lot of money and take some effort to make work. Camber bolts do not have the same adjustment range but are easy to install and low cost.

HTH

F1Fan

Hi Dave,

As I've posted elsewhere to get this to work youneed to work out a compromise toe setting using a bumpsteer kit. This may or may not bepractical for everybody depending onyour prefered static alignment specsat normal ride height,chassis roll, tire grip etc. I have not yet plotted toevs. camberon my car but I feel pretty certain thatI can come up witha useable toe setting at both 0.75 degrees negative and about 2.0 degrees negative camber usingSteeda's bumpsteer kitand plotting different camber settings against toe to find the right setup.If I'm remembering correctly adding camber at the top of the S197 struts may work to our advantage in terms of toe but I don't remember off the top of my head which way it goes with camber gain. It seems to be close enough to work well but I don't really know yet until Iset aside aday tospend out in the garage withmy bumpsteer shims, string and Smartgauge.


HTH