I just purchased Steeda's handling pak and Ultra lite 18" wheels with Kumho MX tires for the next big auto-x race. I race auto-x with a buddy of mine who runs an M3. I am consistently1-2 seconds slower than him and we both are dead even in skill level. I will post my times and his after the race on the 25 NOV. I am in hopes of evening the time difference. Of course he still runs in the stock class and I just pushed myself to the street perpared. So he will kill me in the pax points. Oh well, at least my car will hang with an M3 in the corners.

 

sweet...have to let us know how it changes the handling

 

I am thinking of doing the LCA at the same time. I have been reading that this is almost a must with lowering an 05-06 mustang. I am going to call steeda and find out the real deal from their tech support. I am just wondering if their non-adjustable LCA will do or if I have to go with their street race LCA. It may not even be an issue. Updates to follow. Any thoughts or experience. Take into consideration I autocross this car at least twice a month.

 

Yeah, definately let us know about how much better she handles. It is terrible that you'll have to move up in class though, F Stock is competitive enough as it is (at least where I race). I detune my car and put the stock intake back on when I race, otherwise I get put into E Street Prepared with a crazy 1970 Trans Am and a couple other ridiculous cars with even more ridiculous drivers.

Look into BMR for the LCA's -- our resident suspension guru seems to favor them alot.

 

I'd love to autocross some, never done it. My buddy did some in his old Miata, he had some stuff get messed up..like his gas gauge never worked right after...you ever have any small stuff like that happen with the 05+ stangs?

 

The whole point of changing your LCA when you lower is so that you can adjust your pinion angle, which implies an ADJUSTABLE LCA.

I would avoid the Steeda parts...they are not particularly well made IMHO. Their "tech support" also cannot get their information straight. For example, if you look at their web site, it mentions that they have a Front lower control arm bushing for 05-07 cars. But the reality is that it only fits 05s. I would buy a BMR or Spohn set. Many of our forum sponsors stock them.

These threads may be useful to you:

https://mustangforums.com/m_2230421/tm.htm

https://mustangforums.com/m_1696246/tm.htm

 

UPDATE:

I put on my Steeda Wheels, with Kumho MX tires (275-40-18). This made my car a completly different animal. I am now able to hit my apexs a lot faster and the car turns in much much quicker. It hugs and grips the road like it's on rails. Last night I put on my steeda strut tower, and front and rear sway bar. I drove the car after each installation. The strut had little or no effect that could be felt, but I imagine it will support future mods, so that I tell my self now. The front sway bar went on pretty easy (specially since steeda forgot to pack instructions [:@] ). After I drove it the front dug into corners harder, but the rearend was even more sloppy than stock. I think if I was to race it with just the front sway bar I would have recieved a lot of understeer. I put the front sway bars adjustment closest holes to the front of the car. I think this is the most stiffest adjustment. The rear was really quick and was done in less than an hour. The rear has no adjustments. The driving experience is great now. The car is very flat and turns in almost as soon as I turn my head looking at the next corner. The only beef I have is the noise. I am going to have my mechanic check my work, but every bumb can be heard with a clunk. I think I atribute this to how stiff these parts are to factory, but if someone out there has put on the steeda bars and have recieved no noise please let me know. Saturday/Sunday is the year end big race at SIR in Tucson. Best 3 out of 5 laps. If anyone in the arizona area wants to meet up just email me. I will post the results and the coparison of how I did against the 2006 M3.

Next week I am working with my mechanic and putting on the springs and fabricated tublar LCA, UCA, and panhard. All light weight metal with adjustable hem joints. It is so much cheeper to buy the parts seperate and fabricate yourself than buying the Steeda, BMR, etc... I will keep you all posted.

 

I figured out what was wrong with the swaybar. Apparently in my wisdom of installing parts in the middle of the night I didn't tighten down the bolt on the rod end. OPPS! Good thing I caught this before the race. Today was the first day of the two day race. And for all of you wondering just how well putting swaybars, a strut tower brace, and 18 X 9.5 rims with 220 tread wear sticky street tires does for your GT's handling well listen up. My best lap time was a 57.45, my buddy's M3 ran a 57.48. We did 6 laps each and we both averaged 57's. I even did a 57.2, but that was plus one cone. Even better was the fact that an identical M3 was there and he was running high 57's. I have in my opinion closed the handling gap between the ultra expensive M3 and the coolest car on the face of the earth the Ford Mustang. Next week the springs and control arms go on, I hope that will give me the edge

 

Wow...great stuff. So witht eh tightening of the bolt on the rod end...is the clunking noise you mentioned earlier gone?

 

Yeah that was the noise. Thank god I caught that loose bolt. I would have really screwed my rod end up. Tomarrow is day two, and I expect to drop into the 56 second range now that I have some practice with the car in this set up. These cars handle amazingly well once they are tuned away from the factory friendly mold and given a more performance handling characteristic. I love beating people who spend 50K on a car.