Before everyone starts referring me to the stickies and flaming me, I read the entire sticky on lowering. It looked like people got the most help if they gave a brief idea of what they wanted to do with their cars and a budget. So from my (limited) knowledge and research, I came up with this: I want a moderate drop for appearance purposes, but my main goal is increased performance and handling. I'd like to take it to a track, but it would be primarily for street use for now. I don’t care about ride quality as much as I do performance. So I want a good base to work up from and the most initial bang for my buck. My main concern is adverse effects from simply dropping in springs. I don’t want to alter anything that would needlessly wear on the life of the car. I don’t want stress or damage or to leave out anything critical. That being said I came up with this parts list:

- Tokico adj. shocks/struts
- Steeda Sport Springs (small, 1’’ drop)
- Adj. Panhard bar, most likely BMR
- Panhard bar brace, likely steeda
- Camber bolts
~Total Cost of Parts, $960 shipped.

Now my questions are mainly about the last two items. How needed is the panhard bar brace; at only $90 it doesn’t seem like much. But will it really make or break the set-up? Can that part be swapped in later without much harm in the mean time? Also, the use of camber bolts versus the use of CC plates. They are much more expensive (+$200) and don’t seem to really deliver larger advantages over the bolts. What are your thoughts and recommendations?

I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t making any huge mistakes before I take a nearly $1000 plunge on parts. Also, I've read TacoBill's write-up on installing springs. If I were going to install tokico d-specs, the process would be pretty much identical just swapping the shocks and struts for the stock ones, right?

Thanks.

 

The brace will neither make or break your set up. I wager you put 10 enthusiastic drivers in a car with an aftermarket brace and then in a car with the stock brace and maybe 1 of the drivers could tell any difference at all. Its a cheap part so...why not? But is it needed - for the vast majority of drivers - No. It can be swapped in at any time.

Regards bolts vs plates - I have plates. I got them for 3 reasons: 1) replace the crappy stock upper strut mounts before they start thunking; 2) I've read again and again how bolts can slip in extreme conditions (don't want that); 3) lots of adjustment and its easy to do. You can do it in the paddock at the track.

 

hey argonaut, thanks for the input. that seems to be the general consensus i was getting. However, do you think that the set up is solid? My main concern is what I was saying about making sure there would be no longer term adverse affects on the suspension or driveline with this setup?

 

Wow those are very similar to what I put on a couple months ago.
The camber bolts have enough adjustment for those springs. But if you have strut mount problems already, then replace them instead.

On thing I dont see: LCAs. FWIW, with the dspecs and steeda springs, I didnt have to adjust the pinion angle, although, that's with using lca relocation brackets, too.

And by track, to you mean drag strip or road course?

 

Both if i could. I know making compromises will make the car not the best at either setting, but my impression was that with the d-specs they gave you a decent amount of adjustability that you could just change for either setting. I also have the CHE anti-squat brackets and LCAs, I just haven't installed them yet. How do you like your setup zstang?

 

The PHB brace is about the last thing I'd change. I doubt that anybody would be able to tell the difference between stock and aftermarket pieces in blind back to back testing. And for $90 if I thought I was going to put the OE brace at risk of buckling I'd first re-evaluate my driving with respect to sliding sideways into things like curbs. At most I'd just box the OE brace with about $5 worth of 1/8" steel strip and repaint it.

As far as camber bolts/plates are concerned, make sure you even need them first. And decide on an initial camber setting. If your current camber is minimal due to production tolerances (say -0.5° or closer to zero) a 1" drop may actually put your camber closer to where you want it to be for better cornering/handling. If you will need or want camber correction because your camber is already a fair amount negative, plates are the better approach, so put the $90 you'd save by not buying a PHB brace toward the plates instead.


Norm

 

I put in the roush stage 2 kit in around a few weeks ago and I didn't even need the camber bolts/plates. Everything was dead on after alignment and I have no issues.

However I did put on a panhard (the same one you wanted) as a "just in case". Even roush said it wasn't even needed and mine is a 1" drop as well.

 

If your LCAs are the kind where a threaded rod is screwed into and/or welded to the bushing shells I'd keep a close eye on the shells near where the rods connect. Another member here has experienced at least one shell failure recently.


Norm

 

smoothJ, did you take any camber measurments on your car? if the drop induces a small amount of camber that actually improves handling doesn't it? but i heard it also increases the risk for hydoplaning on wet surfaces.

norm, do you have a link to that? i haven't read anything about that but its obviously a little worrying. was it an installation error or a complete failure of the part? do you have a link? Here's where I got them from, http://www.brenspeed.com/05-08-musta...trol-arms.html i heard these guys were really solid in what they carry. maybe not?

 

I didn't sorry, and I'm not sure of the risks. All I know is that my car handles like on rails