hello, i have a 2010 mustang gt and am looking to do some suspension work within the next few weeks...i live in south florida, so a few weeks ago, i took a ride down to steeda to check the place out and gauge interest in getting some suspension work done...long story short, i sat down with someone and i was pretty much only looking to lower the car with some steeda sport springs, and leave it at that for now...the guy recommended a whole list of components that he advised i should get in order to properly lower the car..such as adj. panhard bar, caster/camber plates, upper strut mounts, and so on...now, i really dont intend on ever road racing the car, a few trips to the drag strip once in a while, but ultimately im just looking to eliminate the wheel gap while slightly improving handling...however, i do want the car lowered properly, as i do not want to deal with popping sounds, inner tire wear, ect. so basically, what do i need in order to lower the car properly(the basics)...because if i truly need all the components he suggested, then the total easily comes out to over $1500, in which case, i might as well just go with coilovers...im not a suspension guru, although i dont like to skimp out and go the cheap route when it comes to modding, although with the economy these days i would rather not bust my bank account on car parts, especially unnecessary parts. just looking for some advice. thanks.

 

The basics are springs and dampers. Although you can do springs only...read the posts of those who have and regretted it. Lowering springs are stiffer and the oem dampers can't handle them.

Beyond that....it depends. Go with a small drop, no more than an inch and you may not need anything else.

When you lower a mustang, the rear wheels will move to the left in relation to the body due to the PHB. This isn't necessarily a problem, you may not even notice. But on the other hand, if you have wider tires or if the rear axle wasn't centered to begin with you may notice the drivers side rear tire is closer to the fender than the passenger side. Thus the need for an adjustable PHB.

On the front, if you stay less than an inch drop, then you may not need camber adjustment. In fact, a little more negative camber, which you will get with the lowering, can be a good thing for handling while not adversely affecting tire wear. You will have to measure the camber after the installation of the springs to know if you've gone to far. If so, camber bolts are much cheaper than camber plates.

Again - lowering up to an inch, the above is all you *need*. You won't need adjustable control arms for example unless you are into drag racing and find the rear end isn't hooking up. When you start getting more than one inch of drop you start messing with the suspension's geometry and lots of things can get messed up. You can intorduce bump steer for example.

HTH.

 

thanks for your response. you seem very knowledgable on the topic. what about "popping" noises? i have read numerous posts on here of members lowering their car and experiencing this noise...what causes it? from my understanding, the factory upper strut mounts are made of cheap plastic and really are not designed to be re-used after altering the ride height..is this what causes the noise? i just dont want to experience this and feel as if im driving a $30k+ beater car.

 

I believe the popping sound should not happen with the revised strut mounts which were introduced by Ford somewhere in 05 or 06 (if they're in good condition).

Clunking issue on the other hand is a very elusive thing. I have it with stock suspension in 06 GT and changing to GT500 upper strut mounts didn't help one bit. On the other hand, I took a ride with someone's 05 GT and MM camber plates which are supposed to introduce road noise and the car didn't clunk. I think any kind of suspension modification can introduce the clunk as well as help getting rid of it. As far as I understand it is some complicated body resonance problem and supposedly the only verified solution for it is the second revision of struts introduced by Ford in 07.

 

I too am looking at a 2010 gt and after driving it would like it to handle better for hard street driving and yearly trips to the mountains. So you are saying springs and dampers would lower it and stiffen it up enough to accomplish this without shocks? Also noticed the car bucks on hard acceleration between shifts (the front end seems to come up and down alot) . Would this be eliminated or toned down as well? Thanks.

 

Dampers = Shocks. Yes, stiffer springs and shocks will lessen brake dive and the nose coming up during acceleration.

 

Mine clunks too, allow me to tell you what I have done and where I am at currently.

Lowered my car with Steeda Sports springs, GT500 shocks/struts, GT500 strut mounts, and camber bolts. Noticed a clunking in the front right a day later. Checked everything, all was tight, clunking continued.

Replaced GT500 upper strut mount with Steeda HD camber mount (removed camber bolts - reinstalled OEM strut bolt), made sure everything was tight including sway bar upper nut, but clunking returned a day later.

Removed upper sway bar link nut, added 1/2" lock nut and red loctite, allowed loctite to cure for 7 hours before driving, clunk went away for two days....and it's back again.

I HAVE NO IDEA HOW IN THE HECK TO MAKE IT GO AWAY!!!!

Is the OEM sway bar link bolt bad because it's a torque to yield one time use only bolt? Would buying a new nut and using loctite fix it?

I'M TIRED OF THIS CLUNK!!! Makes my low miles Mustang sound like it has 200,000 miles on it. It only clunks when driving slow over choppy roads no matter if I am turning or driving straight. When I am on the interstate it makes no sounds at all and rides great.

UPDATE:

I removed the old sway bar end link upper nuts that I put on with 1/2" lock washers and red loctite. I had to heat them with my hand torch to break the loctite free so I could loosen them.

I went to the local Ford dealer and bought new upper end link nuts. I cleaned up the end link stud very well, applied just a little amount of red loctite to the top side rear thread area, and installed the new nut. So far, big difference and my front end feels/sounds stock again. I noticed on the old nuts that the nylon lock material at the top of the nut was almost gone. You would have thought the loctite and lock washer would have made up for that. I think the lock washer (covering a slightly smaller area than the nut itself) made it have less clamping force on the strut. This is why I opted not to reinstall the lock nut.

Will report back in a few days to see if it stays fixed.

UPDATE: The new nuts made a difference, but not completely fixed. real heavy bumps and potholes still make the front end clunk, but the lighter stuff that once made it clunk no longer does. The new nuts made a little difference, but as stated before....still not fixed.

Next possible solution....Koni Yellow Shocks/struts, and ditch the OEM GT500 shocks/struts.

Just a little scare for the original poster. Sorry for that, but I wanted you to know what many of us have been experiencing.

 

dont do springs without dampers.your not saving money, because when you realize how much the ride sucks without struts and shocks that match the lowered stiffer springs, you'll have to tear apart the front again and do the struts. do it once and be done with it.

 

You'll be much better off just letting Steeda do the job correctly the first time around... They are a reputable company with top quality products.

Better to do it right than have to do it over....

 

$1500 for a proper suspension mod is not bad at all. Is that with it installed?