Suspension noob here...

I'm planning to lower the car 1"
I track my car maybe once a year.
I've never been down a drag strip but with this car I think I might give it a try.
I like to abuse the car on the street and canyon runs.

Otherwise, the car is a daily driver commuting across San Francisco's pot-hole and traffic ridden streets.

I'd rather adjust my suspension once to be a balance between street and track and not adjust it after that.

So that's my use-case, here's my question:

I want this, but don't know if its worth it for my use? Lets call this Option-A $1500.
http://www.latemodelrestoration.com/...-Handling-Pack

OR skip the sway bars and strut brace and use these struts and shocks, Lets call this Option B $800:
http://www.latemodelrestoration.com/...it-Gt-V6-Coupe

Regarding the adjustable and non adjustable struts and shocks, M-18000-C and M-18000-A respectively - is M-18000-A just as good as M-18000-C for someone that doesn't plan to adjust?

Thanks guys!

 

Just because you have adjustable sta-bars and shocks/struts doesn't mean that you have to always be tinkering with them. Having the adjustments simply lets you find what you like best for whatever driving condition, or balance among different driving conditions, is important to you.

I think for the driving you describe, you could find your basic balance for adjustable sta-bars quickly enough and leave it there indefinitely (or at least until you clearly determine that the handling is too "tight" or too "loose").

There's a much bigger payback in terms of ride quality for tweaking the shocks and struts back and forth between settings for the daily drive and the weekend play-time, but that's literally a two minute job. I don't know whose adjustable dampers are in your Option A kit, but it would be hard to go wrong with Konis (once they are back in the pipeline, anyway).


If this helps any, I have Sam's adjustable front and rear bars. I've changed the setting on my rear bar exactly once since installing it, haven't touched the front bar (mid) setting at all, and 1/4 turn on the Konis is the difference between the way I want the car to feel when I'm likely to be pushing it a bit and the way that my wife finds more comfortable when she's in it. I'm borderline loose on the throttle in 3rd gear cornering as it is, and at some point, I'll end up with somebody's stiffer springs (I don't want to go particularly lower either). Springs will most likely put me with different bar settings that will also be mostly left alone once I find them. You might find that a different wheel/tire package or just different tires on the same wheels would be better off with a different rear bar setting.


Norm

 

Thanks Norm.

The Option-A shocks and struts are Ford Racing Performance adjustable shocks and struts.

I don't really mind a bumpy ride during the daily commute and I like the car to be ready for my abuse whenever I spontaneously decide to throttle on and things like suspension are a mystical voodoo that I like to get right and leave alone. If I went to the track more I might see a use in making those adjustments.

For me when I track, I'm not really competing for the best time, I'm just having fun.
What's worse is, every time I've gone to the track, I have a different car as I've picked up a very bad habit of buying a new car every year (so far I think the 5.0 is gonna stay).
Last time was a BMW 135i, before that was a STI, then Mini Cooper S, then Mazdaspeed 6... and so on...

So trying not to spend too much on the car before I've proven to myself that I'm keeping the car hahaha. Awful I know.

 

Go with the adjustables. The non-adjustable shocks/struts that come with that kit is rock hard out of the box. If your driving is going to be track and smooth mountain roads, you will be fine for the non-adjustable kind. But for street driving, you want to be able to dial down the damping on those.