grabber blue gt

Ok well the one thing I never upgraded on my 2010 was the suspension, and I hate the "4x4" look so I would like to upgrade my suspension in the spring. I am not set on any type of lowering springs, but I am leaning towards Ford K springs, Eibach sports, or Steeda sports.

My question is what do I need to have the "correct/safe" setup? I do not auto cross or anything like that, just go around turns fast and stuff like that when the conditions permit.

I was planning on doing Lowering springs (any choice), Gt500 strut mounts or steeda hd mounts, BMR adj panhard bad, and Koni Srt shocks and struts.

I am also lost on the whole caster camber plates. I know you need to adjust them to get the correct alignment, but after I install everything and have an alignment done, does the shop know to do this? I am a noob when it comes to suspension so any help would be appreciated. Like I said I dont road race or anything just want to upgrade the handling a little and improve the look. Suggest any setups you like, or what works best. Also not looking to spend a ton of money (less than 2k)

dcarlinf1

Sounds like your goal is identical to mine. I chose the Steeda Sport springs, Koni STR.T shock/struts and the GT500 strut mounts. I am not done with the installation yet. I just started last night by removing the struts and I am going to have a guy at Napa put together the strut assembly for me because I don't have the tools for that (spring compressor). I am waiting until after the above parts are installed to decide if I need an adjustable panhard bar. Regarding the CC plates, someone with more knowledge will probably chime in. I am interested in what others have to say as well.

dcarlinf1

Not to hijack this, but a question I have is whether or not it's normal that the drivers side sits higher than the passenger side? My measurments show a 3/4" difference in the rear and a 1/8" difference in the front. Is it just out of whack or is it that way on purpose in order to compensate for the weight of the driver or for some other reason?

gmoran1469

You caster/camber plates will allow for your front suspension to be tuned to what you want. More camber would mean the wheels would start leaning in towards the engine at the top of the wheel.

Ever seen a car slammed with the wheels almost at a 45 degree angle? That's camber. Caster is the opposite way if I understand it correctly. It shifts the wheel along a vertical axes.

So basically, when you lower the car, you throw the geometry of what the stock suspension was set to off, to correct that you can get something like the Steeda HD mounts and set it to what it should be.

Personally, I run an aggressive -1.5 camber. It causes excess wear on the inside of my front tires but with a rigorous wheel swapping routine it's not that big of an issue. It does provide me much increased handling in the corners.

It sounds like you want something more agressive but something that won't ruin the ride.

Koni STR.T and Steeda Sport springs are the way to go IMO.

That's what I run and it's a world of difference over stock and not too harsh for every day driving.

grabber blue gt

Thanks for the explanation on the caster/camber. Basically if I dont want to run an aggressive camber, what would be a good number to have it at? -.5?

So koni srt's, steeda sports, BMR adj panhard bar, and steeda hd mounts and I'm good? I dont really want to run an aggressive camber since my wheels are staggered and I dont want to go through tires like gas.

Or can I just get the gt500 strut mounts like dcarlin is going?

gmoran1469

You could maybe go with the GT500 mounts. The Steeda mounts are ***** though, very heavy duty and they have a greater range of motion to play with for setting everything.

If you don't want to run an aggresive camber just have the shop set it to stock.

Shocks/struts, springs, strut mounts, panhard, and SS brake lines are where I started.

tj@steeda

Grabber,

To take off of the point of above about Camber and Caster. This is a good read that will dive in a litte more.

http://www.steeda.com/blog/2011/10/a...ndling-secret/

As far as handling, does this video look like what you are trying to do wtih your Mustang?

http://www.steeda.com/blog/2011/10/m...ck-with-a-5-0/

Let me know if this set up looks like what you are trying to achieve? The price for the parts are around $1200 without labor.

Thanks
TJ

Whiskey11

Caster is the angle between the wheel's center line and the strut's upper most mounting point from vertical. Positive Caster has the strut top closer to the rear of the car than the wheel's center point.

My understanding, is that caster plays an important roll in two cases: In cornering caster gets converted to camber due to some complex 3D geometry equations that I don't really care about. Have you ever seen a vehicle parked with the wheels at full lock and the top of the tire is pointed outwards? Not enough caster for performance driving because we want enough caster so that when the wheel is turned and compressed we still have some slight negative camber to keep the tire from rolling under.

The second important roll is that caster effects steering effort and the ease at which the wheels self center. Higher caster increases steering effort and may create extra load on the power steering components. Think casters on a shopping cart and their desire to always be pointed in the direction of travel.

Our cars come with roughly 6.5º to roughly 7.5º of caster which is more than plenty with the proper static negative camber.

Camber, as explained above, if you are looking at the front of your car, if the top of the tires are closer to each other than the bottoms, that is negative camber. Negative camber aids in cornering grip and prevents the tires from rolling under in hard cornering. Camber is dynamic throughout the suspension travel and changes generally in the more positive direction as the suspension is compressed and when it becomes unloaded (inside tires in a corner for instance). For performance driving, pretty much every aspect of your suspension is going to determine how much camber you need. Super stiff spring rates and sway bars generally need less camber because the suspension doesn't travel as far through it's natural camber curve as a softer set up. For softer set ups, more negative camber helps prevent the wheel from going to positive camber.

Positive camber is the opposite of negative camber, meaning that the bottom of the tires are closer than the tops of the tires. Positive camber is detrimental to handling as it encourages the tires to roll over (as it loads the outside of the tire more than the inside). Too much camber in either direction can result in tire wear and decreased braking performance and if you have an IRS and are rear drive (or are FWD the front camber) can decrease acceleration.

The factory specifications for camber on the S197 platform is very wide open. 0º to -1.5º is the specification, having more negative camber will increase tire wear but not nearly as bad as having bad toe geometry.

Toe is the last and un-mentioned and common alignment property (there are other things like ackerman geometry and all that). If you look at your feet, plant the heel of your feet on the ground and point your toes toward each other (pigeon toed for example). That is toe IN, toe out is when you point your toes away from each other (Penguin toed? :P). Toe is a compromise between corner entry feel and straight line stability. Toe out is good for corner entry but bad for straight line stability (tries to pull the car apart) and toe in is bad for corner entry but good for straight line stability (tries to pull the car together if that makes sense).

The compromise is that generally you want BOTH cornering and straight line stability. I have seen pictures of some autocross cars that are set up to be extremely toe OUT to promote turning ability and would be very unsafe to drive on highways or a road course. Toe is probably one of the biggest contributors to tire wear. Stick to small increments of toe or neutral (tires straight ahead) for daily driving and maybe a small bit of toe out for more serious work, or just leave it at the factory specs (toe in).

For the future, most auto stores carry spring compressors that you can borrow from them. When I swapped my struts to D-Specs I went to O'Reileys and borrowed theirs. It generally costs $40 + tax but when you return it they give you the money back.

eolson

Wow, you guys buy new cars every 2 years? Wow! Erik

Norm Peterson

With stiffer than OE springs and what sounds like occasional (as opposed to frequent/constant) hard cornering, I'd shoot for somewhere between factory preferred (-0.75°) and about -1.0°.

If you knew what your cambers were now, where they'll end up can be estimated from the amount that the new springs lower the car. Probably half a degree or so more negative. If that's too much, the Steeda HD's would be the better choice. If it's close or right in the -0.75° - 1° range, I guess it'd be your call.


Norm