reddragonpryde

Quick Question: Is the track pack worth it if I will be putting on koni yellows/springs and new tires/rims?

Long Question:
I’m looking into buying a gt 13/14 and can’t decide if i should shell out/hunt down a track pack. This car will be my daily driver and i don’t plan on tracking it (have a motorcycle for that) but I care a lot about handling. I originally fell in love with the track pack but now think if I am modifying it won’t be worth it. Since this will be my daily driver I was going to put a set of snow tires on the stock rims (which would be slightly cheaper with base GT rims). Then I would get some wider rims with very sticky tires (like 19x9 or 20x10 or something the SVT rims maybe) and lower it with Koni yellows/steeda sport springs. Would that set up give a drive that would be fine for a DD? I don’t need it to be caddliac smooth or anything. Also would it cause any other complications (or warranty issues) or would I need to buy anything else? Would the track pack still be worth it, with its improved brakes and that awesome differential? Can the differential be installed later? Anyone know how big an MPG difference on the highway a 3.73 v. 3.55 has?

DPE

If you're not going to track the car or do any serious mountain road driving, and you ARE going to upgrade the suspension and wheels/tires anyway, I don't see why you'd bother with the track pack. Put your snows on the OEM 18s, do your Konis/Steedas, get your 'good' set of wheels and tires and just enjoy the car. If your concern is handling, your biggest upgrade will be those Konis and proper summer tires.

As for the 3.73, it's a matter of opinion but in the 2011+ cars I believe it to be overkill because the transmission is already geared pretty low. One could make an argument for the Torsen diff, but that's probably not too critical on a street-only car. I've spent a little time in a track pack car and it didn't seem to get power down a whole lot better than a car with the regular LSD.

As for the Brembos, I wouldn't personally buy the car without them but I DO track my cars and occasoinally do some pretty intense driving in the twisties. If you don't do those things, the regular brakes are just fine.

That's my 2 cents. Full disclosure: I just ordered a 14 Premium with Brembos and the 3.31 diff as I believe that's the best combination for a car that will see the track occasionally, see twisties occasionally, be taken on LONG road trips occasionally, and will be driven by my wife to work regularly . And I too will eventually get back on Konis, as I had on my 2010.

jRaskell

I'm doing exactly what you're thinking of doing. I bought a 2011 base GT this spring. The ONLY option on it was the 3.73 gears, which is exactly what I wanted. Took me 3 months to find it as well. Just no point in paying for options you're going to replace.

I ran Koni Sports on my previous car, a 99 Trans Am, and there's just nothing from the factory that compares. I also don't think the 3.73 gears are overkill, but it is geared pretty low. It's an absolute blast to drive though and I would make the same choice all over again, but it really does depend entirely on what YOU want out of the car.

About the only other option I would have wanted, but wasn't available for '11 would be the Recaro seats. The stock seats aren't even remotely performance oriented, no lateral support to speak of. And because the side impact airbags are integrated into the seats themselves (who the f**k made that decision Ford?), going aftermarket requires losing that side impact protection.

reddragonpryde

thanks for the advice. I guess my other question is, is the koni/spring set up soft enough for daily driving. Also will anything else need to be done, like bars, control arms etc.

Norm Peterson

Well, there's 'firm' and then there's 'harsh'. The ride certainly will be firmer. But for most people it's the harshness that is objectionable, and tolerance to this is very much an individual thing. With reference to a Koni Sport/OE springs/aftermarket sta-bars setup, I consider the ride to be entirely daily drivable with the dampers cranked up about one full turn from full soft. But when my wife is riding in that car for an extended length of time I'll dial most of the damper settings back out because the ride does relax noticeably by doing that (down to about +1/4 turn up front and zero to +1/8 turn rear, referenced to full soft).

You can always replace the sta-bars at a later date, and I will strongly suggest that you hold off on this until you've driven the car for a while as lowered. You'll have a better idea what you really want a bar swap to accomplish, instead of just guessing at it now. I will recommend that no matter whose bars you decide upon that you choose both bars to be adjustable.

By control arms, I'm assuming that you mean the rear LCAs. Again, no hurry unless you find yourself getting into wheel hop too frequently or too easily. If you're not tracking the car (HPDE/PDX/etc.), I will assume that you aren't drag racing it either, and in most street driving it shouldn't be too hard to hold the number of wheel hop occurrences to a minimum. That said, the OE bushings do take a beating and will deteriorate over time even if the vast majority of your hard driving is hard cornering. Wait until the OE bushings start showing cracks or other signs of decay, and buy LCAs that feature some sort of spherical joint at one end. This spherical need not be a metallic rod end; there are a number of sphericals that feature nonmetallic bits for part of the joint that are unlikely to develop rattles. I'm running something by Currie (LCA bushing issue), but I think that the J&M extremes and a couple other brands are similar. Since handling is important to you, avoid poly-poly like the plague unless you plan on doing a little DIY modification of the poly bushings right out of the box before they ever make it onto the car.

3.73's are pretty short and sound about right for drag racing a stock MT82-equipped 5.0 on stock diameter tires. You'll be just about out of revs at 60 mph in 2nd, and 4th will only be good to about 110. 3.55's will give you 2 or 3 more mph in 2nd and 5 or so more in 4th. I doubt that mpg would differ by enough around town to notice, or by more than 1 mpg on the highway. A 5% difference in gearing for 5% more revs should correspond to about 1 mpg less out of 20 . . .


Norm

JThor

A stock GT would probably be fine for your purposes. The spring rates between the stock GT and the Track Pack are very close. The big differences are the Brembos, sta-bars and shocks. The stock brakes are fine for DD. The shocks and sta-bars are easy replacement (the shocks should be replaced with Konis anyway on the Track Pack car). I assume you can get the traction control reprogrammed to the Track Pack specs too.

I like the 3.73 diff on mine, but I have a 4.6. I get low 20's mpg in town and about 25 mpg on the highway.

Black Fire

Best advice I can give you is drive a base suspension car then drive a Brembo package car. Brembo Package cars have stiffer springs and revalved shocks/struts over a base GT. All 2011+ GT's have the same swaybars. Track Pack cars and Brembo cars use the same suspension but the TP adds the Boss radiator (with oil cooler) and Torsen diff with 3.73's.
Follow this link for info on Brembo GT's
http://brembo50.com/Default.aspx?pageId=1130035
Unless your dead set on changing springs you may find the stock Brembo car to be enough for your style of driving.

UPRSharad

If you're going to add mods anyway, I wouldn't necessarily recommend the track pack. You'd be upgrading a lot of the upgrades. Quality aftermarket shocks, struts, springs, control arms, and panhard bars are better than what comes on the base GT or Track Pack.

I daily drive on Koni Yellows, UPR/Eibach Pro springs, and UPR control arms. The car handles great and has a reasonable ride quality.

Jande063

I wouldn't necessarily recommend the track pack car if you are looking for better handling. You will end up replacing the shocks/struts either way, and ditto for the springs. The front sway bar on any of the Mustangs of this body is just not stiff enough to get the job done, and the GT and up rear sway bar starts out at a little too stiff, and increases from there(V6 starts too soft on both ends). Take a look at Sam Strano's adjustable front and rear bars(save a little weight at the same time). However if you are dead set on a track pack car, a gentleman I autocross with in TSCC and SCCA just sold his black 2013 GT Brembo track pack with Recaro seats(I believe it is not a GT premium, so a bit lower weight) to the CarMax down here in Virginia Beach, they want 27ish for it.

Sam Strano

Ask yourself if there is anything on a Track Pack you really want to have. If yes, then get a Track Pack. If not, get a normal GT. Either way we can make the suspension WAY MORE FUN and better driving.

Personally I think the 3.73's are just too damned short, and that would keep me away from a Track Pack car, unless it was going to be tracked then the coolers are nice and the gearing is less of an issue. 3.73 is about useless on the street.

I ordered my 2011 as a 3.31 Brembo car too, in fact it was one of the very first, if not the first car optioned that way. Could not find one anywhere (this is early 2010). Lots of Brembo 3.73's and a few 3.55's... now you can find Brembo/3.31 cars here and there.