jozo5150

I'm looking for advice on suspension upgrade parts for my 06 GT, preferably BMR. My pony isn't going to be raced, just wondering what upgrades I should get to improve handling/tighten the car up on Sunday afternoon cruises. I already have the BMR lower control arms for rear suspension, though not installed yet. Should I replace the rear upper control arm, replace stock panhard with adjustable panhard, etc? How about aftermarket sway bars front and rear? Is there much benefit to aftermarket sways vs stock?
I plan on going with Pedders struts, shocks and springs for front and rear. Anyone have experience with Pedders?

05stangkc

Welcome,

The First Thing To Do is An Inventory of What Stock Components are in Need of Replacement. You May Simply Have Worn Out Pieces Which Leave You Seeking Upgrades. Figure Out What is Lacking First as Adding New Parts Mixed With Worn Won't Work very Well.

A Good Set of Tires are Also a Consideration if Yours Are Worn or Simply Aged Out. Less is More Sometimes and Some Racing Type Pieces May Beat You Down With a Harsh Ride. Look For Dry Checked Bushings Anywhere You Can. Well That's My Input For Now & I Will Let Somebody Who Has Done The Upgrades & Learned What Worked & What Did Not!

The Mileage on the Car & What Kind of Wheel Tire Situation You Have Would Be Good To Know!

Any Pics!

Best Wishes on Your Mustang Adventure!

Bert

The most common modification to tighten up the handling a little is lowering springs and new shocks/struts to go with them. I would suggest lowering about an inch, which seems to be the sweet spot for closing up the wheel gaps, keeping some suspension travel, not hitting everything you ride over, and firming up the ride a little. The lowering springs are stiffer than stock and that's why the need new dampers (struts and shocks) with more damping to go with them.

I am not familiar with Pedders; Some common options are Steeda Sport springs on Koni STR-T or Bilstein struts/shocks. I believe BMR also offers springs that lower about 1"

When you lower, the rear axle will shift off center more that it already is. Adjustable panhard bar is needed to correct that, if you care,

The rear lower control arms should eliminate the wheel hop, but don't do much for handling other than that. Adjustable rear upper control arm is needed if you want to adjust pinion angle, but usually that is not needed unless you replace the OEM two-piece driveshaft with aftermarket one-piece.

Stiffer (bigger diameter) aftermarket anti-sway bars will reduce body roll in corners. I would probably do the springs/struts/shocks first and then see about the body roll.

jozo5150

Thank for the replies and info!! I really appreciate it!! I'm sorry, but I left out some information. My pony is an 06 GT with 145k miles on it and has already been lowered. I'm running almost-new BF Goodrich tires.

m05fastbackGT

If you have no intentions on racing your car, my suggestions would be if you want to improve your overall handling but don't want to sacrifice ride quality, I would consider lowering your vehicle's suspension no more than between 1" - 1.25" maximum... If you lower beyond 1.5" you will then be required to install a bumpsteer kit in order to prevent potential tracking issues when changing the geometry of the front wheels...
You may also need to upgrade to an adjustable upper control arm as well, if the pinion angle of the drive shaft is no longer within OEM specs...

In other words, if your vehicle's suspension is controlling the steering instead of the driver, this means your vehicle's geometry of the front wheels are no longer within the correct OEM specs and would therefore need to be readjusted...

If however, you lower under 1.5" it is not necessary to install a bumpsteer kit nor is it necessary to replace the stock upper control arm... It is also not necessary to upgrade to aftermarket front and rear sway bars, unless of course your stock sway bars are worn out... But once you lower the vehicle's suspension, regardless of whether its under 1.5" or not, it is still required to replace the stock panhard bar with an adjustable panhard bar, as once the suspension has been lowered beyond OEM spec height, it causes the rear suspension to shift off center to either the left or right... An adjustable panhard bar corrects this by re-centering the rear axle back to OEM specs...

Knowing you already have BMR lower control arms, I would also recommend purchasing the BMR adjustable panhard bar as well... In addition, once you replace your struts/shocks and springs, you will also require replacing the stock upper strut mounts, as the originals can not be reused again... Therefore, it is recommended to upgrade to Ford Performance SVT/GT500 strut mounts.

Anyhow, as I mentioned above, if you have no intentions of racing your car, I would also recommend the following suspension components;

1. Either Steeda Sport Springs or Roush Performance Springs https://www.steeda.com/steeda-mustan...-555-8215.html


https://www.roushperformance.com/col...67976c38&_ss=c



2. Bilstein B6 HD struts/shocks https://www.summitracing.com/parts/b...tang/year/2006 https://www.summitracing.com/parts/b...tang/year/2006

3. BMR adjustable panhard bar https://www.bmrsuspension.com/?page=...172&superpro=0

4. Ford Performance GT500 upper strut mounts. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/f...l/shelby-gt500

Bert

If you are already lowered, what are you hoping to achieve with the Pedders springs/struts/shocks? What springs/struts/shocks do you have now? (I think you might be talking about coil overs; and coil overs can offer extremely stiff spring rates; but generally you do not want super-stiff springs on a street car)

BF Goodrich makes many tires; some are "soft" and comfort oriented, some are "hard" and performance oriented. The size makes a big difference too. Small wheels with high sidewall tires have more "rubber" and feel softer; low profile tires on larger diameter wheels have less rubber (more wheel) and result in a firmer and more responsive ride. Sidewall stiffness in the tires you choose make a difference too. It's the same basic tradeoff as the springs and ride height; you can have tall soft and comfortable, or you can have low stiff and "harsh" but it is very hard to achieve both at the same time.

Is there anything in particular about the current ride, that you are hoping to change?

m05fastbackGT

I wasn't aware about your car being lowered until after I had already responded to your previous post... So anyhow, what brand and type of lowering springs are on your car?

jozo5150

Again, thanks for all the recommendations. Car has been lowered 1 inch and was done at least 13 years ago. Rear springs, etc are Eibach. I'm thinking the struts, shocks etc may be worn out and need replacing due to "bouncing" on rough roads and sometimes "bottoming out". And still wanting to firm up the suspension and maybe get a little better handling. Not looking to drag race or autocross with it, just wanting a firmer feel on the road in turns.

m05fastbackGT

I recommend you consider the part listings provided above from item numbers 2-4 on post #5 of this thread... Also keep in mind that Eibach does not offer lowering springs with just a 1 inch drop... They offer 2 different kits, which are Eibach Pro- Kit Springs that lower the front end by 1.4 inches and the rear by 1.5 inches, tested with factory shocks/struts... Eibach Sportline Springs that lower the front end by 1.6 inches and the rear by 2.0 inches, tested with the factory struts/shocks... I have the Eibach Pro-Kit Springs on my car with Koni yellow adjustable struts/shocks...

Therefore, your Eibach Springs are either from their Pro- Kit or from their Sportline kit... How you can tell the difference between them, is the Eibach Pro-Kit springs are Black where as the Eibach Sportline springs are Red!

GPStang06

Sorry for the hijack, but how do you like the Koni's? I am about to replace my old Tokico D-Specs with the Koni's along with refreshing all the age related worn out suspension stuff. I'm running Steeda sport springs and ditching their strut mounts for the upgraded GT500 ones. I'm never going to track the car like I thought I would 18 years ago so hoping to get some comfort for the weekend cruiser it's going to be.

Bert

Springs generally do not wear out, but it might be time to replace the struts/shocks. If you can figure out what springs you have, that might help select struts/shocks that are a good match for those springs. But generally Koni STR-T or Bilstein B12? work pretty well with most common lowering springs. Sometimes the ride can be a little "jittery" with lowering springs because they are fairly stiff. I have a feeling this "jittery" ride is actually worse with progressive rate springs, though I can't really "prove" that.

Koni STR-T are said to be a good match for the Steeda Sport springs. but they are fairly firm. The shocks/struts need to be fairly firm (highly damped) to keep those relatively stiff springs under control.

If you are looking for a more comfortable ride, probably the best option is to go back to stock. The Steeda Sport springs are not super stiff, but any lowering spring is stiffer than the stock springs because otherwise the car would be bottoming out all the time due to the reduced suspension travel available after lowering.