JCC07

Okay, here's my problem. My '08 GT has about 7K miles on it, but I've begun to notice that it's getting to be a very "rough" ride. The streets in my neighborhood are not particularly bad, but it seems that when I drive, I seem to feel every bump in the road or large crack in the pavement. It's really annoying, and yes, I've already verified that my tires are inflated to the correct pressure.

However, my best friend just purchased a Bullitt. He let me drive it for some period of time around where I live (on the same roads I normally drive regularly). Keep in mind, both cars are completely stock in the suspension department. We also both have 18" stock rims w/ stock Pirelli tires. I noticed that his ride was a lot smoother, and a lot cushier than mine. The same bumps which normally send my car rattling were non-existant when I was driving his car.

I'm trying to figure out what gives! Here's my questions:

1) Is the better ride quality in his car due to the Bullitt springs, the Bullitt shocks, or both?

2) If it's just due to the Bullitt shocks, could I buy the FRPP springs (from the FRPP handling pack) and use them with the Bullitt shocks?

3) Is there anyone who currently owns a Shelby GT or a GT w/ the FRPP handling pack and can verify how the ride quality compares to the stock GT?

I would like to update other suspension parts (stabilizer bars, control arms, etc) with an eye towards creating a very well-handling street Mustang. I do not see myself ever setting foot on a track, but we have lots of mountain roads where I live. I like the Roush Stage 2 setup, but I would really prefer to keep any add-on parts as Ford or Ford Racing. Ultimately, I would like to have a Mustang which uses the same suspension parts as the 2010 GT w/ the Track Pack.

If anyone can help me on this (before I waste a bunch of money chasing down the wrong road), I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Wbihm225

Just a heads up from my perspective. I have an 08' Bullitt, switched to Eibach Pro Kit and drove around for 100 miles or so. The bumpiness was too much for me, so I just switched struts/ shocks. Initially, I thought I could get away with just the springs, but the "tuned" struts/ shocks from the factory were not enough for me...just my .02.

futuresvt

I've got the whole FRPP FR3 "Handling pak" suspension kit. If the stock GT suspension is too bumpy for you, I would certainly advise that you AVOID the FRPP kit and components, as the FR3 kit on my car is not a cadillac ride at all. I sometimes worry that the roughness of the ride will result in premature rattles and vibrations in my car as a whole.

It results in awesome handling, but on anything other than perfect roads, it gets rough...

Good luck

RedDragon777

I am telling you dude, do not worry, give your friend some more driving time in the car and it will feel just as bad as yours. These cars feel like cady for the first couple hundreed miles then stiffen up. On my 06 i was tempted to replace everything from springs to shocks with something softer because i started feeling the bumps, but then i tried my friends car from when he first bought it a couple months ago to now with nothing but new highway miles (brand new road and he put on 15K miles from his 3K for the break-in in 9 months) and his ride feels worse than mine and i only have 16K miles total on mine and i have been over some rough roads. It is just the way every car settles. I am going to go with the FRPP kit but i tried the Ford Racing V6 at a carshow my club hosts and the car was awesome and handled and felt great but the guys said they just got it from Ford about 2 months before and it only had 1K miles on it and he said it would get stiffer and handle a bit better with more miles on the car.

And for the idle part of your question, yes the car will do that. It is the adaptive computer adjusting to your way of driving. Mine sounded awesome then when i tuned the car it sounded like i had a cam for a while. But i love the idle now.

sam strano

The last line your post is key...

Your complaint is dampers. The stock ones aren't very good, and they get worse, quickly, with miles. What you need a good set of shocks. Been there, done that. My daily driver GT has a set of Koni's on it with stock springs and bars. I enjoy driving it quite a lot. It's composed, crisp, taut.... and it rides about 150% better than stock too. In fact the ride issue is the one big reason the 2010's have very different rear shocks with a lot more high speed bleed to them (so the car isn't as jumpy on short, sharp bumps).

You have a damping issue, pure and simple. I see it every day on my Mustang vs. my girlfriend's car on stock shocks vs. mine on a premium shock.

Don't limit yourself to Ford or Ford Racing. In fact it's a little silly... Ford Racing's springs and bars are Eibach's. Ford has used Koni shocks as OEM in days gone by (as well as Bilstein and Tokico too). The idea is the right part for the job, if you limit yourself to only Ford Racing, you are limiting your options severly.

And it should be noted I am intimately familiar with the FR3 pacakge as well, as I autocross a friend's Shelby GT. I can compare and contrast the differences to my car (both cars on Koni's, but have been on FRPP and D-spec dampers as well). I've been in cars/sold Bilstein as well as Tokico non-adjustables and Steeda Pro-Action (and there are others, but you don't need to worry about coil-over dampers, etc).

You friend's ride is better because his shocks are a touch better to start with, and have less miles. With time his ride will suffer more too... and in no case is it as good as a it could be a really well setup set of dampers.

JCC07

Sam, I really appreciate your advice. I've been looking over many of your other posts on this forum, as well as some of the other suspension threads, and the dampers modification seems to be key.

I think I would ultimately like to modify the front/rear stabilizer bars as well. Also, I have heard that one of the options on the 2010 Mustang is the front/rear lower control arms from the GT500. The issue then becomes:

1) Would these modifications make any real difference in handling?
2) Would they work properly with the Tokico or Koni dampers?
3) Do I need to eventually think about new springs to lower the car (which I'm not too keen on...I have no problem with the current ride height)?

sam strano

1. No
2. Yes
3. Not unless you want to lower the car, stock springs get a really bum rap thanks to the shocks.

GT's love to wheelhop... If you don't get it, or drive yours in such a way that you get wheelhop, than no need for upgraded (be they GT500 or aftermarket) LCA's.

You might well opt for different swaybars are some point. They take care of a lot of roll without the ride penalty (stiffer wheel rate all the time) you get with springs. Having said that, I stronly encourage you to start with the shocks first and see what you think. I'm picky about suspensions, and I can tell you that as a hard driven street car my GT on the Koni's with a tweaked alignment is excellent. Ultimately it could use a little better balanced set of bars at the absolute limit... but it's premature to assume you need them before you see what the dampers do for you.