I just had mine put in this weekend along with the Eibach Pro-Kit and man, what a difference! I am running my D-Specs 3F - 4R for the moment and even with that conservative setting my road feel has changed drastically. There's really four points on which control has improved.

1. Even with the meaningful drop of the Pro-Kit, a normal setting has given a more comfortable yet more precise ride than stock. In other words, I get to feel the road where it matters but the high-quality dampening filters out most of the uneven pavement otherwise. For those how have taken a swing in a 350Z, the D-Specs give that kind of precision handling without the butt hammering punishment of the Z.

2. Body-roll has been reduced to almost nothing. I was thinking of getting stiffer sway bars before the install but now I am really questioning the extra spending big time. You'll really feel that your Mustang has slimmed down 400 lbs cause of the added agility.

3. The great after-effect I was not expecting is that nose-dive under heavy braking became almost non-existent and now I could definitely give the car direction while braking hard. It's that different. My first test slamming the brakes was like "wow what's going on?!", maybe it's a long stretch but honestly it's like I got an entire Brembo upgrade for real.

4. I wanted to add some understeer and I really could get just that by playing with the D-Specs setting and tire pressure. You really can make tweaks that WILL make a difference in how the car handles and that's extremely rewarding in itself.

I test drove the full hard setting on a smooth stretch of highway just for kicks and frankly, even if it was clearly over the top, it was like I was driving a go-kart no more no less. Lots of fun. The full soft totally feels like a Cadillac it almost made me laugh.

One warning though. Unless you go full hard or almost, the steering response feels a tad floatier than stock and even if in all evidence the car handles razor sharp and is much more responsive, this is a mere sensation that may throw off some. So just keep it in mind before you get them.

For the rest, these D-Specs have worked some heavy magic. It improved my handling has much as a CAI + tune improved power + throttle response. And that's saying something.

 

Thats good to hear, glad you like them

 

Hey there,

Excellent info - recomending a set of D-Specs for a customer of mine right now. Will show him your post - so he can hear from a satisfied user

Thanks

Page

 

Good info Adam. I have the Eibach sportline which drops a bit more than the pro kit. My ride is stiff, but corners like a rail. You hit it right on the head when saying the steering feels a little floaty, especially at higher speeds on uneven roads. Good surfaced roads and it feels fine, but if its uneven, you dont dare take ur hands off..

What did you end up paying for the set and where? This is another addition I want to add due to having the drop.

 

That "floaty" feeling may be in your alignment angles... I have none of that, and am running -1.5* camber, 1/16" toe-in, but perhaps most importantly, I have the car set up for no bump-steer, with the Steeda tie-rod ends.

When you lower the front end, you drastically alter the relationship between the lower control arm and the tie-rod, which under additional jounce conditions tends to cause the toe angle to change, which makes the car a little darty, especially if you drive it hard into corners or on rough roads. The bump-stee kit has an extended shaft on the tie-rod end, with spacers designed to let you get the tie-rod back to paralell with the lower control arm. It's a bit of a pain to set up initially, but the dynamic stability gain makes it worth it, at least for me. Only downside to the Steeda kit is that the rod-end they use is NOT Teflon-bushed, which means weekly application of WD40 for a lubricant. At least you don't need to get the car in the air or pull a tire to do it, but I wish they were self-lubricating...

 

Dave, did you install the Steeda kit yourself? I've got Steeda's kit at home, but couldn't really find a good shop locally to properly setup the front end in terms of bump steer.

I run -1.3 camber and .04 toe in for the street.

 

Lowering the front w/o lowering the lower ball joint causes the roll center of the front suspension to drop. This is not desirable because the roll couple while cornering has increased on the front, which equates to more chassis roll moment and more push. Stiffer springs will compensate some for the larger roll moment on the chassis, but not necessarily completely.

Running the front shock a little stiffer will contribute to turn in roll stiffness, but is only temporary as the chassis stabilizes. Similarly running the rear shock a little stiffer contributes to turn in oversteer, but again, temporarly.

 

Yup, installed them at work (not mechanic shop). I used three moving blankets to act as padding over the radiator support area, and then added sandbags (we use them to stabilize speaker stands) to compress the front end an inch. Just kept changing the spacers around until I got no toe change compressed compared to uncompressed. Pretty easy, really. Being a former wrench helped, since it gave me a pretty good "eye" for alignment angles. I did use an angle-gauge for the camber setting, and used string for the toe.

I had the car checked on a Hunter rack, and I was almost perfectly on, which made me feel pretty good, given that I did adjustable upper AND lowers at the same time as springs, struts, camber bolts, and the bump-steer kit.

Trust me, "you can do eeeeeeeettttttt!" If in your searches, you turn up a good bump-steer kit with lubricated rod ends, let me know...

 

Eibach Pro-Kit = $175 shipped
Tokico D-Specs = $503 shipped

All eBay with very reliable vendors: tirefire916 for the Pro-Kit and jdwerks13 for the D-Specs.

 

Absolutely. Most likely you're right on because I am actually still due for an alignment at the shop in about 10 days once the whole set up has settled.

 

Dave...Thanks for all the input.

I have sent you a PM with a few questions.

 

I guess you meant add more oversteer ! This car has too much understeer to my liking ... stock that is

Got the kit too for about 2 years now and it is great to be able to set the car to almost softer than stock for the winter, stiffer in the summer and hard when I'm at my track events !

Love them but I'm still going to get sway bars next spring for track events (road race not drag)

 

I hope you track guys don't think full hard equates to full race? As you increase the rebound damping it makes the car seem firmer, but not understood by many is it excessively delays the ability for the wheel to return to ride height after a bump. Bumps hit in quick succession then tend to pull the chassis down, enough to where you start riding on the bump stops. Not very desirable in a high speed turn.

 

Just an aside--I came across an excellent article in which they performed extensive testing on lubricants. (of course I can't find the article now) WD40 was the worst lubricant tested and, in fact, resulted in greater wear than no lubricant at all. I believe DuPont Krytox products were considered the best.

 

I hear ya about too much understeer when stock. But that was until I got Brent's tune, now it's really going haywire when I apply a bit of throttle in the turns... gotta find a way to compensate and make it behave.. somehow

 

Opposite lock helps, more rear tire or a lighter foot

 

I know what you mean. The track surfaces of the circuit I run are very smooth with smooth transition. I usually have the front very close to hard and the rear a little softer to compensate for the solid axle.

 

I have had my Eibach Pro Springs and D-specs (as well as Eibach swaybars front and rear) and the car handles like a dream.

D-specs are two turns out on all 4 corners for reference.

 

Guys

I am little confused about this, I have an FRPP handling kit and it's like driving a go kart and was thinking of going with D specs. I have heard that even on the softest setting they are still as bumpy as the FRPP shocks.

I ideally would like a shock set up that gives a reasonable ride for every day and go cart for track and weekend driving. Please help Idont want to drop another 500 for no improvment

 

Back a long time ago, Dirt Bike magazine decided to test out all the commonly used chain lubes. They rounded up all the "official" chain lubes as well as a couple of "normally used" oils, including motor oil and WD40. They also tested a totally dry chain (all the chain had been solvent clean prior to the test to remove ALL factory lubes).

To do the test, they bought 500 feet of a non o-ring chain (non o-ring so it would be easier to clean out the factory lube as well as properly lube it with the test lube) and a large quantity of Sidewinder sprocket sets. The used a 5 hp motor to drive assembly and tested each chain for the same length of time. The measured the chains temperature at the end of the test, it's before and after length (to check for pin wear) and the side deflection before and after (turn a chain on it's side and hold it horizontal by one end. Measure how far below that the other end bends down to) as well.

Needless to say, the best lubes where the actual specific chain lubes. Motor oil didn't do too bad, but WD40 was the WORSE case in EVERY SINGLE MEASUREMENT! The dry chain wore less than the WD40 chain di.

For some reason, I have never used WD40 as a LUBRICANT since then. It's a fine product for drying out stuff, or removing sticky residue, but a lubricant it is not.