Hey all, I wanted to share the setup that I feel will be a great setup for what I am wanting. My mustang is my DD and I do not track the car but I do like to carve some corners and take off fast every now and then. I do have staggered 20's as a FYI. After many HOURS and WEEKS of reading people's threads and taking to heart the opinions of Sam, F1 and Norm, I think I have come up with a setup that will make me happy for my needs. Here is my setup that I will be saving up for over the next few months but still am bouncing between which springs and particular brands of certain parts.

-Koni STR.T dampers
-Steeda Ultra Lites or Vogtland 1.3's (Opinions welcome on which for this setup)
-LCA relocation brackets
-non-adjustable LCA's (not sure specifically which ones yet)
-adjustable PHB (again, not sure which one)
-Either Steeda or J&M Caster Camber Plates

Now, this is what I will start with and install at the same time. From there on, not sure exactly what my car will NEED. And when I say need, I mean anything that should be CORRECTED with the current setup (ie: UCA, bumpsteer, ball joints, etc.) These opinions are welcome as well. Thanks for everyone's threads and opinions on helping me during this process and I have learned more then ever in regards to suspension.

 

You never came to ride in my car.

 

I still want to come ride. I have just done a lot of reading on why eibach pros are not the way to go. I still will make my way up though to meet you and check out the ride!

 

Hey,

Post up the Eibach pros negative threads, I wanna see them.
Thanks.

 

Check this one out. Pay close attention to F1Fan, Norm Peterson and Sam Strano's comments. They are suspension gurus and very respected. They all seem to have negative opinions/views/experiences with the Pro Kits. There are several more but this one seems to be a good, recent thread.

http://mustangforums.com/forum/s197-...n-help-me.html

 

hmm, i was considering the FRPP shock/struts with the k springs from the FR3 kit but i really didnt know they were the same as the eibach springs. i guess these are out of the question, after all i dont want to be bottoming out all the time.

 

One person mentions bottoming out all the time. I still am offering a ride in my car, if someone wants to diagnose bottoming out. I don't think that it happens to me on the road or the autoX course. But I can be corrected. But the spring decisions for nearly all F Stock autocrossers at nationals are going to be on FRPP K Springs. All of Sam Strano's F stock championships are on K Springs/Eibachs. He is moving to ESP and I would guess on Vogtland springs or maybe Steeda Comps.

 

You will not bottom out all the time with the FRRP springs. I have bottomed out one time and that was because the ground pointed up like a huge triangle. If you get the koni's or the tokicos it will sweeten the ride.

 

I got the FRPP springs with the D-Specs, cut the two top parts of the rear bump stops and still don't boottom out..........................

 

People define bottoming out differently.... Most of the time they mean to say it's the abrupt hits that you can get. Better shocks help to be sure but shocks can't do a spring's entire job. The Eibach's are not my first choice (not the worst, not the best) because I do feel they aren't the as good a mix of rate vs. drop. They are more looks oriented which some want, but are still what I consider workable vs. some that are just bling.

Yes, I race a car on those springs under the blue paint... I have no choice in the class I've been running. I am changing classes and those won't be the springs I use because I want something with more working travel and working rate.

 

Casey from looking at your list unfortunately it looks like you still have a little more research to do. Check out these two threads, they're a couple of my favorites and helped me with my choices immensely:

http://mustangforums.com/forum/s197-...ang-gt-30.html post #298, actually the whole thread is full of great advice.

http://mustangforums.com/forum/s197-...o-go-with.html posts 6+

Hope these help!

 

Hey I was looking at doing a similar setup :
-Koni STR.T dampers
-Vogtland leveling springs.

Would this be a good setup for the street and corner carving. No real racing just looking for a slight drop and better handling characteristics.
Would I need anything else to get my alignment back to spec?

Thanks.

 

one thing i have learned from sam strano is that when your asking for advice be very specific on how you want your vehicle to perform. especially what you consider a "slight" drop and "better" handling. thats why he's the man when he passes on his knowledge.

 

I have the Vogtland leveling springs and the D-specs. The springs make for a very mild drop, which does level out the car and take away the raked stance. They minimize the gap between the wheels and the fender wells without making real world driving, aka driveways, speed bumps, etc, difficult.

After I finished my suspension setup I believe that I have what you are looking for, the car handles incredibly without being too harsh. It takes corners like it's on rails and doesn't jar the **** out of you on bumpy roads. Also hooks up real nice for racing.

The least you will need in addition to the springs and dampers is the adjustable panhard bar and the adjustable upper UCA (or adjustable LCA's, pick one). I didn't need the camber bolts or plates because the drop was so mild. Hope this helps.

 

Hey thanks for the feed back djmac95. Just what I was looking for. Now the hard part is to decide what I want to do first. Driveshaft or suspension.

 

Do not agree that you need an UCA or even an adjustable PHB just because you lowered the car. I know it's not normal to hear that--but I'm about what is not what the party line is to make selling parts more easy.

Why do I say this? Simply put, I've been racing, and winning, in a car that's lowered a good bit (1.5" or so) with a stock UCA and stock PHB. No, I'm not allowed to change them in the class I was running that car. Had no need to do the UCA. No funny vibrations at all. PHB would be nice to square up the axle vs. body and lessen deflection but again--not like the car is dangerous or slow.

YMMV.

 

So Sam all I would need is the springs and shocks? I'm guessing that if I run into problems or whatever I can get those things later.

 

Well in terms of purely getting the car lower.... all you need are the springs. But IMHO since the shocks are a mess to start with, worse than the springs then they should be done together. And you are correct in the thinking you can add anything else you might wish to later.

The only exception would be if you want to change the strut mounts for a say a set of Steeda HD's or camber plates. If you are torn down that far, and they have to come off to do the struts and/or springs, then that's a great time to do them to eliminate a second go around for the same work down the road.

 

Sam I'm not sure why you are recommending lowering the car but not correcting the suspension geometry completely afterwards?

 

Why? Because I don't think the suspension geometry is messed up to any degree that requires fixing. In fact if you look under the front of a lowered car, one that's not slammed you'll find the a-arms and tie-rod ends are pretty level still. Also I haven't encountered bumpsteer issues, and I live in western PA where the roads are far from smooth and have lots of dips and washed out spots on the right sides. And fwiw, the car I won my last 3 Nationals in is lowered and does not have that stuff (or bumpsteer issues either).

And finally, considering I sell all that type of stuff what reason would I have *not* to recommend those things I really felt they were required?

And I agree MM Plates are very nice for race cars. I tend to use more Steeda HD mounts on street cars because spherical bearings are a bit more harsh being solid than the urehtane bushings the Steeda parts use. I carry both, it's a horses for courses thing.