Here is my dilemma. I live in Los Angeles which has the worst roads in the nation. Potholes, dips, uneven pavement, metal slabs covering larger holes, driveways that aren't graded so the front of your car scrapes... you get the idea.

So what I really would like to do is improve the car's handling. I know to do this means lowering it. But I have the Street Scenes body kit and there are instances where I scrape the front lip now so if I lower the front I will most assuredly rip off the darn bumper if I'm not careful... and might do so even if I AM careful.

I would like to at least lower the rear to even out the stance, but someone told me that would affect handling in a bad way. Make it worse.

I'd like to hear your comments or suggestions to my dilemma.

I had pretty much given up on improving the car's handling alltogether, but I figured I would at least see if anyone had any ideas.

Thanks for your help!

 

Lower your car deffinately helps because your lowering your center of gravity but its not a must. Id suggest some chassis bracing to start. Strut and shock tower braces and full length subframes welded in. I have all 3 and it significantly helped stiffen the car. Some aftermarket shocks will help control the suspension better, such as Tokico, Koni, QA1, Bilstein are some good choices. Id suggest some adjustables if you plan on having some track time with it. Bigger sway bars are also a alterative to shorter/stiffer springs. And if you don't have em already, a good set of high performance tires are a must. A softer compound and a shorter sidewall will greatly affect the amount of grip.

 

I had Roush rear springs on my 05 GT for about a year. They lowered the rear 1" and I think they improved the handling. It wasn't a big difference but I thought they reduced some of the front end push. I now have the complete Roush suspension kit on my car and I like it a lot.

 

What comes in the complete Roush suspension kit? And how much does it lower the front?

I would love to get that kit but I really don't want to lower the front at all.

 

Lowers the front approximately 1 inch just like the rear.

 

I've had one 06'GT lowered.My new 07'GT is not lowered.If you make a change keep the old equipment just in case you don't like the car lowered.Lots of road thump,feedback from the potholes and wait untill you hit a rutt on asphalt,my lowered car would track until I changed lanes or road it out.
On the other hand the car will cut corners better,it will not rock front to back on hard shifts and be more stable on curvy roads. There are pros and cons to making this change.I've been told by several professional race car drivers that your suspension will enhance the engine performance due to better traction and stability.

 

I'm not looking to start an argument, I just want to offer another opinion. I don't recommend chassis bracing. On CircuitBreaker's Fox platform 'stang it's definitely a good idea, however the S197 is the stiffest Mustang ever by a very large margin, if you're using the stock (17 or 18 inch) wheels with anything other than race rubber you will not get a perceptable difference by stiffening an already girder strong shell. The best way to quickly, easily and cheaply improve the handling is to get the full FRPP handling kit installed. The Mustang actually handle's quite well, it doesn't have any critical flaws, you just have to reduce the large amount of suspension movement you get in the stock - comfortable setup. The FRPP kit does this by shortening and stiffening the springs, stiffening the anti-swaybars and increasing the dampening. Yes your stang will be lower, but only by 1 - 1.5 inches. Not a huge difference.

Note; if by "improved handling" you actually mean you want more absolute grip this kit will do nothing for you. For that you'll need bigger tires and a camber kit.

 

So if I were to get just the rear springs would it diminsh my handling at all?

 

Of course it will, although you may not notice it unless you drive your car hard. Beware however that it will also make your car more prone to oversteer. Also note that the FRPP kit only drops the front 1" while it drops the back 1.5"s. Meaning that it balances out the suspension height nicely over the stock nose low attitude. Just replacing the rear springs will give your car a nose high appearance, which is not a great sight unless of course you're after the "overloaded taxi cab look".

 

I agree that the S197 chassis is stronger than the SN-95(from what Ive read its not that significant but indeed a improvement) but, when you start to increase spring rates, shocks, fat sway bars...the suspension isn't absorbing that load like it was and puts more stress on the chassis. Guess my question is, why would you not recommend it? Granite with all stock suspension components, no they aren't a must but its certainly not hurt.

 

On the subject... are there any comprehensive tests as to which aftermarket suspension setup provides the "best" handling? I remember reading a review of Roush vs Saleen but that was for the whole SC'ed cars and everything... including Saleen's massive 20" wheels. Has anyone tested Roush vs Saleen vs FRPP vs Steeda etc on only suspension parts?

 

The only chance we would have to get an informed and imparitial evalution of handling would be if a mag like Grassroots Motorsports started an S197 project. The Mustang mags just don't have any insight (or interest) in handling, nor do they seem to have the ability to perform impartial multi-vender evalutations. That's why I went with the FRPP kit, it uses quality components, it's relatively inexpensive, and it was developed by Multimatic which has one of North America's best suspension testing facilities.

CircuitBreaker; We aren't talking about a super-stiff drifting setup, and we aren't talking about super wide, high grip competition tires. We're talking about a moderate increase in spring and damping rates on stock tires. After all it's the same kit dealers install as the sport pack, this is nothing extreme. In my opinion adding extra braces to an S197 at this performance level will do nothing but lighten the owner's wallet and weigh down the car. In addition to that I personally doubt (but again this is just my opinion) that bolting braces to the S197 will measurably improve structural ridgidity, if anyone knows of a test with pre and post mod torsional stiffness figures please let me know. Certainly an S197 race car that corners at 1.6g benefits from having every seem welded and a structural race cage installed, but we're cornering at half that load if we're lucky.

 

So Hubec given my situation with awful roads and bodykit which I'm assuming will scrape more with a lower ride-height should I just leave well enough alone?

I don't really drive the car hard. I have the occasional fun through the mountain windy roads but that's about it.

I think the rearend is too high, and would like to level the car out but again the bad roads and scraping.


Thanks for your help.

 

Wish granted...

2006 GT Project Car

grassrootsmotorsports.com/news/category/project-cars/other-cool-cars-hanging-around-the-grm-office/2006-ford-mustang-gt/

 

Just do it. You just have to be careful some of these roads. If you don't like them, put the stocks back on. IMO, lowering these cars not only makes it look better, but they handle great. I took mine to Willow Springs, all I have are springs, and it handled like a champ.

 

Try the Roush rear springs, they lowered my car 3/4 inch in the rear, which made it level, not sagging in the rear. They're about $125 and you can change them out in about an hour and a half. One thing to be aware of is that the rear axle bumpers will be closer to the body, so you will loose some suspension travel, but no where near the 1.5 inch lowering springs.