Joeywhat

OK, I've been trying to gather as much info on this as I can, but can't get a straight answer. I'm looking at lowering my V6 in the near future, want to know what exactly is needed (and why, preferably...) and what is merely "extra". Don't want to spend a ton of money.

Springs and dampers are a given. Most likely will be Steeda springs with Koni dampers. 1" drop will be it.

I hear an adjustable panhard bar is necessary for this, yes? If it's necessary I'll probably go with a watt's link.

Any control arm changes necessary? I hear sometimes yes and sometimes no. How the hell do you know for sure?

How about camber plates/strut mounts? I would certainly like to keep the alignment nice...should this be added in to keep the camber in check? The Ford Racing version is half the price of the Steeda offerings, any reason I would want to get with Steeda (or any other brand, really)?

Thanks for the help...suspension is the one part of cars that I really know nothing about, short of swapping out parts. Geometries and all that are way above my head.

houtex

You get the springs and the dampeners as you said. The stockers are too highly tuned to work lowered, they try to 'seek' to stock height. Also, you'll get some new strut mounts if called for, otherwise the stock ones are sufficient... unless you go caster/camber plates, see below.

Now, what are the mechanical ramifications of this?

Front, the geometry will change. But a 1" drop will wind up with more camber (that is, the tires will lean in more at the top), but still *probably* within specifications. But what also happens is that the steering tie rod ends will also point more upwards than before, and that can cause what's called 'bump steer', where the car more dictates where you're going to be steering than you do, and you have to fight it quite a bit to keep it going where YOU want.

The fix for the camber is either camber bolts (simple, cheap solution) or either camber plates, or more likely caster camber plates, to fix the camber. Again, a 1" drop is going to not cause TOO much of a camber situation, but that needs to be found out after the drop and a few miles for settling, then check it to be sure. Then acquire whichever product you want to correct the situation.

The fix for bump steer, IF you have it/can't live with it (like me) is a bump steer kit, which uses a through-pin and spacers to replace the outer rod ends and lower them to match the geometry of the car's steering and suspension. Please note: you do NOT just add an inch to these, you have to do this by trial and error, putting them on, measuring them at the new height for toe, then pulling the car down 1" and measuring them again for toe. Then you add or subtract spacers to try to get those two measurements to move as little as possible. It's a fun thing to play with.

But that's it for the front. You may find that also adding a bigger, adjustable sway bar to be of some benefit, but that's really not required. Also, if you're doing it, and you need them, the upgraded front control arms are not a bad move since you're under there anyway, but again, NOT required unless noises/worn out.

Now to the rear. You install the new springs and shocks. That's all, on a 1" drop, that you *ostensibly* would need to have happen. These are really easy to do, overall. But what happens when you put the car back on the ground and it's lower is that the axle will be pushed out to the left side due to the way the panhard bar works. In a 1" drop, it may or MAY NOT be noticeable enough for you to care. It surely won't really affect the car's driving (although there maybe a thrust angle issue if it's pushed out enough)

You can safely drive around without another item added but the shocks and springs, if you're otherwise happy with the car, and enjoy!

However, if you can see the axle being offset to the left, or you're noticing a pull in some way (that's not related to the front steering situation), then the axle may need to be recentered to the car. That's where the adjustable panhard bar comes into play. It can be adjusted, much like a tie rod end, to pull the axle back into place. But again, it's only needed if there's a big enough problem to warrant it. You may be ok without it.

You do not need anything else with a lowering in the back. Except maybe to get new jounce bumpers for the struts and axle when you lower it, lest you bounce onto the old ones and it be all jarrin' and stuff.

As far as any other suspension pieces, none are required (unless upgrading/replacing for wear) for a 1" drop. Stock stuff will handle that just fine. Going lower than that might start calling for adjustable control arms, or relocation brackets, pinion adjustments, that sort of thing. But a 1" drop is mild and well within tolerance of the Mustang's stock hardware.

You might want to get an upgraded sway bar kit for less sway, but that's totally your call.

As far as which ones? Well, see my list below. Things not on it yet are the rear Koni STR.T shocks (backordered) and Whiteline bump steer kit (also backordered). The other stuff you see I am very happy with the results on the car so far. SO much better to drive than stock. Especially those GT500 spec Eibach sway bars set to firm.

Awesome is going to get me in trouble with how she handles. Seriously. I love driving my car all over again.

Joeywhat

Awesome, thanks.

houtex

You're most welcome, dude! Hope it helps and seriously... get the sway bars.

Joeywhat

I might...I'll probably see how it handles after being lowered and go from there. I have a LOT I want to upgrade so need to pace myself. Still want to do a clutch, flywheel, driveshaft and gears.

The Fays2 watt's link is cheap enough I might just grab that when I do the springs/dampers...

killaz05

There is some good information here that I find very helpful! I too am going to lower my car and have been looking to see what is the best combination/what is required. There never really was a straight answer that I could find. So it seems to me what I am interested in for my car would be the cortex Xtreme-Grip system. While I know it is very very expensive, I think Cortex Racing is a company who did their homework and I have never heard anything bad about their systems. I need to get a driveshaft though before anything else performance wise because at higher speeds, the car vibrates badly since my gear install which I am assuming is because the driveshaft is spinning a lot faster now.

houtex

Wow, from a 1" drop talk to a full race setup with coil overs, Helms ends, Watts...

Hey, if you want a race setup, that is a pretty good kit right there, I'll admit. But a bit overkill for a mild drop, honestly. Unless you're tracking, not really worth the money except wow factor at a kick the tires event. You're gonna want to invest in a set of highly polished plates or mirrors to lay under the car so people can see it though...

Dunno about your driveshaft. Could be something else like tires, worn bushings, so before just getting a shaft, make sure.

choate

I agree with everything said. One thing I'll add is I used gt500 strut mounts and pre 2010 Koni str shocks. Used camber bolts for aligning the front. Also I did not at first get a new adjustable panhard and my rear was off enough I could see it and it got to the point it just bugged me that it wasn't right. I didn't notice anything when driving it but I'm glad it's all lined up now and if I spin the tires out of take off it's much straighter instead of kicking out to one side. Panhard isn't 100% needed but it will probably be off if you don't get one. Mine is dropped 1.5 inches in the rear though. FYI

houtex

Regarding the camber bolts...

I don't know where I heard this, and it happened when I tried to get the installer of my Koni struts. But it appears that you have to drill out the Koni's to put the camber bolts in?

I found that a little... odd. I was going to try to pop them in myself as a challenge one day, but just curious since we're talking about it, and you posted, choate.

Thanks in advance, man!

David Young

I installed my Steeda Sports made for the v6. Only thing i did was turn the arrows pointing toward the engine instead of pointing to the fender on my GT500 strut mounts. Didn't use camber bolts or have to adjust the rear wheel to fender distance. I could have if it needed to be adjusted with my Watts Link, but it didn't need to be. I have orange Koni dampers..........