This is why shocks matter.....
 

Take a few minutes to read this article. Note that it's a Brembo car with the upgrade shocks. As you read page 4, you'll see why the first mod my car got was a set of Koni shocks (and later set of even higher end AST shocks for my autocrossing--though they are very, very nice on the street).

Here are the pertinent quotes from Randy Pobst--who like me is an SCCA Solo National Champion. Though he's gone onto some other things. :)

"That live rear axle setup? A non-issue for both of us. "The undulations I felt at high speeds in the bumps did not appear to be coming from a lack of control of the rear axle," says Randy, who suspects a damper issue. "The shocks can handle the car up to 60 to 70 mph. At 80, 90, 100 mph, we have a really challenging set of curving bumps and braking zones for which the shocks are overmatched."

But the BMW shines where it matters most: "The BMW has far better shock control when being driven hard, which gave tremendous advantage on the hairiest part of this track," says Pobst. "I don't know for sure how fast my speed was, but it sure felt a lot quicker in the BMW."
Which is why when pressed, Randy admits that he believes he set the fastest lap in the M3. So do I. "I think the BMW is faster because of its superior shock control at high speed," he says. "It has very little nose dive, very little brake dive, which gives me more confidence as a driver. It's more refined, a more conservative car than the Mustang is and far better controlled."

Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...#ixzz0xSOW3Djv

I'm always on these forums and shocks/struts are the first thing I recommend doing to make a car drive better, because they give you confidence and stability, and when they adjustable allow you to tune how the car reacts and rides to what you want, not what some engineer wanted.

Thanks!!

:nice:

Sam...

I agree. I went FRPP "P" springs and Know that my next mod needs to be shocks. I come from primarily Euro cars with a Vette stuck in my list of 59 cars. Most all have had some suspension mods. I'm a Bilstein fan and have had them on my '08 corvette and '01 Audi TT with great results. I see you carry them. Any experiential feedback or recommendations you can pass along? Your pricing is good. I'm a player in the near future.

Thanks,

Bilstein quality is very good... But they aren't at the top of my list for this car.

The rub is this: They aren't adjustable, and I feel the Koni STR.T's offer performance equal to the Bilstein's for hundreds of dollars less. And for a little more you could gain the rebound adjustment of Koni Sports. Just doesn't make financial vs. performance sense to me to run Bilstein. And you know I'm saying that because it's how I feel, since I do actually carry them. Yes, I'm in business to sell parts, and yes I'd like to have your business. And it might be easier to gain it if I just said Bilstein's are great and left it at that. They are, but value wise it's not there vs. others.

Thanks for the info Sam.....I'm new to the Mustang so need feedback like that. I'll review the options and be in touch when I'm ready to pull the trigger..

And this is exactly what I said in the other post of this article, a really good set of adjustable shocks would have put the Mustang way ahead of the bimmer.

Sam, if not doing any track time, is it worth changing the shocks & struts at all !

No, not worth it if you aren't going to track the car.

Well....Worth it to me, but I'm not a typical Mustang owner..

I'll post this video here too. Best Mustang test video yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOwSPccbzl4

Dan, you could try pricing out a set of the Boss shocks as soon as production starts (before the prices inevitably go up). By then we would also hopefully know if the Boss shocks are comparable to FRPP pieces, for price shopping purposes.

The biggest delusion is that shocks don't matter if you aren't racing. The car has no idea if it's being raced, autocrossed, or driven down a public road. None. Shock valving is there to control mass and movement. Those things are there all the time, and in fact a car that is street driven has to deal with more different things on the road than a car that only sees a track (they tend to be in better shape).

The reasons races upgrade is for that better control. Is that something that you wouldn't want? I like a more composed, planted car... it's more fun to drive especially if you don't make the ride worse, or in some cases improve it!

As for the Boss shocks: We know nothing about them, but I assume they are probably Tokico's and I'm on record as stating that prefer the Koni's over D-specs having had them both. More than any other group the Ford guys seem to be married to "Ford" parts (even when they aren't really Ford parts). Hell most every part in the FR3 kit, actually every part, isn't actually a Ford part. The springs and bars are rebranded Eibach's. The dampers are Tokico housings and Multimatic did the valving specs--but I'm betting didn't build the shocks though I can't prove that. And you know, the thing I hated most about the Shelby was those FR3 dampers. We improved the ride and handling both dumping those (which is the first thing we did).

Ever come up to stopped traffic on the highway in a curve when you are going 60 mph. You will be very glad you spent the money then. I went with the FRPP handling pack and there is a world of difference. Body roll and nose dive are pretty much gone. And the ride is great.

are 3.73 gears optimal for tracking conditions? randy pobst was saying he had to be in 3rd, if it was in 3.55's or even 3.31, allowing him to be in 2nd to get more power before shifts needed could help, no?

but the fact that the cars vary by $26K and the mustang mainly needs a different set of shocks is **** good.

In the past, Ford used Koni adjustables for their cars that were aimed at track duty, like the SVO Mustangs.

So, maybe they will use the yellow Koni's on the boss.

I thought the same thing reading the article Sam, make you who would have won the head to head had there been even srt.t's installed on the mustang.

You know how i am, i couldn't wait that long. ;) I'll see about the Koni's.

Thx for the input Sam, so that means putting Koni SRT`s all around would be a great improvement for my car. No need to go with the adj. sports ones with the kind of driving i'm doing . I've got FRPP 1" drop on the car right now. thx Dan

My car is a 3.31 car because anything else would be too short and force me into 3rd gear when autocrossing on my Hoosiers. In fact the 3.73 is super short on stock tires, something like 60 mph max. Funny part is when you watch the video from Motor Trend you can see the M3 pull the Mustang because it's shifting so much. And I hear that they need 5th at the end of the 1/4. I think 3.73 is a hype setup more than anything and that 3.55 is probably the better drag gear. And I've very happy with my 3.31 for corner carving.