Correct I run the 35 mm offset on the 18 x 9.5s. 45 is a little tight to the strut but works. 15 would probably get close to the fenders but with enough camber might work.

Raining up here at BIR total buzzkill ........ hopefully will dry out this afternoon.

 

Bummer, I was wondering why you were posting...

 

Ack, that sucks man - hope it clears up!

 

Regarding the 255 hoosiers: just be wary of the reduction in tire diameter. Gonna increase your revs quite a bit. Might need to rethink your shifting strategy

 

Black Enkei 35mm offset:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...#ht_4758wt_939

 

That's a square setup. I think you want staggered F 9.5 R 10.5 widths.

 

According to TireRack, who talked to Enkei, there is no 18x10.5 in a +38 Black. Only Silver. They do have it in +15, but sticks out over an inch from the fender lip.

I have a set of the 18x10.5 PF01 +38 silver.

Just an fyi,

Dave

 

That is correct - no black with a 10" or 10.5" width.

 

Sure don't. Squares the way to go, allows at least F/R swaps, and the outside corners tend to go quick up front, not so much with the rears.

 

OK.

 

Agreed and the most important, faster. Who in WC or GrandAm runs staggered? Nobody!

Dave

 

Who in Grand Am or WC drives a street Boss? Nobody! Cars have completely different suspension in case you haven't noticed. Why did Ford put a staggered setup on them when they could have put a square setup? Ford has stated they were designed for a 1-1.5" staggered setup. You guys certainly know more than me but I'm sticking with what Ford designed.

 

Designed specifically for UNDERSTEER, which is by far the safest thing to dial into a street performance car, no matter what the assumed skill of the driver base (ie, you might think the average Boss driver is a better driver, but I'll bet a fair amount are just posers...just like any other 'image' car).
This Mustang platform loves a square setup, and it'll fit 275+ on the front with the correct wheel size and offset (Strano runs 315 Hoosiers up front for auot-x).

Going to a square setup gives less understeer in nearly every situation, so you have to be more comfortable with some tuck-in on trailing throttle, or trail braking. Not generally something the average driver on a decreasing radius offramp is ready to deal with.

 

Much better explanation. I've read all the reviews, especially the ones from the LS media event, and I thought the words of the day were balanced and neutral?

 

Perhaps on the stock tires, which I understand are quite good, but for aggressive UTQG 100-150 tires, you'll likely outdrive the fronts first if they're just 255s, and having a bit more on the road should help solve that.

440hp definitely demands a wide rear tire, but why not have that same big tire helping with turn in? And the rotation thing is not a small matter when you go through several thousand dollars of tires a year. Every last bit helps.

 

Thanks for the explanations. I'm still not totally convinced (for my level anyway) but I look forward to finding out for myself. There's a Solo 2 event close to my home in mid July that I was thinking about attending but I'm not sure my car will be here in time. This would be my first autox.

 

All true statements and also true for all Mustangs ......before the Boss. I still have a hard time getting this car to push even with a 305 out back. I slid through 10 sideways yesterday corrected it and went to go again and she started to go again so had to just let it collect....this was just from turn in with very little throttle input. Gave the spectators quite the show lol. You can create oversteer on demand in the Boss. I'm sorry but I disagree that this car is setup to understeer. It simply isn't.

 

The BOSS has been dubbed as “A race car with a license plate”, which for the most part is true. There are a few compromises to sell the car to the average driver. One area is tuning the car to be “neutrally” biased towards understeer or push. This is done with a combination of staggered tire sizes and spring rates. When the average drive is over their head in a curve it is safer for the car to have understeer and push the front tires rather than have the back end come around and then have the driver lift off the gas and have the back come around faster. In an oversteer situation the average driver has not practiced keeping their foot on the gas and steering out of the back end slide. So the car manufacturers bias their cars to understeer or push. Changing the wheels to be square on all four corners will reduce this designed in bias. Also adjusting the shock stiffness front to rear can also accomplish some of the same effect."

Near the end of the 2012 BOSS 302 article in the August 2011 issue of 5.0 magazine there is a description of the suspension setups for the Base BOSS and the Laguna Seca BOSS.

Quote:

In the end, the Boss 302 and Laguna Seca received the following suspension hardware:

Base GT - Front Spring 21.5; Rear Spring 27.33; Front Bar 34; Rear Bar 20
Brake Pack - Front Spring 23; Rear Spring 29.2; Front Bar 35; Rear Bar 22
BOSS - Front Spring 26; Rear Spring 32.5; Front Bar 35; Rear Bar 25
Laguna - Front Spring 24; Rear Spring 33.5; Front Bar 35; Rear Bar 26


(Spring rates are in Newtons per millimeter, sway-bar diameters are in millimeters. Front lower control arm bushings are common in all Mustangs; the Mustang GT uses a softer rear lower control arm bushing than all others.)

Generally things get stiffer as expected when moving from a Mustang GT to the track-happy Laguna Seca, except for the lower front spring rates on the Laguna Seca. Kevin Groot (Boss chassis engineer) explains, noting “The Laguna tune is all about handling the massive rear tire, also, because it has a more aggressive [tire] compound, the Laguna has a little more understeer margin. That’s because the tires come up to little bit different temps and you have to manage it a little bit better. If you were to make the Laguna as balanced as the base car, there’d potentially be times where novices would be in trouble. We don’t want that, so we got a little bit more (understeer) margin in that car.

Unquote

 

True dat.

 

I hope I'm not chopping you guy's thread too much here. I've just finished reading this thread and it seems the new boss still leaves a lot of room for improvements. (of course). So with the hefty initial price tag and the endless waiting for builds and deliveries, then the upgrades after deliveries, would it be wiser to build a base 5.0 and diy? I understand that it of course is not a boss. But couldn't you get the same track results for less money out of a built gt? Just asking out of curiosity because not everyone will be able to buy a boss and/or be able to upgrade it afterwards.