tom281

Ok thanks for the info!

jim010

Ordered my Koni orange. Should be here in a couple of weeks. Of course, not much of the driving season left to enjoy them. I may put them in after winter, as this car is my all weather daily driver.

Last1

You shouldn't wait to enjoy them! ...Especially if you DD it. I just finished my suspension and it completely changed my driving experience. I also DD mine.

jim010

The Konis are going in right now. Can't wait to see the difference.

dohc97

Waiting for your review. My Koni orange are going in on 9/1.

jim010

Well I sure f***ed up ...

The front struts are for the 05-09 cars. I had to pay them to put the old struts back on. Now I have to beg the place I bought them from to take these back and then order the right ones as they have a no return policy on special order items.

I am going to sit down and drink something really strong ...

jp1seattle

If they don't, just get the GT500 mounts.

jim010

Yes, I will go with those GT500 strut mounts. It will cut down on my losses.

I am reading that the GT500 mounts need to be installed turned 180 degrees to ensure proper alignment in order to not need camber bolts.

Is this so? I want to make sure I get this right this time.

jim010

GT500 mounts on the way. Hopefully by next Friday.

Looks like I just mount them as normal with the arrow pointing out as I am not lowering the car.

jim010

Front Koni struts are now in. Car feels much better. Back and forth pitching doesn't seem to be there anymore, but I only drove it home. Weekend road trip is coming up, so it will be a pleasure to drive it like this now.

Thanks for everyone's advice with the Konis and the GT500 strut mounts.

BTW, is there any performance advantage to the GT500 strut mounts?

Cheers

M3hunter

I had your same issue. Problem solved with KONI, great euro sport car driving feeling. Best upgrade to my '11GT

Mustanghammer

The problem with the OE non-adjustable shocks and struts that Ford installs is that they are too soft in both compression and rebound damping. As a result, our cars bounce up and down and side to side way too much. They make the car feel like big pillowly car from the 70's. Frankly, it is a disgrace that Ford chooses to use such poor quality dampers on Mustang. The Honda Accord Sport that we also have came from the factory with a proper set of shocks and struts. In fact, so did the 2010 Accord we had previously and so did the 02 Camry my 2012 Mustang replaces.


I looked at the Koni orange shocks for my 2012 Pony Package Mustang but I prefer to have some adjustability. The Koni yellows are too spendy so I shopped for a cheaper solution. I also wanted to add more front roll stiffness to the car without making it too stiff to drive on the street.


On the front I installed some low mileage take off Boss struts and springs. On the rear I put on some NOS SN95 Tokico Illuminas and left the stock V6 springs in place. I sourced everything off of Ebay for about $375. I am extremely pleased with this combination and now I can use all of the grip provided by the Continental DWs I installed earlier. I should add that my car also has a strut brace and I think these are a necessary upgrade if your mustang didn't come with one from Ford.


The stiffer front springs eliminated nose dive under braking without introducing an unacceptable amount of ride harshness. In addition, increasing front roll stiffness helps the car on corner exit. With the struts and shocks set on #3 compression and rebound damping is perfect. Ride float and the S197 side to side motions are gone. Bumps are dispatched instantly without upsetting the car's attitude mid corner. My Mustang feels like a performance car now.

SN95 shocks are about an inch shorter than the OE shocks and I had to make some spacers for the lower mount. But they were so cheap it was worth the extra effort. An alternative would have been a pair of Boss shocks but I wasn't finding them.


As others have mentioned, the OE strut mounts are PITA to deal with so be careful when taking them off the original struts. It would be worth buying new ones when doing this job.