Thoughts on suspension

Looking for info and opinions on future suspension setup. Lowering springs seem to be the better route money wise-- $130-$200 for all 4 (i.e. Ford Racing, Eibach). OR, I was also looking at a coil over conversion setup for the whole car $300-$400 for both front and rear kits. On a daily driver that will only see limited track duty, and a good amount of mountain(The FUN kind!!!) and highway driving, would the coil overs be worth it? Or, would I be better off, saving some money and just get the lowering springs?

Thanks everyone!

Reply to
Christopher Wall
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My opinion, Coilovers are nifty and provide adjustability but are also expensive to buy initially and replace later on. For a daily driver get a good set of lowering springs and at the same time, performance shocks and struts. More bang for the buck.

Reply to
Mark

just get some good lowering springs and struts/shocks. The difference will be amazing.

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Reply to
Rein

How far do you want to go? What is your major complaint with the existing suspension?

One thing you may want to do is get a set of subframe connectors. About $100 plus installation. That will help hold the car together better. Adding a K-Brace will really help too. So for about $300-$400 for the parts and install of these chassis stiffeners will help out the most.

When you get to the shocks and springs, coil-overs are great for real high speed control, but can be a little rough on a daily driver. Good springs to check out are the H&R Super Sport progressive rate springs (best springs on the planet!). They match up nicely with Koni's and the Tokico's. H&R springs will go about $230 on

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and the shocks and struts will run $100 or so each.

The other things you may want to look at to dial in the suspension would be upper and lower rear control arms, a strut tower brace and caster camber plates. There is about $800 in parts here give or take that will really dial in your ride!

Respectfully,

David

Reply to
David Eaton

Currently looking into STB, and C/C plates, Have made my own subframe connectors, will be welding them on soon. Surprisingly, the car came with a bar on the k-member! Boxed my upper control arms, just need new bushings. I just bought new shocks and struts recently (struts are awaiting the c/c plates). Basically, I drive somewhat aggresively 'sometimes', and a couple times a year at most, track use. I can easily push the car to it's current limits. I'm just wanting to setup my suspension to handle really well, and still be comfortably streetable for the ladies! OK, ok,...it's really for my sensitive backside.

I've heard of H&R, Ford Racing, Suspension Techniques, and Eibach. Anyone know any more, have prefferences? So far 1 vote for H&R. Thanks again guys!

Reply to
Christopher Wall

Aftermarket upper and lower control arms aren't very good at controlling side to side axle movement (rear steering) and can cause the rear suspension to bind. For the same money you can buy a good panhard bar that will lock your axle in place and not affect ride quality at all (no binding). Don't do half the job when you can do it right for the same cost. You won't believe how much improvement you can get from a panhard bar.

FYI With a panhard bar, you can keep the stock control arms as they no longer are used to control axle deflection.. only to locate axle fore and aft.

LJH

95GT

Reply to
Larry Hepinstall

Call Maximum Motorsports and ask them what springs match your new struts and shocks. I used H&R with Bilstiens, no upper control arm, MM lower adjustable, MM pan hard and MM torque arm. If a pan hard is used you may need to modify the catback.

Reply to
Gill

I vote for the H&R Super Sport Springs. They are the best, which is why Griggs Racing only uses H&R springs

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For a cool STB look at
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and select the chassis parts link. Aircraft quality Aluminum that is lighter and stronger than the steel ones. And it comes in assorted powdercoat finishes.

As for the C/C plates, Hotchkis makes them as does Steeda and MAC. BBK also does so you have a good assortment of choices there. I like the Hotchkis the best, but that was my personal preference.

For the driveability, well if you have adjustable shocks & struts, then you can soften them up for the easier driving. You do not want to get talked into a panhard bar if you ever want to have a soft type of ride. It will give you the best outright handling but you would get tired of it in a normal daily driver mode.

With the parts you have and are planning, and if you set it up right, your car may go farther than you can handle so be careful. Otherwise situp and enjoy the ride!

David

Reply to
David Eaton

I agree that a pan-hard is a good item, but not for daily driving. As for the after market control arms, the newer models are using spherical bushings that do not bind. Christopher said that he wanted to do some ocassional agressive driving but still needed a Ladies mode. I have aftermarket control arms with good springs etc on my 83 GT. I do not have a problem with rear steering. Are you drag racing? A friend of mine had the pan-hard setup on his 82 and told me he would never do that again, the ride became too stiff and not a lot of fun as a daily driver. Granted that could have been a number of things, but in subsequent versions with better control arms etc, the car was quite a bit smoother. Now this also could be due to the overall quality of the installation. But this is just filler info.

Look at the Griggs Racing site (www.griggsracing). These guys are the champs with Mustang suspension. Their first level upgrade does not include a pan hard system. This is what will handle mostly street and a little track time. It is less expensive than the entry pan-hard solution by almost $400.

The question becomes, how fast and how tight you want the car to turn. If Christopher is a top notch driver, that will dictate whether a pan-hard is need or not.

Reply to
David Eaton

What is this torque arm you mentioned, exactly? How/what does it do? Sounds like a serious piece of hardware though!

--Chris

Reply to
Christopher Wall

Hmm...Anyone else have any good/bad on the pan-hard bar? What about the aluminum spherical bushings connecting the upper control arms to the rear housing? Too much? I think I'll probably end up going with regular lowering springs. What about the weight-jacker lower arms(maximun motorsports?)?

As far as my driving skills...No professional by any means, but I feel I can drive fairly well. Or then again, maybe it's all been dumb luck! Learning from other peoples mistakes before I make them myself.

THANKS for all the info so far guys! Been on here about 2 weeks now and this seems like a great bunch of people.

--Chris

Reply to
Christopher Wall

The torque arm controls axle twist by clamping under and across the rear axle and the forward part of the "arm" is mounted to the body near the rear of the tranny. It's used with a panhard bar and the upper control arm is removed all together, making it a THREE link. The stock four link uses the upper C/A to control axle twist AND side to side body deflection, sometimes causing bind. The stock suspension allows the body to move from side to side, (push horizontally a couple of times quickly on your rear quarter panel) see if it doesn't wiggle like jello. Some like that soft springy feel on the street, HA! when my rear wheels hit the corners, I don't want my back seat to keep going. If a panhard is TOO ruff for the street, then give me 80 grit. Oh, and the 05 has a panhard, go figure? I love my three link.

Reply to
Gill

I've had a panhard bar on my car for years. I drive my car everywhere.. even to get groceries. The panhard bar does not negatively affect anything. It rides beautifully, is perfectly quiet, and the car handles like its on rails.

Mybe you could explain the reasons its not good for daily driving? In years of driving I don't know of any.

LJH

95GT

Reply to
Larry Hepinstall

Let me expand that response a little.. IF your friend was using aftermarket control arms AND a panhard bar I completely understand why the ride was stiff. They were working against each other and binding the suspension (know this from experience). With a panhard bar and stock control arms the ride is same as stock.

A panhard bar is NOT for drag racing, it's for street handling, autocross, and the like. If you've ever put your Stang into a hard corner (or drift), the G forces load the axle and can push it sideways up to 2". This loading is variable and unpredictable and causes significant rear steering. The big problem happens at the end of the corner when the side forces start to diminish and the axle tries to snap back. This unpredictable motion and subsequent rebounds makes for a very squirrelly handling car. You get a weird out of control feeling coming out of hard corners. A panhard bar locks the axle in place so it cant move sideways without restricting up and down movement. The difference going into and coming out of a hard corner couldn't be more dramatic. The transitions are perfectly smooth with no wiggle whatsoever (even in 4 wheel drifts).

Having first gone with aftermarket control arms (which help this problem somewhat), I have learned that for the same or less money you can have a complete solution to the problem with no negative effects.. even on a daily driver. I would never drive a Mustang hard without one.

BTW, the new 05 Mustangs will come with panhard bars standard.

LJH

95GT

mountain(The

Reply to
Larry Hepinstall

what kind of mustang?

reason i ask is that i will not lower my 04 cobra below the stock ride height, it even scrapes on bumps now, and it is my daily driver

whereas my 96 gt could have prolly done well with some lowering

Reply to
Christopher Shea

"Larry Hepinstall" wrote in a message:

This statement is incorrect. The panhard bar is used on some 4 link setups. A friend of mine has a 77 Vega with a 4 link setup, and his has a panhard bar. This is a drag race only car. A lot of the newer 4 link setups are using a wishbone, instead of the panhard bar.

Gary

Reply to
GEB

What an elite group! LOL, let's see,one drives a pos vega,one drives a pos triumph and you drive a pos pinto! LOL

Reply to
winze

"winze" wrote in a message:

Yea! And they are all lighter and faster than anything you will ever own. Ooooh, that's right, you don't race, you just read about it in your magazines, and your an expert because you live near a few NASCAR shops.

It seems the only time you post here is to try and make fun of people. It gets old after awhile.

Gary

*** 50,000 comedians are out of work, and WINZE is trying to be one! ***
Reply to
GEB

wow, you must have some huge bumps in your area. I think the clearance on my stock 03 cobra is very good. I had a dropped 95GT before this (about 1.5" drop) and that thing would scrape way more than my 03.

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Reply to
Rein

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