Coil Overs installed on GT500

[HISSMAN]

We didn't corner weight it, no scales at the house. Is it worth it to pay for a corner balancing and will it screw up my perfect ride height that we obtained when I am in the car?

It becomes a question of form over function.

IMO, on the street I would go with the level ride height.

 

[ac427cobra]

Jeff:

I'm just jerking your gherkin. oke: ;-)

Dave:

You should be fine just driving around on the street. But once you start thinking about taking it to a track, (road course) I think you would be well served corner balancing it? For all intent and purposes, you will be able to retain the ride height you want. It may just be 1/2" higher here and a 1/2" lower there. That's all.

Then when you feel how better balanced the car is, (especially with the new upgraded suspension) once it's been corner balanced, you'll wonder how you were able to drive it in it's stock configuration! epper:

 

[broeli]

Corner balancing is worth it if you plan on tracking it on a road course or autox. If it's just a street and drag car I wouldn't waste the money on corner balancing. Just like I did on my Evo you can have it balanced and still have the ride height you want or close to it. They adjust the load on each spring with the bottom spanner to push weight where needed. The height is adjusted seperately but rotating the entire assembly either up or down.. At least on most good coilover setups it is that way.
On my car one corner is about 1/4" higher than it was before it was corner balanced with me out of the car.

 

[Dave07997S]

Hey Dave, sorry for your experience with GC and Jay. Mustangs are such a small part of his business as it is mainly BMW M3's and such...with such a large market availability I don't know why he would act like this...either way the GC kit is an awesome kit. I feel kind of bad as I was one of the few people who actually referred people to GC.

Your car is sick man...:bowdown: I was leaning towards Torch Red, but that Performance white is so clean...

Check your PM.
Dave

 

[dgussin1]

Thanks guys. I am going to look into a corner balance...I'll wait till I get out to chicago, though. I can't keep doing stuff to the car or I'll never leave. lol

Dave, It was not too bad dealing with GC, I got what I wanted, just a week after it was promised. I am sure he's sold 1000X more BMW kits than Mustangs, so it makes sense. I am happy though. PM back at cha

 

[MachME]

wow very nice, bet that cost a pretty penny!

 

[chuckstang]

Dgussin-Do you plan on tracking the car or autoxing it??? why did you not just go with traditional lowering springs?

 

[Captain Beyond]

I am getting 19" Iforged Aero's or Classic's (brushed center with polished lip), I can't decide, but I am ready to order.

Have you looked at the Ford GT wheels? In the latest issue of 5.0 there is an 06 Stang with them and they look sick!

 

[dgussin1]

Dgussin-Do you plan on tracking the car or autoxing it??? why did you not just go with traditional lowering springs?

If the opportunity arises and I am able to do it, sure I'd go on a road course. I am with Bruce on the autoX thing, it's for cars with no balls. If I am going to beat the shit out of my car, it'll be doing it at 120+mph.

There are a few reasons I did not go with lowering springs. 1) nobody makes any for the GT500. 2) if you are going to lower your car and increase the spring rate you need to have shocks and struts that are dampened to handle the additional force. So in essence I skipped the improperly dampened setup and jumped to the correct setup. Also, as you can see in the pics, the factory stuff is a coil on strut, and a spring in the rear. I kept the same configuration, but with better stuff.

Have you looked at the Ford GT wheels? In the latest issue of 5.0 there is an 06 Stang with them and they look sick!

The GT wheels are only 18". Also, I want to drop some weight with forged wheels.

 

[Jackie Chan]

i think the wheels look a lot better now. but im sure a nice set of 19's or 20's will look even better. you could get real Ford GT wheels, they are 19's, dont know if the offset would work, but i get tons of compliments on mine(aftermarket 18x10s and 18x9s)

 

[chuckstang]

If the opportunity arises and I am able to do it, sure I'd go on a road course. I am with Bruce on the autoX thing, it's for cars with no balls. If I am going to beat the shit out of my car, it'll be doing it at 120+mph.

There are a few reasons I did not go with lowering springs. 1) nobody makes any for the GT500. 2) if you are going to lower your car and increase the spring rate you need to have shocks and struts that are dampened to handle the additional force. So in essence I skipped the improperly dampened setup and jumped to the correct setup. Also, as you can see in the pics, the factory stuff is a coil on strut, and a spring in the rear. I kept the same configuration, but with better stuff.


The GT wheels are only 18". Also, I want to drop some weight with forged wheels.

How much did you pay total for the whole kit and how difficut was it to install??
Do you think somone will eventually sell a kit that is not adjustable anotherwords probably cheaper but essentially do the same thing, lowering the car with proper dampening and such?

I do love the fact though on your setup how you can go from street to strip to road course!!

I realize the front is no longer a standard spring setup like previous mustangs but there must be a poor mans way out as far as dropping the car safely? The rear is really the only half that needs lowering in my opinion but the front just needs stiffening up to reduce that terrible nose dive and roll. sorry to ramble

 

[ac427cobra]

Do you think somone will eventually sell a kit that is not adjustable anotherwords probably cheaper but essentially do the same thing, lowering the car with proper dampening and such?

Chuck:

The reason people put aftermarket suspension on cars is for adjustability. You need to be able to adjust ride height ALONG with individual wheel weight. That cannot be done with fixed springs that have no adjustment.
:coolman:

 

[dgussin1]

How much did you pay total for the whole kit and how difficut was it to install??

I paid 1599 + shipping and tax since we are both in CA. It included, shocks, assembled coil over struts, springs, adjustable perch, camber/caster plates.

Do you think somone will eventually sell a kit that is not adjustable anotherwords probably cheaper but essentially do the same thing, lowering the car with proper dampening and such?

KW sells a kit like that; it's called variant 1...but they don't have the specifics for the GT500 yet.

I do love the fact though on your setup how you can go from street to strip to road course!!

this setup isn't going to be the greatest for the strip, but I knew that going into it. I haven't played around with ride height, so I am not sure if I can get it to transfer weight better. Right now the car stay pretty flat on launching.

I realize the front is no longer a standard spring setup like previous mustangs but there must be a poor mans way out as far as dropping the car safely?

There is nothing wrong with just putting lowering springs on the strut. It will just not perform to it's full potential.

The rear is really the only half that needs lowering in my opinion but the front just needs stiffening up to reduce that terrible nose dive and roll. sorry to ramble

the whole car benefited from a stiffer suspension. The stock configuration is really nice though. Even though the front end dipped down on hard braking, it still bit into the ground and stopped the car quickly.

 

[broeli]

If the opportunity arises and I am able to do it, sure I'd go on a road course. I am with Bruce on the autoX thing, it's for cars with no balls. If I am going to beat the shit out of my car, it'll be doing it at 120+mph.

.

:dw: For cars with no balls? Do you speak from experience? I doubt it. I've ran cars with huge power on autox and it is a blast. I guess you've never watched people like Danny Popp and his Z06. It's unbelievable. It is pretty common for me to reach about 75mph+ at a regional autox in my Evo which only has 350rwhp. Autox'ing is fun in about any car and is a good first step before road course racing. It is a little safer to learn the limits of your car in a somewhat safe parking lot versus a track where you might hit a tire wall, etc. You should see some of the cars that we have autox locally.
Granted autox'ing is a little more fun in a well balanced lighter car, but there are plenty of people that do well and have fun in heavier more unbalanced cars.
Autox is cheaper and easier on parts also A 4000lb car is going to wreck havoc on the tires, brakes, etc. over a 20 minute session. I gaurantee you you'll get brake fade and will need to address your brake fluid, pads, and brake cooling. There are other issues that would need addressed also.
With autox you can learn what your car is capable of AND have fun without as many worries. It costs $25 to run autox. It's about $300-500 for a two day track event...not to mention the added cost of parts that will need replaced. Just something to think about for those that have never done autox or track events.

 

[ac427cobra]

:dw: For cars with no balls? Do you speak from experience? I doubt it. I've ran cars with huge power on autox and it is a blast. I guess you've never watched people like Danny Popp and his Z06. It's unbelievable. It is pretty common for me to reach about 75mph+ at a regional autox in my Evo which only has 350rwhp. Autox'ing is fun in about any car and is a good first step before road course racing. It is a little safer to learn the limits of your car in a somewhat safe parking lot versus a track where you might hit a tire wall, etc. You should see some of the cars that we have autox locally.
Granted autox'ing is a little more fun in a well balanced lighter car, but there are plenty of people that do well and have fun in heavier more unbalanced cars.
Autox is cheaper and easier on parts also A 4000lb car is going to wreck havoc on the tires, brakes, etc. over a 20 minute session. I gaurantee you you'll get brake fade and will need to address your brake fluid, pads, and brake cooling. There are other issues that would need addressed also.
With autox you can learn what your car is capable of AND have fun without as many worries. It costs $25 to run autox. It's about $300-500 for a two day track event...not to mention the added cost of parts that will need replaced. Just something to think about for those that have never done autox or track events.

I'm not going to put words in Dave's mouth but I think he's eluding to a comment I made in reference to autocrossing. I've seen cars like an S2000 or a modded Civic Spank the living bejeebers out of Vipers and Z06's. Why? Because most autocross courses are set up in areas with limited space, have tight turns and no real areas for fast straights. I did ONE autocross in my life and I hated it. The first time I went to a real racetrack and drove my car on it I thought I died and went to heaven. You won't see many S2000's or Civics at the race track because it can't be that much fun being passed by everybody? ;-)

I'm not saying autocross can't be fun. If you have the right car and you're accustomed to it, I'm sure it could be very entertaining to a certain degree? If you like autocross, you owe it to yourself to see how much fun you can have on a road course?!:idea:

 

[broeli]

:thumbsup: No doubt. Road course racing is fun. As a matter of fact I'm going to Putnam Park the first weekend of October for a NASA event.
I guess it really does depend on your region on how fun you can have autox'ing. In my area the courses are big streched out over a two parking lot area. Our locations are pretty nice and we actually held two Cen-Div (Divisional) races this year. The average turnout is about 130 cars with every mix of car. Every autox I did this year required a 3rd gear shift. We also often have multi-national champs such as Danny Popp setting up the courses which is another plus
I know some people stick to autox just because of the cost and risk involved in road course racing. Nothing like having the pedal nearly go to the floor when braking from 130mph :-D Most people that do HPDE 1,2 will likely not be pushing their car to the limit though. In road course events you get an instructor if you're in HPDE 1 which is a bonus for the newbie racer.

 

[WILDTHANG]

:dw:
Autox is cheaper and easier on parts also A 4000lb car is going to wreck havoc on the tires, brakes, etc. over a 20 minute session. I gaurantee you you'll get brake fade and will need to address your brake fluid, pads, and brake cooling. There are other issues that would need addressed also.
With autox you can learn what your car is capable of AND have fun without as many worries. It costs $25 to run autox. It's about $300-500 for a two day track event...not to mention the added cost of parts that will need replaced. Just something to think about for those that have never done autox or track events.

I would agree with you there, while I was at a AutoX, my friend was in a new C6 with two drivers. On a course than ran in the 1 minute range, after a couple laps during the driver change, I looked at his rotors and they were bright blue. This was on a low mile new car.

I ran an open track event at Thuinderhill with my wife's 05gt with 3000 miles on it, I ran 4 or 5 sessions. One session was with Randy Pobst driving , afterwards he told me it felt great, but that I need some good brake pads. When I took of my rear pads to replace with Hawks, the one pad was cracked in half and the other had barely anything there. 3000 miles on the car! My fuild was ok My my buddy cooked the fluid in his 05 and had to change / bleedout his system.

BTW Randy Pobst is a stud and can flat out attack a roadcourse. And he is a hell of a nice guy also!

I periodically run in a autocross here in N.Ca that takes place on the tarmack of an old AF base. I ran one event using my Terminator and two drivers. While riding shotgun, I had my eye on the tach and speedo. In the back straight we would hit over 80mph and we were on street tires and by far not the fastest out there. This group makes some great highspeed tracks out there. It was fun in my Terminator, steering with my right foot. ;-)

 

[WILDTHANG]

:thumbsup:
I know some people stick to autox just because of the cost and risk involved in road course racing. Nothing like having the pedal nearly go to the floor when braking from 130mph :-D

Check out these shots from my last time at the roadcourse :uh oh:

The Terminator got terminated!

 

[ac427cobra]

One session was with Randy Pobst driving , afterwards he told me it felt great, but that I need some good brake pads.

When I was at the VIR Audi event last November, Randy was our guest Pro Driver and he drove the Carrera GT. I'll tell you, that cat can flat drive! :bowdown:

Sorry to hear about the incident with your Terminator. When on track, things can happen VERY fast and you can get in trouble before you even know it?! Good luck with getting it back together! :thumbsup:

 

[broeli]

Sorry to hear about the incident with your Terminator. When on track, things can happen VERY fast and you can get in trouble before you even know it?! Good luck with getting it back together! :thumbsup:

Things can definitely happen fast. Even some autox courses pose risks. At a Cen-Div. event a few years ago I had a sawybar mount snap, which sent me into a spin hitting a fence and concrete block causing $10k in damage Suprisingly all the damage was cosmetic..no suspension or frame damage.