SLA Front Suspension

[N/Angel]

so on my never ending quest on getting my GT to handle like I want it to around tight Swiss roads and the German Autobahn I stumbled across the SLA front suspensions.

up to now I have only found the Agent47 kit, two different Griggs kits and the FR500 kit which is probably an unobtanium.

what are the pros and cons of these kits?
what are the differences between the two Griggs kits?
could the shocks/springs be changed out for a custom KW setup to match my rears?
anyone got any of these kits installed and can post or email me some detailed pictures? All pics I found on the vendors websites are kinda small and just an overall pic, no details from different angles.

appreciate any insight I can get :beer:
thanks
Ana

 

[WutApex]

I don't think there's too many ppl running SLAs as it's pretty hardcore race gear and the overall cost. The only one that I can think of is RaceBronco...he has the Agent 47 SLA IIRC...

 

[98 Saleen Cobra]

The difference between the two griggs kits is the Aluminum spindles which are like 3k and the Koni racing shocks which have aluminum housings etc and are like another 800 bucks over the standard Koni's.. Out of the SLA choices I'd choose either Griggs or Agent47 and don't change the shocks to match the rears.. These two companies choose Koni and Penske for a reason.

 

[N/Angel]

These two companies choose Koni and Penske for a reason.

pretty much every racecar on a variety of racing series uses KW, some use Koni and I'm pretty sure I have not seen one Penske setups out there.

so I'm sticking to KW if somehow possible but want to improve the rest of the front end

don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Koni or Penske are not good, but KW has endless experience when it comes to coilover setups, proven on Nürburgring and other tracks around Europe

 

[gmsux]

I've done some reading on SLA which suggests it might be worth only 5% in reducing lap times vs your normal MM kemember/CO setup. Since it wasn't 50% better I didn't consider spending the nearly $5k any longer. A set of Hoosier A6's and more seat time will do more for me than that.

 

[N/Angel]

do you mind sharing where you found this info?

I'm staying on street tires, probably going to go with Michelin Pilot Sports in spring.
A sticky race tire is not an option for me, I have no way to fit 4 wheels in the car to bring to the track

 

[gmsux]

corner-carvers is where I was reading it. You have to look for the threads that start about 08'. The earlier threads tought they were better than they were, probably due to not much track time with them around 06'.

 

[98 Saleen Cobra]

The plus's with the SLA just isnt' about the handling, it's about the tire wear as well. If you do a search on this forum there is a good bit of info from Racebronco, and if you go on A47's site it breaks it down as well.

 

[gmsux]

I can see tire wear being improved. For some folks the SLA is a good purchase and I'm don't mean to say it's not but be sure of what the benefits are and how those fit you needs before dropping that amount of cash!

 

[racebronco2]

what are the pros and cons of these kits?
what are the differences between the two Griggs kits?
could the shocks/springs be changed out for a custom KW setup to match my rears?
anyone got any of these kits installed and can post or email me some detailed pictures? All pics I found on the vendors websites are kinda small and just an overall pic, no details from different angles.

appreciate any insight I can get :beer:
thanks
Ana

The reason i bought my sla was it was 2999.00 when i bought it back in 2005?. My car is a street car and now i am about equal to vipers, zo6 vettes and gt2 and gt3 porsches. Very few street mustangs can keep up and in fact i don't know of one at this time. Tire wear is so much improved now. Stability is so much improved it's gives the driver confidence that he could keep up to many of the supercars. The weight difference is about 24 lbs lighter then the mm front suspension. I can run 315's on all 4 corners of the car. I can change my front swaybar to any size wether it be from a v6, 4.6 gt or the steeda swaybar. You cannot due that with the griggs unless you want to shell out several hundred dollars each time. The bumpsteer stack is maybe 1" compare to the griggs which i've seen at 2".

The con's, the front end tramsmitts all the road noises being that all the attachments are solid heim joints. Periodically the bushing in the shocks need to be replaced.

Bruce has the agent47 on his race car and if i remember correctly " you don't know how well a mustang handles until you've driven one with an sla front suspension."

 

[racebronco2]

I've done some reading on SLA which suggests it might be worth only 5% in reducing lap times vs your normal MM kemember/CO setup. Since it wasn't 50% better I didn't consider spending the nearly $5k any longer. A set of Hoosier A6's and more seat time will do more for me than that.

5% less like a really low number as far as laps times are consider until you do the math. AAA speedway is about 2:00.00 for most modded street mustangs, 5% less would mean a time of 1:54.00. Those times are the times that the best street car zo6's are doing and equal to many of the race cars.

Generally speaking of course.

 

[99COBRA2881]

Improved tire wear by how much? I mean is it going to get another weekend out of a set of race tires? I doubt it. It seems if a mod allows a race car to be pushed harder the tire wear goes along for the ride.

Either way I still want an SLA.

 

[racebronco2]

I am talking about street cars. I always used to wear the outside edge and usually had to get the tires switched around twice before the centers wore out, even though i ran the same size on all 4 corners. I now only have to have them swapped out once before the tire needs to be replaced.

It's true tire wear goes up with improved grip, having confidence in your car is also improved greatly. When pushing your car to the limit with the sla it doesn't feel like your on the ragged edge.

 

[svtguy]

Over the winter I converted my MM C/O suspension to SLA on my 2000 Cobra R by adding an upper control arm to the K-member. I'm still in the tuning stage(spring rates). Here is my take on SLA.

1. Better high speed braking due to running less static camber.

2. Smoother feel/steering feed back on rough tracks. Feels same on the street.

3. Increased turn in responce.

4. Faster lap times? Probably.

JUST adding SLA to a well designed coil over system(maximum motorsports) won't drasticly drop lap times.

Having SLA will allow you to install wider front wheels/tires which will increase front grip and allow for quicker lap times. I can run a 12inch wide wheel on the front now.

Paul.

 

[99COBRA2881]

Would you share some pics of this? Ive thought about this being possible but now Im def. thinking more about it.

What spindles did you use?

Thanks,
Anthony

 

[N/Angel]

The reason i bought my sla was it was 2999.00 when i bought it back in 2005?. My car is a street car and now i am about equal to vipers, zo6 vettes and gt2 and gt3 porsches. Very few street mustangs can keep up and in fact i don't know of one at this time. Tire wear is so much improved now. Stability is so much improved it's gives the driver confidence that he could keep up to many of the supercars. The weight difference is about 24 lbs lighter then the mm front suspension. I can run 315's on all 4 corners of the car. I can change my front swaybar to any size wether it be from a v6, 4.6 gt or the steeda swaybar. You cannot due that with the griggs unless you want to shell out several hundred dollars each time. The bumpsteer stack is maybe 1" compare to the griggs which i've seen at 2".

The con's, the front end tramsmitts all the road noises being that all the attachments are solid heim joints. Periodically the bushing in the shocks need to be replaced.

Bruce has the agent47 on his race car and if i remember correctly " you don't know how well a mustang handles until you've driven one with an sla front suspension."

front end noises don't matter to me, I stripped the car down to the sheetmetal, I have a ton of noises from everywhere and they don't bother me, so reading your summary, there seem to be no cons for me then :rockon:

do you have any pictures of the Agent47 SLA uninstalled and installed?
I looked through their site but there's only a few pics that don't show much.

thanks for your input :beer:

 

[svtguy]

Would you share some pics of this? Ive thought about this being possible but now Im def. thinking more about it.

What spindles did you use?

Thanks,
Anthony

Used the stock spindles with an upper ball joint adapter that can be bought from griggs or whitby motorcars. Also reused the MM bilstein C/O struts/springs and just upped the spring rate.

 

[98 Saleen Cobra]

Anyone wanna donate to the my "Need a SLA setup program"? If so PM me for Paypal details lol. But in all seriousness it is an awesome setup.. I've been looking more and more into the A47 setup. I really like the Penske shocks vs Griggs Koni setup. It's a big difference in price like everyone says though.. All I need in a k-member and control arms and I'll have a nice setup for the front. Which is about 1800 through griggs. Or 4k for a A47 SLA.. I wish A47 had a deal where you can buy parts separetly. Like just buy the k-member and lower control arms and run it like that for a bit then upgrade the rest instead of swallowing a 4k bill all at once. lol.

 

[gmsux]

If you have a chance, post up some pics. If there is a way to get these bennies w/o a complete conversion that would be very interesting.

Used the stock spindles with an upper ball joint adapter that can be bought from griggs or whitby motorcars. Also reused the MM bilstein C/O struts/springs and just upped the spring rate.

Carlos,

It's true, 5% is more meaningful than I was thinking but with A47 at $5k, just can't go there. You're fortunate you got yours when the price was lower!! :rockon:

 

[N/Angel]

Anyone wanna donate to the my "Need a SLA setup program"? If so PM me for Paypal details lol. But in all seriousness it is an awesome setup.. I've been looking more and more into the A47 setup. I really like the Penske shocks vs Griggs Koni setup. It's a big difference in price like everyone says though.. All I need in a k-member and control arms and I'll have a nice setup for the front. Which is about 1800 through griggs. Or 4k for a A47 SLA.. I wish A47 had a deal where you can buy parts separetly. Like just buy the k-member and lower control arms and run it like that for a bit then upgrade the rest instead of swallowing a 4k bill all at once. lol.

I just started a "I need an SLA setup" piggybank

buying the kit in pieces would definitely help, 4k is a big junk of money :uh oh: