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2011-2014 Mustangs
Driveline/Suspension
Suspension thoughts and suggestions!
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<blockquote data-quote="sur_real1" data-source="post: 15546235" data-attributes="member: 42850"><p>I was in your shoes late last year with how to start setting up my chassis to make it more stable, handle squat and dive more gracefully, and tighten up my turning. I spent hours upon hours researching how to get what I wanted with a limited budget out of my S197. I've done this for previous chassis's, but the S197 is pretty different.</p><p></p><p>After calling local shops, maximum motorsports, steeda, and BMR, I finally came up with a small list of parts to help me along my path (not the end list).</p><p></p><p>Parts I went with:</p><p>BMR Watts Link Rod End Link</p><p>BMR LCA, Adjustable UCA</p><p>BMR Relocation Brackets</p><p>BMR 5 way adjustable front sway bar</p><p>Steeda Pro-Action Shocks/Struts</p><p>Steeda Sport Springs 175lb's all around (still soft for me)</p><p></p><p>After installing all of the parts, there was some adjustment that needed to happen, mainly due to the lightness of the springs and the size of my tires.</p><p></p><p>Watts link adjustments:</p><p>The BMR unit is retardedly adjustable. At the end of the day, the best adjustment for my car was setting the roll center as low as possible. Since the Steeda springs didn't lower the center of gravity that far, my roll center was now below my center of gravity quite a bit. What this has done has allowed the rear end to "rotate" with the front, rather than "swing" when turning, giving me plenty of grip in the longer sweeping turns, but not quite as tight feeling in the short turns. I have two options to alleviate this as I'm not increasing my roll center:</p><p> 1. Stiffer rear springs and better dampers, i.e. coil overs with adjustable damping or going to a 200 to 240 lb spring.</p><p> 2. Upgrade my rear sway bar to a boss or adjustable rear sway bar.</p><p>I'm opting for option 1 for the moment as I'd really like a much more controlled rear end, but maintain good traction in undulating road conditions. Making the sway (stabilizer) bar thicker will most definitely give me additional rigidity in the rear and a tighter turn in feel, but I have more opportunity to loose traction in turns that are also off camber.</p><p></p><p>Lower control arm adjustment:</p><p>This really comes down to your driving style. With the LCA's facing down towards the front and up towards the rear, you'll get more wheel spin when launching and turns may feel tighter, but control may be unpredictable at the limit. With the LCA's facing the opposite direction, launches at the drag strip will be better as the suspension on the rear will be loading up and pushing the car up in the rear and forward. For daily driving, or open track, I have come to understand that the more level the LCA's are, the happier you'll be.</p><p></p><p>Front sway bar:</p><p>This one I played with quite a bit, and I think it's the most interesting one as I can see myself playing with this bar more and more than any other adjustment on the car. Tire size, traction rating, and ability to just plain stick play rolls in when I started to adjust this piece. Funny enough, I've got it on the "next to stiffest" setting. So far, my 245 Bridgestone Potenza S04's (which are still brand new) are holding up, but as they wear down, the front will start to push and I will either soften the front sway bar or buy new tires pre-maturely. Of note, I run a staggered tire setup with 275 Bridgestones out back. The front tires have a tread width of 9" where as the rear tread width is 10", so not a huge difference, but having the rear a suspension softer than the front does set me up more for understeer as the front tires lose their grip.</p><p></p><p>Some videos I watched on suspension to help me along:</p><p>Dive and squat explained by Cortex:</p><p>[MEDIA=youtube]UhjQXJ6Yegs[/MEDIA]</p><p>Flat ride explained by fat cat suspension:</p><p>[MEDIA=youtube]ZR0W0XyxN_Q[/MEDIA]</p><p></p><p>I have serious plans to upgrade to some nice JRZ coil overs. I'm still on the fence to get away from a staggered tire setup, but I do want to run 275's up front. Whether I go 275 out back or at least a 295, which would be a similar setup to what I have now, but wider all around.</p><p></p><p>Just my .02.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="sur_real1, post: 15546235, member: 42850"] I was in your shoes late last year with how to start setting up my chassis to make it more stable, handle squat and dive more gracefully, and tighten up my turning. I spent hours upon hours researching how to get what I wanted with a limited budget out of my S197. I've done this for previous chassis's, but the S197 is pretty different. After calling local shops, maximum motorsports, steeda, and BMR, I finally came up with a small list of parts to help me along my path (not the end list). Parts I went with: BMR Watts Link Rod End Link BMR LCA, Adjustable UCA BMR Relocation Brackets BMR 5 way adjustable front sway bar Steeda Pro-Action Shocks/Struts Steeda Sport Springs 175lb's all around (still soft for me) After installing all of the parts, there was some adjustment that needed to happen, mainly due to the lightness of the springs and the size of my tires. Watts link adjustments: The BMR unit is retardedly adjustable. At the end of the day, the best adjustment for my car was setting the roll center as low as possible. Since the Steeda springs didn't lower the center of gravity that far, my roll center was now below my center of gravity quite a bit. What this has done has allowed the rear end to "rotate" with the front, rather than "swing" when turning, giving me plenty of grip in the longer sweeping turns, but not quite as tight feeling in the short turns. I have two options to alleviate this as I'm not increasing my roll center: 1. Stiffer rear springs and better dampers, i.e. coil overs with adjustable damping or going to a 200 to 240 lb spring. 2. Upgrade my rear sway bar to a boss or adjustable rear sway bar. I'm opting for option 1 for the moment as I'd really like a much more controlled rear end, but maintain good traction in undulating road conditions. Making the sway (stabilizer) bar thicker will most definitely give me additional rigidity in the rear and a tighter turn in feel, but I have more opportunity to loose traction in turns that are also off camber. Lower control arm adjustment: This really comes down to your driving style. With the LCA's facing down towards the front and up towards the rear, you'll get more wheel spin when launching and turns may feel tighter, but control may be unpredictable at the limit. With the LCA's facing the opposite direction, launches at the drag strip will be better as the suspension on the rear will be loading up and pushing the car up in the rear and forward. For daily driving, or open track, I have come to understand that the more level the LCA's are, the happier you'll be. Front sway bar: This one I played with quite a bit, and I think it's the most interesting one as I can see myself playing with this bar more and more than any other adjustment on the car. Tire size, traction rating, and ability to just plain stick play rolls in when I started to adjust this piece. Funny enough, I've got it on the "next to stiffest" setting. So far, my 245 Bridgestone Potenza S04's (which are still brand new) are holding up, but as they wear down, the front will start to push and I will either soften the front sway bar or buy new tires pre-maturely. Of note, I run a staggered tire setup with 275 Bridgestones out back. The front tires have a tread width of 9" where as the rear tread width is 10", so not a huge difference, but having the rear a suspension softer than the front does set me up more for understeer as the front tires lose their grip. Some videos I watched on suspension to help me along: Dive and squat explained by Cortex: [MEDIA=youtube]UhjQXJ6Yegs[/MEDIA] Flat ride explained by fat cat suspension: [MEDIA=youtube]ZR0W0XyxN_Q[/MEDIA] I have serious plans to upgrade to some nice JRZ coil overs. I'm still on the fence to get away from a staggered tire setup, but I do want to run 275's up front. Whether I go 275 out back or at least a 295, which would be a similar setup to what I have now, but wider all around. Just my .02. [/QUOTE]
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Driveline/Suspension
Suspension thoughts and suggestions!
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