Serious Question

So, I've had my 2016 Ford Mustang for a year now. I had switched from having a 2015 Dodge Challenger 6.4L, before that I had a 2013 Dodge Charger SRT8. I love my Mustang. Love the fact that there is so much available to customize it. But there are a few things that are bothering me. 1st is this clunking sound that I brought up to the forum over a year ago. Still hasn't gone away and it makes my car sound cheap. Has anyone found a fix for it? Will changing the fluid help? I want to go back to a one-piece driveshaft, but it makes the noise worse. Does changing out the half-shafts do anything to help? Also, the cheap paint Ford used on these vehicles. A rock can barely touch my car and its chipped all the way through. It looks like they just used one light coat of paint. The other thing is people who have added boost have complained about transmission slippage and or clutch failure. Is everyone just replacing the transmission or just the clutch and flywheel? I didn't have these problems with my Challenger, and I'm trying to keep from going back. I would love to upgrade this car and keep it forever. Love the look, the body, the lines, and curves. The interior is okay, but I can change a couple more things to be happy with it. What do you guys think? I respect your opinion and your info. I just want to know before I possibly dump 10-15K into it.

I have my car in the dealership right now for a clunking noise. I have a pretty good idea mine is the right front strut. I'm sorry if you cannot track your clunking down, that is really annoying. I would put a GO-Pro under your car and see if anything appears loose if you haven't already.
I'll tell you why I switched from Chrysler. I had a 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 with the Cummins. Loved that truck, but despite all the stories of it's famous reliability, I had problems with it. I had to replace the turbo at 70k miles. I am obsessed with paint and the Chrysler paint on that truck was thinner than a child's water color art project. It just deteriorated so fast all around, so I got out of it before it nickle and dimed me. Fast forward to last year, I wanted a Charger Scat Pack. I went to dealerships all around me and each one refused to order me one. They had so many unsold SRT8s they couldn't move. Basically after getting into a verbal confrontation with a sales manager, he blurted out to me that nobody was going to sell me a Scat Pack if SRT8s are sitting around, then told me to get the eff out of his dealership. So after those collective experiences, and being treated like dirt by Chrysler employees on multiple occasions, I decided I would look elsewhere and obviously ended up with a Mustang.
To answer your question, you can replace the stock clutch, throwout bearing, and flywheel with a sturdy aftermarket kit if you're worried about adding power to your car. That said, you don't need to, you can always drive it until the time comes to buy a new clutch. It will happen sooner or later, and sooner depending on your driving style. If you're slipping the clutch a little on 4,000rpm launches then yeah, you're going to need a new one sooner. There are plenty of people however running stock clutches with forced induction doing ok as well.
As far as replacing the MT-82 goes, I've heard more stories of MT-82s hanging with higher power than stories of them dying spectacular deaths. AS humans we tend to concentrate on the bad, and the MT-82 is not the most liked transmission for many reasons. I have a couple Mustang friends running 500whp and above on stock MT-82s and they're doing just fine. There are many Youtubers (thatdudeinblue for example) running forced induction on stock MT-82s. I think a lot of people go to the much more loved Tremec 6 speeds because, well, they have the money to. Those who cannot afford such a swap make do with the MT-82, and often that is just fine. Hope that helps.

The "Clunk" I think you are hearing comes from a combination of the gearbox and diff play I have a 2017 Mustang with only 5000 miles on it and I notice the clunky driveline lash already but only when driving slowly in carparks and traffic! I have adjusted my driving style to minimise it but I sometimes still get the odd clunk here and there!

Stone Chips yeah I am getting heaps of them and I even have the ceramic pro paint protection!

I have heard if you stiffen up the rear cradle and transmission with the Steeda parts and or Ford performance drive shafts it makes the clunking worse!

I also have like a rattling sound coming from underneath the drivers door when travelling at over 60 MPH which is bugging the shit outa me.
Apart from that love my car!

As far as durability of the MT82 I think this comes down to how the car is driven in my opinion. I reckon you could blow the MT82 or the diff with a stock GT if you abused it!

jmruss0573 said:

The "Clunk" I think you are hearing comes from a combination of the gearbox and diff play I have a 2017 Mustang with only 5000 miles on it and I notice the clunky driveline lash already but only when driving slowly in carparks and traffic! I have adjusted my driving style to minimise it but I sometimes still get the odd clunk here and there!

Stone Chips yeah I am getting heaps of them and I even have the ceramic pro paint protection!

I have heard if you stiffen up the rear cradle and transmission with the Steeda parts and or Ford performance drive shafts it makes the clunking worse!

I also have like a rattling sound coming from underneath the drivers door when travelling at over 60 MPH which is bugging the shit outa me.
Apart from that love my car!

As far as durability of the MT82 I think this comes down to how the car is driven in my opinion. I reckon you could blow the MT82 or the diff with a stock GT if you abused it!

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I wonder if anybody with the 11-14's are having these same problems.

jmruss0573 said:

As far as durability of the MT82 I think this comes down to how the car is driven in my opinion. I reckon you could blow the MT82 or the diff with a stock GT if you abused it!

Click to expand...

I beat the piss out of my '11. No issues. Felt better and better through 20,000 miles. BGSSII fluid.

Furious_S550 said:

I wonder if anybody with the 11-14's are having these same problems.

Click to expand...

My '11 GT500 had the driveline backlash that causes the clunking noise. I would notice it mostly when applying the throttle after a trailing throttle. The dealership replaced the pinion ring in the differential, and that fixed it, but it eventually returned. IMO, there was nothing wrong with the pinion ring, it's an alignment issue. I eventually accepted it as normal and learned to minimize it.

IIRC, I heard it occasionally with my '15 GTPP. It never bothered me.

Furious_S550 said:

The other thing is people who have added boost have complained about transmission slippage and or clutch failure. Is everyone just replacing the transmission or just the clutch and flywheel?

Click to expand...

If you add or increase boost then your stock clutch is probably going to have a shorter lifespan, it's a fact of life.

Furious_S550 said:

So, I've had my 2016 Ford Mustang for a year now. I had switched from having a 2015 Dodge Challenger 6.4L, before that I had a 2013 Dodge Charger SRT8. I love my Mustang. Love the fact that there is so much available to customize it. But there are a few things that are bothering me. 1st is this clunking sound that I brought up to the forum over a year ago. Still hasn't gone away and it makes my car sound cheap. Has anyone found a fix for it? Will changing the fluid help? I want to go back to a one-piece driveshaft, but it makes the noise worse. Does changing out the half-shafts do anything to help? Also, the cheap paint Ford used on these vehicles. A rock can barely touch my car and its chipped all the way through. It looks like they just used one light coat of paint. The other thing is people who have added boost have complained about transmission slippage and or clutch failure. Is everyone just replacing the transmission or just the clutch and flywheel? I didn't have these problems with my Challenger, and I'm trying to keep from going back. I would love to upgrade this car and keep it forever. Love the look, the body, the lines, and curves. The interior is okay, but I can change a couple more things to be happy with it. What do you guys think? I respect your opinion and your info. I just want to know before I possibly dump 10-15K into it.

Click to expand...

Why did you sell the 2015 Dodge Challenger 6.4L ? That transmission is probably quite a bit stronger than the MT82. At least on paper. But then the Challenger is quite a bit more expensive too. I looked at those, and they were not easy to buy unless custom ordered. And the manual transmissions included a hefty gas guzzler tax.

Everyone has the clunk.. It's mostly because the shifter is remote. You can swap out the whole shifter for a barton hybrid 3 or equivalent. People have said that made it much better.

In regards to clutch life, etc.

My cars supercharged and I've been running stock clutch, stock tranny, stock hs, stock ds without any issues. I haven't been on the track though yet.

Clutch does not slip at all.

smann said:

Everyone has the clunk.. It's mostly because the shifter is remote. You can swap out the whole shifter for a barton hybrid 3 or equivalent. People have said that made it much better.

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It doesn't bother me at all, I mean, it's a mechanical device, it makes noises, fans, injectors, linkages engaging, etc. I've made mine _louder_

Honestly, when I drive it, it's a blast, and people are always talking to me about it, pointing at it / giving the thumbs up - I just don't really think about it.

jmruss0573 said:

The "Clunk" I think you are hearing comes from a combination of the gearbox and diff play I have a 2017 Mustang with only 5000 miles on it and I notice the clunky driveline lash already but only when driving slowly in carparks and traffic! I have adjusted my driving style to minimise it but I sometimes still get the odd clunk here and there!

Stone Chips yeah I am getting heaps of them and I even have the ceramic pro paint protection!

I have heard if you stiffen up the rear cradle and transmission with the Steeda parts and or Ford performance drive shafts it makes the clunking worse!

I also have like a rattling sound coming from underneath the drivers door when travelling at over 60 MPH which is bugging the shit outa me.
Apart from that love my car!

As far as durability of the MT82 I think this comes down to how the car is driven in my opinion. I reckon you could blow the MT82 or the diff with a stock GT if you abused it!

Click to expand...

mustang1 said:

Why did you sell the 2015 Dodge Challenger 6.4L ? That transmission is probably quite a bit stronger than the MT82. At least on paper. But then the Challenger is quite a bit more expensive too. I looked at those, and they were not easy to buy unless custom ordered. And the manual transmissions included a hefty gas guzzler tax.

Click to expand...

I was getting out of the military and wanted to have something with similar performance but a cheaper price. It has a tremec in it.

smann said:

Everyone has the clunk.. It's mostly because the shifter is remote. You can swap out the whole shifter for a barton hybrid 3 or equivalent. People have said that made it much better.

In regards to clutch life, etc.

My cars supercharged and I've been running stock clutch, stock tranny, stock hs, stock ds without any issues. I haven't been on the track though yet.

Clutch does not slip at all.

Click to expand...

I switched out my shifter with MGW and have the same issue. Glad to hear you haven't had an issue with your clutch.

My '13 v6 Premium has 46,xxx miles on it. And the only issue I had was my driver window motor started to go out. I got that fixed literally right before I hit 36k. My car had rolled over to 34k when my mom dropped it off at work for me. And since my car is a convertible. I didn't want to put my top down and not be able to close my driver window. No transmission issues. Or clunking noises. I'm hoping my '18 will be fine. Since I'm excited it'll be my first GT.