Suspension mods that look OEM as much as possible and help with tire wear for track driving.

[Walt]

Bit of a weird question but I'm looking to adjust my suspension for optimal tire wear at the track as I'm destorying sets because of the outer sidewall wearing too soon.

However my car is road registered and where I live (in Belgium) almost all suspension mods (or mods in general) are illegal. Things like camber plates and sway bars are not allowed to be modified. You are not allowed to alter your factory alignment.

That being said at the yearly technical inspection they don't measure your alignment at all, only visual inspection on a lift.

You are allowed to install springs and other shocks/dampers to lower the car, even coilover kits are allowed. You will have to go through a special homologation inspection that does measure your alignment to check if it is safe and from that point you are never allowed to alter it again (which makes the coilover kit useless but most just put the settings back right before going to the inspection)

Now what I'm trying to do is keep everything dampers/springs looking stock so I don't have to go through that special inspection and don't draw attention.


For my actual question, what mods do help with outer tire wear that look stock or can easily be changed back to stock when the time for inspection comes? Things like non adjustable sway bars that are painted black would most likely not be noticed (thinking of getting takeoff GT350 sway bars) but does that help with tire wear at all?

Anyone knows a camber plate brand that looks almost stock? To me the Steeda one's look basic and maybe if I paint them I might get away with it but that's risky.

What's the maximum camber I can get on stock hardware?

It's just the stupid rules I have to live with, even things like brake modifications are illegal even if it makes the car safer! I for example have the 6 piston brembo kit from a GT installed which is not allowed, but luckily they didn't notice the difference over stock (yet). I already swap my exhaust back every year which is just a Magnaflow street that isn't even loud or anything and passes emissions just fine...

Thanks for answering my weird question.

Sponsored

 

[Sparky1337]

I would imagine either ford performance set if available, would be fine.

Not being able to alter the factory alignment, but being able to lower the car is contradictory. As any lowering is going to alter your camber and other geometry.

There is a combination of GT350 non-R springs that could be used with the ford street/race shocks that lower the car around 10-15mm. Not sure how much they’d notice that. They’d all be blue, but still Ford factory parts.

Also, wild sway bars are off limits. They don’t do anything for the alignment….

 

[Walt]

Not being able to alter the factory alignment, but being able to lower the car is contradictory. As any lowering is going to alter your camber and other geometry.

That was not clear on my part, you are allowed to lower your car up to 5 inches from the ground and you will have to adjust your alignment to allow for a correct and safe geometry after the lowering.

Camber plates are not allowed and if you can't correct the geometry any further because of that you are out of luck.

I'm not sure what they consider as safe but I assume no excessive negative camber like I need.

 

[robvas]

However my car is road registered and where I live (in Belgium) almost all suspension mods (or mods in general) are illegal. Things like camber plates and sway bars are not allowed to be modified. You are not allowed to alter your factory alignment.

 

[Walt]

I would imagine either ford performance set if available, would be fine.

Unfortunately doesn't come with a special certification that I need (some coilover kits like KW,
Öhlins etc do)

Also, wild sway bars are off limits. They don’t do anything for the alignment….

All these rules are more for the general public to make sure that you don't mess with your car I guess like removing sway bars or adding weaker cheaper stuff. It does increase/decrease the stiffness and the way the car handles I guess which they consider "unsafe".

It's just very unfortunate for people that look to mod their cars in a safe manner.

 

[Walt]

There is a combination of GT350 non-R springs that could be used with the ford street/race shocks that lower the car around 10-15mm. Not sure how much they’d notice that. They’d all be blue, but still Ford factory parts.

To be completely honest I don't know that much about suspension I'm trying to learn, but would just simply lowering the car help? It's all really vague they don't give exact alignment limit numbers in terms like camber so I don't know if by just lowering the car and adjusting the minimum required alignment for the lowering to work would help?

 

[Walt]

Y'all only need 4 wheels and some lights/blinkers to be allowed on the road I heard!

Atleast I have Spa and the Nürburgring closeby to make up for some of my misery

 

[xr4x4ti]

You could slot the upper strut to spindle mount holes and adjust the camber to the max allowed by ford specs.

Also, Ford sells adjustable upper strut mounts that may pass the visual inspection.

https://www.levittownfordparts.com/...AE-ARUme25AnJh6WC-YzWR7o4P8mvT3s70BJPAU--9k3k

good deal
https://www.ebay.com/itm/226316768318

 

[Walt]

You could slot the upper strut to spindle mount holes and adjust the camber to the max allowed by ford specs.

Also, Ford sells adjustable upper strut mounts that may pass the visual inspection.

https://www.levittownfordparts.com/...AE-ARUme25AnJh6WC-YzWR7o4P8mvT3s70BJPAU--9k3k

good deal
https://www.ebay.com/itm/226316768318

That's exactly what I was looking for thank you very much! We have the Mach 1 over here too so if it's legal on that car I might get away with it.

EDIT: the link seems to be for GT350/500 cars only but these seem to be made for my car:
https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-18183-MDH

 

[S550HPP]

Know that if you have an accident it's very possible non homogolized mods will be discover in which case best case it zero insurance coverage and worst case with injury or death you'll see prison for a long time, after blowing EUR100K+ on lawyers.

There's a reason the aftermarket don't homogolized their "upgrades" and it because they can't afford it and keep a reasonable price for low volume, or they would not pass.

That's why Brabus is so expensive along with the rest of Euro market players.

Ask Steeda whet they have homogolized for Germany or EU and use that, or get a dedicated track car or just pay for the tires using cheapest ones you can find.

 

[Sparky1337]

To be completely honest I don't know that much about suspension I'm trying to learn, but would just simply lowering the car help? It's all really vague they don't give exact alignment limit numbers in terms like camber so I don't know if by just lowering the car and adjusting the minimum required alignment for the lowering to work would help?

Unless you have the camber plate the other user listed you’ll gain un-modifiable negative camber on any height change as the geometry will be different. I think you could use camber bolts, which I doubt they’ll ever discover.

When I had my GTI, I just made sure I got tuv related parts. Does Belgium not have something similar?

 

[Ewheels]

Coilovers are fine but camber plates, sway bars, and alignments are illegal??? What kind of dictatorship are they running over there?!
How does a sway bar hurt anything???


To actually address your point, you might as well get new springs/shocks/camber plates and swap out sets around the yearly inspection. Just a few bolts per corner. You could swap it all out in a day, get your inspection on OEM stuff, then swap back in another day.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Slot the struts a little do it on new shocks so the wear marks arent visible from the old bolt position. The bole will cover the slots.

throw on some stiffer swaybars from a different mustang model.

its not enough to cure tire shoulder wear but it would help some.

 

[Nightmonkey]

If you install something, patinate it, or have your entire underbody protected and the new parts as well.
They will not see a difference.

Also, Ford sells adjustable upper strut mounts that may pass the visual inspection.

Perfect!

 

[Walt]

If you install something, patinate it, or have your entire underbody protected and the new parts as well.
They will not see a difference.


Perfect!

Haha how ironic, we make the parts that we are not allowed to install!

Sponsored