Brake dust and clunk sound in first

Hello everyone, I am new to mustangs. I recently bought a 17 GT Prem/PP 6MT with only 1890 miles on her. I absolutely love the car and the performance. I've already made a few mods after buying items from members on this great forum.JLT CAI, SC XT4, Roush axle backs. I have 2 things that bug me about the car, and hopefully someone can help explain the issue or have a solution.


1. every time i put the car in 1st gear, i get a mild clunk sound. I could almost feel the tranny get in gear. It is very similar to my Harley when i put it in gear from a standing stop. Is this normal or should it be smooth and quiet and unnoticeable? Is there a gear oil i could change to that would make it less of a clunk.


2. Brake dust. OMG these stock brake pads leave so much brake dust. Is anyone using a brake pad that doesn't leave so much dust?

1. is normal. Mine does sometimes, not every single time. But everything I have read on this forum, all MT-82s do it to some degree.

had same clunk but im at 8k miles currently and either its gone away for i dont notice it as much anymore. its notorious. several posts in the drivetrain section on this topic.

1) My transmission has been clunking from day 1 and im now at 25k miles and its still there. I just learned to live with it. Replacing your transmission fluid will not make it go away but it will make your car shift smoother.
2) I'm using Z26 pads and they barely make any dust and stop as good as stock, just a little less grabby maybe.

Now at 25k miles, mine still clunks when going into first gear. I haven't worried about it.

JuRuKi said:

1) My transmission has been clunking from day 1 and im now at 25k miles and its still there. I just learned to live with it. Replacing your transmission fluid will not make it go away but it will make your car shift smoother.
2) I'm using Z26 pads and they barely make any dust and stop as good as stock, just a little less grabby maybe.

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Ditto to above.

I've replaced my last 2 performance car's brake pads with Hawk ceramics and have nothing but good things to say about them. I only have 200 miles on my PP GT but will put these on soon.

My tranny was clunky and sloppy when I first got it. Changed fluid to BG Syncro II Synthetic. I don’t know if putting on a weighted shift knob at the same time had anything to do with it, but now it’s like driving with a different transmission. Huge improvement.

I don't think it's actually the transmission clunking, it's play in the driveline at the rear end. When you put it in gear there's enough friction to put some load on the driveshaft and the excess lash in the rear end causes the clunk. If you think that's bad, you should hear it with the rear diff bushings changed to aluminum or black delrin, now that's a clunk. Go down and turn your driveshaft by hand with the car in gear, you'll get play and that makes the noise.

BMAGOO said:

My tranny was clunky and sloppy when I first got it. Changed fluid to BG Syncro II Synthetic. I don’t know if putting on a weighted shift knob at the same time had anything to do with it, but now it’s like driving with a different transmission. Huge improvement.

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All psycho-sematic man. Neither of those will help clunking. Especially the BG fluid. I wish I would've never done the synchro II.. drained it out after 3 months and went to royal purple. Still clunks but at least I know it meets MT82 requirements.

scrubber3 said:

I wish I would've never done the synchro II.. drained it out after 3 months and went to royal purple.

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Why is this ? Can you elaborate ?

BMAGOO said:

Why is this ? Can you elaborate ?

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It did nothing to improve upon the original ford fluid yet managed to get hot quicker. I basically pissed away the money I spent on it. The royal purple actually doesn't get as hot or as quick. I don't think fluid will do anything but give you a piece of mind to be honest but I'd honestly rather have the original fluid ford put in it rather that the bg. That's saying a lot because I'm a fan of bg products.

How did you determine it was heating up more quickly?

HealToeHero said:

How did you determine it was heating up more quickly?

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infrared thermometer. I know it isn't the best way, but adding that to how quickly my clutch would start slipping (due to heat) when the bg was in it was enough for me to switch it out and believe what I do about it

Are you talking about drag racing or road course?

Sounds like there are many variables at play and I'm not drawing conclusions that it was fluid.
Clutch slipping also wouldn't be tied transmission fluid temps.