I de tuned my car

[Zitrosounds]

Yes I said I de tuned my car. In a world where everybody is in the pissing contest of wanting more and more power I went the other way. I have been modding mustangs since they started making hipo cars back in the early 80's. 200 then 300 then 4 and 500hp. Street raced in Mexico for years. Now I have a 16 premium and like most S550 owners I was after the coveted 10 sec run so I started modding. I got the car to around Demon territory and the 10 sec run. I found out very quickly though that you can have too much power for the street. I do run drag radials all the time and even with these hooking on the street is near impossible. So after getting hole shotted by a few turds with hundreds less in horsepower I pulled some power. Other than bragging rights power that can't be put to the street is useless. You will never be able to realize the potential of your car on the street. If you are at the track every weekend different story. There are vids of a tuned NA 18 walking a 19 ZR1 in the 1/8 mile time after time. That is just crazy. A person near me just traded his demon on a GT350R as it is much more streetable. If I want to run at the track again I can in about 1/2 hour get my horses back. Now before all start saying that I could mod the car to get better traction, I know that, been there done that I do not want to get back on that hamster wheel.

I actually put a set of more street-able tires on my GT350R. The cars limits are much more accessible on the street for the occasional drive to work vs the SC2's. I don't need 1.10G of lateral acceleration on the streets. That's just asking for trouble. Additionally, I owned a GT350 that I was going to mod to R performance levels and I choose to forgo said mods and buy the R. My modding days are done, been there done that. I just want a car to drive, track ready and capable out the box. Great post! Thanks for sharing.

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[Notagain]

No matter how much power we get out of our V8's there is always a kid with $650 worth of mods on a used $20k Audi S3, WRX, or GTI that'll kill us from the line or at any speed under 65 mph lol.

LOL not unless there is snow on the ground.

A10 4k launches are going to be murder. If we really want to party here LOL

 

[16mach1]

LOL not unless there is snow on the ground.

A10 4k launches are going to be murder. If we really want to party here LOL

If you're launching at 4K or more on the street you don't have 800-plus horsepower and if you do the car is also highly modified regarding suspension or you're doing the old sit and spin while the WRX is sitting at the next light waiting for you. There are plenty of high horsepower Mustangs running around the streets that have great tunes and are very drivable that's not the point from a roll or on an open Highway these cars as I said before are "the cat's ass", but sitting at a red light next to an all wheel drive tuner the advantage is all gone. I love going out in my Wife's MKS EcoBoost AWD and pissing off Camaros Mustangs and Corvettes at red lights

 

[A7X]

interesting I took an STI from a roll without much trouble. He was probably stock though.

 

[Nuked]

interesting I took an STI from a roll without much trouble. He was probably stock though.

From a roll the advantage of AWD is none. Those cars are not very fast in stock/mild bolt on form. It is the AWD launch that makes them "quick". I have owned several AWD tuner cars. With my Evo I would launch at 6k rpm on street tires and it still would hook and go.

 

[A7X]

From a roll the advantage of AWD is none. Those cars are not very fast in stock/mild bolt on form. It is the AWD launch that makes them "quick". I have owned several AWD tuner cars. With my Evo I would launch at 6k rpm on street tires and it still would hook and go.

How does your car with your mods feel from standstill? Looks like you've done some nice work

 

[v8hgt]

The more I read this thread, the more I think a stock my18/19 is the perfect balance for the street, especially in a colder wetter climate with poor road surfaces and lots of corners. Where I live a hot 4x4 hatchback will always be faster than a mustang with any bhp. If I wanted fast road performance I would buy a golf R etc.... a 500 bhp n/a mustang makes a much nicer grand tourer though.

 

[atrain18]

Hello gentlemen,
Here is my opinion on the question. Power to weight is everything. I drove Honda products for years and still do they were quick little cars for there power to weight ratio. But after owning my 16 GT I love this car Ford got it right with the twin cam set and power to weight ratio. Before I started modding my my GT it was great out of the box. But me being a circuit track guy I want more. I really wanted a GT 350 but after dealer market ups 10-15k put it out of reach. 3 years and 18k later I have finally got the balance back in the car. Like Ford had it when I bought it new. So in after spending 18k I have replicated a gt 350 minus the brake calipers for the rear. I’m very happy with it. So I do understand de tuning his car. My car makes 472 to the tire. I will stop at 500 to tire and think that is more than plenty for the street. Have a great day gentlemen.

 

[Volstang]

I can completely understand where you are coming from. It’s one thing to say you have XXX HP but if you can’t use it driving around it isn’t as much fun as having a level of power that you can actually put down and have fun with. My oldest son is 18 and him and his buddies always talk about how much power someone’s car has and how fast it is but I tell them it doesn’t matter if you can’t put it down. “Spinning ain’t winnin’” I tell them all the time. His buddies want to roll race. I tel them to go to Test N Tune if they want to race me. I won’t advocate street racing. Not that I never did it, but I won’t advocate doing it. I have organized a few trips to local tracks so they can try to learn how to really drive their cars, have fun, and not worry about getting in trouble with police. It’s funny how they think they can drive their car but have no idea how different it is to race at the track. One guy had an 07 GT that he bought that was Coyote swapped with a 6R80 with a stall, Boss Mani, and exhaust with 3.73s. He should have beat me good with his running slicks but he couldn’t drive it. At all....Never could make a full pass. Too much gear, too little experience, and couldn’t drive it. He couldn’t believe how hard it was to get it down the track.

 

[Allentown]

If you're launching at 4K or more on the street you don't have 800-plus horsepower and if you do the car is also highly modified regarding suspension or you're doing the old sit and spin while the WRX is sitting at the next light waiting for you. There are plenty of high horsepower Mustangs running around the streets that have great tunes and are very drivable that's not the point from a roll or on an open Highway these cars as I said before are "the cat's ass", but sitting at a red light next to an all wheel drive tuner the advantage is all gone. I love going out in my Wife's MKS EcoBoost AWD and pissing off Camaros Mustangs and Corvettes at red lights

I think he meant stock? You guys are making making me feel much better about putting most of my money into suspension and tires rather than power adders. I will probably even keep the 3.15 gears. I can pretty much go flat out with only a slight roll into the throttle already and i have more suspension parts on the way.

 

[Zinc03svt]

I totally agree with a lot of points made here. Sure having a 1000 whp car is an ego boost for some people. But, in the end you will only use that 1000 whp for only minutes total time unless you own a private track. If you made (20) 9 second passes that is still only 180 seconds of wot. 3 minutes of fun (not counting breakage etc and $$$). On public roads it is just a gamble with your life (and others) without full cage and safety equipment. People are just chasing a dopamine high in the end.

 

[Steeda UK]

Just to throw in my "not super well informed about drag racing" comments. (I'm more of a track day / autocross man myself!)

Like many people have said above "spinning aint winning". The S550 can really suck up a lot of help at the rear end, which is why Steeda make so many parts targeted there. They are proven super effective, which is why our Silver Bullet drag development car is running in the low 10s and is still on NA power at around 500 hp flywheel. Its all about launch and traction.

If you haven't already got them, take a look at our "Stop The Hop" package, rear shock mounts, diff mounts and many other parts we do to help you get the most out of your stang....

That said rear traction is also essential on the track as well as the strip and with our UK Q500 demo car the difference over stock was mind blowing....

 

[Allentown]

Yea the problem a non motor head like me has when looking at your parts is the question: "What parts do i put on my car to get 80% of those performance increases while keeping 80% of my road manners vs, getting say...95% of the performance increases and losing 70% of my road manners.

Steeda has track kits, drag kits, and even 1 comfort package that is just shocks and springs. Suggestion. I would love to see a total steeda package for "street performance" which includes the parts which have no bearing on road manners (my guess is all the chasis stiffening and subframe alighnment and bracing would be there) but also gave you the best "street" performance increases. My guess is softer shocks and dampeners from the comfort package and leaving out some of the harder bushing reinforcements. I am trying to replicate what i think this set up MIGHT be but i am guessing all the way.

Just to throw in my "not super well informed about drag racing" comments. (I'm more of a track day / autocross man myself!)

Like many people have said above "spinning aint winning". The S550 can really suck up a lot of help at the rear end, which is why Steeda make so many parts targeted there. They are proven super effective, which is why our Silver Bullet drag development car is running in the low 10s and is still on NA power at around 500 hp flywheel. Its all about launch and traction.

If you haven't already got them, take a look at our "Stop The Hop" package, rear shock mounts, diff mounts and many other parts we do to help you get the most out of your stang....

That said rear traction is also essential on the track as well as the strip and with our UK Q500 demo car the difference over stock was mind blowing....

 

[Draklia]

Just to throw in my "not super well informed about drag racing" comments. (I'm more of a track day / autocross man myself!)

Like many people have said above "spinning aint winning"....Steeda make so many parts targeted there. They are proven super effective...

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’d bet you could bolt up every part Steeda offers and it isn’t going to stop a blown S550 from spinning all the way through 1st and most of 2nd gears on street tires. I’d think 300 lbs of sand in the trunk would do better at stopping wheel spin than 60lbs of suspension parts.

 

[Allentown]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’d bet you could bolt up every part Steeda offers and it isn’t going to stop a blown S550 from spinning all the way through 1st and most of 2nd gears on street tires. I’d think 300 lbs of sand in the trunk would do better at stopping wheel spin than 60lbs of suspension parts.

Once you hit the tipping point of tq applied to the wheels nothing will stop wheel spin. The suspension parts will get the wheels grabbing a bit faster than stock though...assuming you also have sufficiently grippy and wide tires. I think what he was saying was that for most of the street tires out there the improved suspension will improve the geometry and wheel hop and reduce traction loss. It is hard to get traction when the contact patch of the tires you do have are in the air and not even in contact with the ground and or shifting around and bouncing in all sorts of ways which a stock S550 definately does pretty severely. There are a number of under car videos on youtube clearly demonstrating this. Now for a street car some of that compliance is desirable so it is a balancing act but I believe ford did a very poor job on the base GT mustangs set up and only a mediocre job on the PP one vs the Steeda set ups. Track times also demonstrate this pretty darn well with actual time slips. Those parts will help an NA car and should probably be considered mandatory on an FI car, along with huge sticky tires and taller gears.

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