2016 GT suspension recommendations

[Biggsy]

I drove to and from the track on SC3. You should be fine. Fresh brake fluid and an open mind (listen to instructor).

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[shogun32]

I have a set of SVE X500 19x10 wheels that I want to get 285/35R19 Supercar 3s on. Would a trailer be worth the expense for safety, or should I just get the wheels on, go to the track and then drive home on the Supercars before swapping them off?

since your first foray, you won't be cording your tires in one day or even 2 or 3. SC3 are like PS4S but better.

 

[bnightstar]

So, just got the helmet, got the plates.
Just going to outline my other preparations for going to the track, and any good advice for before and afterwards;

I have a set of SVE X500 19x10 wheels that I want to get 285/35R19 Supercar 3s on. Would a trailer be worth the expense for safety, or should I just get the wheels on, go to the track and then drive home on the Supercars before swapping them off?

Hearing from a friend of mine, I should expect for Murphy's law to come in effect. Anything that seems especially prone to breakage under stress/I should buy a replacement for?

Looks like you are overthinking it way to much. If it's your first time on track you don't need camber plates, you don't need new tires, you don't need even brake pads as long as yours are over 50%. You only need helmet, fuel and money for entry. Even in stock form a PP1 Mustang is good enough for track to enjoy it. In fact the first season driving my PP1 completely stock on PZero rubber was the most satisfying one no time in the shop no special alignments no brake pads no concern about lap times just go drive and have fun. Enjoying the car. So I strongly suggest you take your car to a track and see what it really needs (most often a better driver).

 

[HourlyB]

Looks like you are overthinking it way to much. If it's your first time on track you don't need camber plates, you don't need new tires, you don't need even brake pads as long as yours are over 50%. You only need helmet, fuel and money for entry. Even in stock form a PP1 Mustang is good enough for track to enjoy it. In fact the first season driving my PP1 completely stock on PZero rubber was the most satisfying one no time in the shop no special alignments no brake pads no concern about lap times just go drive and have fun. Enjoying the car. So I strongly suggest you take your car to a track and see what it really needs (most often a better driver).

You're probably right, I'm more just concerned with safety. My Indy 500s have about 14k miles on them, and I'd rather have one set of tires that gets used hard, looked at, then put away until the next time. Plus, I've felt it better to overprepare than not.

I drove to and from the track on SC3. You should be fine. Fresh brake fluid and an open mind (listen to instructor).

Gotcha, should I do a flush before and after, or just before? And I always try to!

 

[Biggsy]

You're probably right, I'm more just concerned with safety. My Indy 500s have about 14k miles on them, and I'd rather have one set of tires that gets used hard, looked at, then put away until the next time. Plus, I've felt it better to overprepare than not.


Gotcha, should I do a flush before and after, or just before? And I always try to!

I always flush at the beginning of the year. And then bleed after each track event. That’s me personally. Also depends on fluid. I believe less bleed intervals is required for SRF than RBF600.

 

[HourlyB]

So, to qoute the professor;
Good news, everyone!

She's finally seen a track! I was at SCDA's HPDE at Thompson Speedway, of course in the novice class.

There were some issues getting to the track, where at highway speed the front driver side tire started losing pressure very fast, but I was able to keep it inflated via gas station pumps, and when I got the the track I told them and they checked it out; valve stem had a hole in it. I was able to find a tire shop about 10 minutes away, they fixed it in another 10, and I made it back for the last half of the second classroom session. Only one track session missed, but it was the slow one under yellow. So the first session on the track was at pace.

Still, didn't spin or go off track once, only locked the rears once (let the clutch out too fast) and the instructor never gave me notes about driving dangerously, only driving the track wrong. SCDA ran a efficient and safe track, so I can't recommend it enough.

As for the Mustang, I was almost criminally under-driving her. Never overheated her, the oil temp stayed consistently in the green. Which I'm fine with, it's a daily. Grip was immense, the car was rock solid through corners and the brakes never faded or gave up. The worst part of the car was the sweaty bald guy holding the wheel. Only issue I had driving home was a vibration, but I've switched to my Indy 500 wheels and it's gone. Either a wheel weight flung off at speed or the Goodyears picked up enough track rubber to go lumpy. Maybe a wheel got dented, but it was consistent after leaving the track and I don't recall a major bump incident. In any case, it seems like it was the wheels. Going to have the brakes bled and get the diff and trans oil changed soon, I'll check the oil and go from there.

In any case, thanks for all the advice guys! Thanks also to James my instructor, the two guys with the absolutely raced out C5 Corvette who gave me advice on tires and braking and the dude with the matching color ZL1 who cleared up some questions about aero and oil and everyone at SCDA!

 

[Biggsy]

So, to qoute the professor;
Good news, everyone!

She's finally seen a track! I was at SCDA's HPDE at Thompson Speedway, of course in the novice class.

There were some issues getting to the track, where at highway speed the front driver side tire started losing pressure very fast, but I was able to keep it inflated via gas station pumps, and when I got the the track I told them and they checked it out; valve stem had a hole in it. I was able to find a tire shop about 10 minutes away, they fixed it in another 10, and I made it back for the last half of the second classroom session. Only one track session missed, but it was the slow one under yellow. So the first session on the track was at pace.

Still, didn't spin or go off track once, only locked the rears once (let the clutch out too fast) and the instructor never gave me notes about driving dangerously, only driving the track wrong. SCDA ran a efficient and safe track, so I can't recommend it enough.

As for the Mustang, I was almost criminally under-driving her. Never overheated her, the oil temp stayed consistently in the green. Which I'm fine with, it's a daily. Grip was immense, the car was rock solid through corners and the brakes never faded or gave up. The worst part of the car was the sweaty bald guy holding the wheel. Only issue I had driving home was a vibration, but I've switched to my Indy 500 wheels and it's gone. Either a wheel weight flung off at speed or the Goodyears picked up enough track rubber to go lumpy. Maybe a wheel got dented, but it was consistent after leaving the track and I don't recall a major bump incident. In any case, it seems like it was the wheels. Going to have the brakes bled and get the diff and trans oil changed soon, I'll check the oil and go from there.

In any case, thanks for all the advice guys! Thanks also to James my instructor, the two guys with the absolutely raced out C5 Corvette who gave me advice on tires and braking and the dude with the matching color ZL1 who cleared up some questions about aero and oil and everyone at SCDA!

Glad to hear that. As they say…” if you can drive your car home, you have won the day “

I was at the track also but on Toyo RRs

 

[HourlyB]

Glad to hear that. As they say…” if you can drive your car home, you have won the day “

I was at the track also but on Toyo RRs

Exactly the attitude I have haha.
And nice! I wonder how my SC3s held up, it's hard to tell exactly what's from my tire and what is from the track

 

[bnightstar]

As for the Mustang, I was almost criminally under-driving her. Never overheated her, the oil temp stayed consistently in the green. Which I'm fine with, it's a daily. Grip was immense, the car was rock solid through corners and the brakes never faded or gave up. The worst part of the car was the sweaty bald guy holding the wheel. Only issue I had driving home was a vibration, but I've switched to my Indy 500 wheels and it's gone. Either a wheel weight flung off at speed or the Goodyears picked up enough track rubber to go lumpy. Maybe a wheel got dented, but it was consistent after leaving the track and I don't recall a major bump incident. In any case, it seems like it was the wheels. Going to have the brakes bled and get the diff and trans oil changed soon, I'll check the oil and go from there.

This was the reason I told you you don't need all the fancy parts for the 1st track day out. Is it better with them sure but do you actually need them for the first few events hell no. Regarding your tires issue vibrations after track are normal because tires move on the rims under braking and all the pickup etc make them to go out of balance which could be very annoying also since they are on lower pressure (because it's better to be on lower pressures) they can't get up to temperature on the street. I can't remember how many times I drove off the track to the street on super low tire pressures and had to stop to fix them good that Ford ship this cars with portable compressor very useful for us track guys.

 

[Mach VII]

Nice! I did my first ever HPDE day at Thompson back in June. I don't have the Brembo's so was very wary of smoking my brakes coming into turn 1 so only really went hard up the main straight once. Other than that, my car took the abuse like a champ! I had same issue as you after leaving the track, vibrating like no tomorrow. It was definitely track rubber fused to my tires, I had a 110 mile ride home and the issue faded away about a third of the way through it. Still had plenty of it on the tires when I got home but the drive smoothed it out lol.

ps Check out MassTuning events, they run all over the Northeast and last December offered $100 off any event if you bought then! Hoping they run same deal this year

 

[HourlyB]

Nice! I did my first ever HPDE day at Thompson back in June. I don't have the Brembo's so was very wary of smoking my brakes coming into turn 1 so only really went hard up the main straight once. Other than that, my car took the abuse like a champ! I had same issue as you after leaving the track, vibrating like no tomorrow. It was definitely track rubber fused to my tires, I had a 110 mile ride home and the issue faded away about a third of the way through it. Still had plenty of it on the tires when I got home but the drive smoothed it out lol.

ps Check out MassTuning events, they run all over the Northeast and last December offered $100 off any event if you bought then! Hoping they run same deal this year

Beautiful! That turn off the oval is such a fun turn, super high speed and followed by braking into a quick left to right turn. Also the name on the wall makes for a great photo opportunity.
I've heard of MassTuning, but didn't realize they offered in car instruction. Palmer was going to be my next destination, but apparently you can't get single track day insurance. I might go to MassTuning's event at Thompson in October, and consider getting annual track insurance for next year.

 

[HourlyB]

I did it again! And this time I saved some video!

Second verse, same as the first, but I've spotted or thought of some other issues that might come up.
First is the actual spotted issue;

The rubbing I spotted when I first put on my SVE wheels has burnished the paint off the chassis on the front passenger side wheel well. Similar issue on the driver side, but nowhere near as bad.
Wondering if anyone else has had this happen and if the solution is a 5mm spacer + extended wheel studs. I already have the spacer from when this happened last time with the splash guard. I doubt metal on rubber contact can simply be ignored.

The next issue is more theoretical; I've heard that the S550 has issue with the diff overheating, but the car will yell about it and go into limp mode. Which is good, but I'm worried that in both swapping out the entire pumpkin for a 2018 one and the tune by Lund these warnings might have been either turned off or unplugged. Is there any way to check and see if the temp sensor is still working without pulling the entire rear apart. For what would probably be the 5th time.

 

[HourlyB]

So, necroing a bit, but I've got a bit of a update for the suspension; had some very slight wheel wiggle when the car is parked. Not extremely noticeable when the car is in motion and warm, but still there. (no video for obvious reasons) Was getting the oil changed anyway so I asked if they could check the front suspension/steering for anything. (My first thought was the steering shaft might have a screw loose, like what happened here)

The shop looked at it, and reported that the 'front control arm bushings are worn and right outer tie rod is worn'. Which, given these parts have been on for 3 years and ~36-37k miles, even when driven in winter I don't think they should be that worn out yet, though admittedly the addition of 3.5 track days might have added more wear. But I still don't think they should be worn to the point of replacement. The outer tie rod is also part of the Steeda Bumpsteer kit, anyone have any experience with the kit wearing out when daily driven?

I've scheduled a inspection appointment with Sullivan Tire this Friday to get it up on a lift so I can get some photos of the bushings and tie rod condition.

If I need to replace them; would going to polyurethane bushings or spherical bearings (Steeda) (J&M) be worth it over trying to just get stock rubber replacements? Per Steeda, the control arms they sell in the correction kit are simply O.E ones where they replaced the original ball joint with their X-Series extended version, so there shouldn't be any issue with replacing the bushings. I know they worsen NVH but given everything done to it, I think improved communication and durability for track use would be worth it.

 

[Bluemustang]

So, necroing a bit, but I've got a bit of a update for the suspension; had some very slight wheel wiggle when the car is parked. Not extremely noticeable when the car is in motion and warm, but still there. (no video for obvious reasons) Was getting the oil changed anyway so I asked if they could check the front suspension/steering for anything. (My first thought was the steering shaft might have a screw loose, like what happened here)

The shop looked at it, and reported that the 'front control arm bushings are worn and right outer tie rod is worn'. Which, given these parts have been on for 3 years and ~36-37k miles, even when driven in winter I don't think they should be that worn out yet, though admittedly the addition of 3.5 track days might have added more wear. But I still don't think they should be worn to the point of replacement. The outer tie rod is also part of the Steeda Bumpsteer kit, anyone have any experience with the kit wearing out when daily driven?

I've scheduled a inspection appointment with Sullivan Tire this Friday to get it up on a lift so I can get some photos of the bushings and tie rod condition.

If I need to replace them; would going to polyurethane bushings or spherical bearings (Steeda) (J&M) be worth it over trying to just get stock rubber replacements? Per Steeda, the control arms they sell in the correction kit are simply O.E ones where they replaced the original ball joint with their X-Series extended version, so there shouldn't be any issue with replacing the bushings. I know they worsen NVH but given everything done to it, I think improved communication and durability for track use would be worth it.

Since you live in a place that sees winter conditions, doesn't surprise me. My Steeda bumpsteer kit is rusted to hell. I am replacing it with J&M this week when I do coilovers.

The spherical bearing you can buy for the front control arms: Steeda, J&M, Cortex, etc. - those are for the tension links. The roll center correction arms that Steeda sells are the lateral links. Yes, for me, the bearings in the tension links are worth it to me for the direct steering response they give. And there is no more lag or dead zone in the steering. There is a little NVH with these bearings but worth it for me personally. Your opinion may vary.

 

[shogun32]

The outer tie rod is also part of the Steeda Bumpsteer kit, anyone have any experience with the kit wearing out when daily driven?

maybe my bumpsteer was not configured right the first time, but one of my rods failed within 90 days of install - major slop in the chassis end bearing. Replaced both with Moog parts and this time a different mech did the work and I'm guess it was done right because it's been fine for 2+ years.

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