GT350R daily driveability in LA?

[Max_350]

Hi everyone. Are there 350R owners living in LA? Considering stock car height and obvious diagonal maneuvers, is it possible to drive a car without ripping front splitter off? A lot of dips on intersections/ramps on parkings etc.
For context, I had c7 GS before, was scraping quite a lot, but tolerable. I'm fine with scraping and maybe changing splitter once in a while.
I also had lowered GT350 before, but not in LA; it was PITA, but manageable. Not dip on intersections/ramps on parkings though.
Thanks!

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[Mustangcol]

Hi everyone. Are there 350R owners living in LA? Considering stock car height and obvious diagonal maneuvers, is it possible to drive a car without ripping front splitter off? A lot of dips on intersections/ramps on parkings etc.
For context, I had c7 GS before, was scraping quite a lot, but tolerable. I'm fine with scraping and maybe changing splitter once in a while.
I also had lowered GT350 before, but not in LA; it was PITA, but manageable. Not dip on intersections/ramps on parkings though.
Thanks!

I don't have a GT350R in LA, but I have a GT in colombia and going with GT350 springs. I am sure the roads are much worse here. There's lowered cars here and super cars but we manage. Some parking garages I take 1 look and say "that's not happening". I would say buy what makes you happy and learn to drive it there.

 

[Crew4991]

OP you will be fine daily driving a GT350R in Los Angeles if you really want to do it.

The roads for the most part are fine but be prepared to pay up the nose for gas. You will be sitting in traffic not going all that fast. Folks there do daily drive wild sports cars and exotics because the weather is awesome, roads are decent AND because they want to.

As long as you can deal with the compromises of a vehicle with low ground clearance, tight suspension, ect. you will enjoy daily driving your car in LA.

Have fun, be safe and drive the shit out of that ride!

 

[wingnutt]

Yep yep and yep…as long as you consider the splitter a consumable. I’m on my second one, with a third one on the shelf and only 67,000 miles on the car

drove mine up and down the I-5 from Central Valley to Sandy Eggo, all while working out of the Hollyweird airport.

That was from 2019 up until mid 2022, when I finally moved the car out here

 

[sukhoi_584th]

I don't agree. No way I could daily my GT350 up here by SF. Too many steep driveway/curb ramps because of the way road engineering is done here. I haven't been to LA in a while but I don't remember it being very different. Maybe if you accept destroying the splitter but even then you have to worry about high centering. In the Midwest it'd be no problem.

 

[Rev Happy]

Where in LA? I don't daily mine but you can. You just have to know the areas where you're driving. The splitter will scrape on narrow declines, but like mentioned above, it's a consumable. Adding Sliplo on it will help.

 

[Max_350]

Where in LA? I don't daily mine but you can. You just have to know the areas where you're driving. The splitter will scrape on narrow declines, but like mentioned above, it's a consumable. Adding Sliplo on it will help.

WeHo, but I drive around a lot.
Yeah, narrow declines are the problem I'm most worried.

 

[Max_350]

I don't agree. No way I could daily my GT350 up here by SF. Too many steep driveway/curb ramps because of the way road engineering is done here. I haven't been to LA in a while but I don't remember it being very different. Maybe if you accept destroying the splitter but even then you have to worry about high centering. In the Midwest it'd be no problem.

SF is way worse in that department. Idk how people drive their cars there.

 

[Max_350]

OP you will be fine daily driving a GT350R in Los Angeles if you really want to do it.

The roads for the most part are fine but be prepared to pay up the nose for gas. You will be sitting in traffic not going all that fast. Folks there do daily drive wild sports cars and exotics because the weather is awesome, roads are decent AND because they want to.

As long as you can deal with the compromises of a vehicle with low ground clearance, tight suspension, ect. you will enjoy daily driving your car in LA.

Have fun, be safe and drive the shit out of that ride!

Seems like you missed what I was saying, I know all about that, I drove Corvette here for a year. Specific question was about stupid LA declines and ramps everywhere.
Roads are garbage btw, for the most part, that's why no-no on coilovers haha.

 

[Hack]

Yes, it will be a constant worry about the splitter, which will drag everywhere. I used to own a regular GT350 and now I have a lowered GT. The GT is fine everywhere and I never have a problem with dragging the splitter.

In the GT350 I got to know all the problem areas, but I would still drag the splitter regularly. With an R, I'd want to swap out the tires to get a little more height - but I know the tires are a big part of the charm.

To me I say if you want to do it, just do it. It'll be fun even with the minor headaches.

 

[Champale]

Had my 350R out in LA a couple of years ago for a few days and it was tolerable. I have Slip Lo blocks on the underside of my spoiler and 20" HREs with GT500-spec PS4S tires for an extra 1/2" of ground clearance. There were a couple of intersections with rain gutters in Santa Monica that were a little difficult to handle but otherwise it was fine. It's a Mustang after all and a spare splitter isn't that much if you do manage to break it (has anyone actually broken an OE 350R splitter??).

 

[sukhoi_584th]

SF is way worse in that department. Idk how people drive their cars there.

Oh SF itself is impossible. I'm just talking about the suburbs. There are no tree lawns nor ditches, so they use the concrete part of the road next to the curb as a mini ditch. Then due to the lack of tree lawns the driveway ramps have to rise the full curb height often only across 3-4 ft of width. I often scrape even going at a diagonal to get in/out of my very normal suburban driveway due to the above mentioned issues. Road crown compounds the problem. There are several shopping centers near me that are 100% impossible to do even in a non-R.

Had my 350R out in LA a couple of years ago for a few days and it was tolerable. I have Slip Lo blocks on the underside of my spoiler and 20" HREs with GT500-spec PS4S tires for an extra 1/2" of ground clearance. There were a couple of intersections with rain gutters in Santa Monica that were a little difficult to handle but otherwise it was fine. It's a Mustang after all and a spare splitter isn't that much if you do manage to break it (has anyone actually broken an OE 350R splitter??).

Aren't the R splitters $1-2K or something? I remember seeing periodic threads here with very high prices.

 

[Champale]

Aren't the R splitters $1-2K or something? I remember seeing periodic threads here with very high prices.
[/QUOTE]
Yes last time I looked just shy of 2k. It is expensive but that's a lot less than the carbon splitters that come on other cars like Blackwings etc. And, as I mentioned, I am not sure anyone has actually broken one in street driving - yes they might get scraped up but they are able to bend/flex a little. And think about how many 911 GT3s, Ferraris, etc with long, low noses seem to run around LA. It's definitely do-able in a 350R.

 

[GTthree50]

SF is way worse in that department. Idk how people drive their cars there.

I’ve been using my 350 as my daily since new in 17’. Over 40k now and at stock ride height it is not a problem all around the Bay Area. I’ve otherwise bed. Driving powered cars here for over 40 years and it’s never been an issue. The long frontal overhang of a Mustang does bring more challenge but it is easy to account for. For me I do not consider scraping acceptable or the splitter a consumable. My original is still on the car and in good shape. I think it will vary between owners but I am confident it can be done if desired.

 

[cobra4ever]

I do not daily mine in LA but will occasionally for a weeks at a time. The only 3 issues IMO are some residential driveways (I couldn't even get it into my garage until I bought Bridgit curb gutter ramps) Driving on a dark night in an unfamiliar are could lead to an unfortunate encounter with one of LA's many potholes / broken pavement and my biggest paranoia - where you have to park it since there tends to be a pervasive lack of respect for other people's property here.

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