suspension upgrade vs. tire rub

[tj@steeda]

HI Corey,

Just sent you a p.m. - give me a shout when you get a chance!

TJ

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[BluePonyGT]

HI Corey,

Just sent you a p.m. - give me a shout when you get a chance!

TJ

Done! I sent you my order # along with a quick part # breakdown.

 

[NightmareMoon]

How much camber are you currently running in the rear?

 

[BluePonyGT]

All stock. I had the alignment checked when I re-aligned the subframe before I mounted these wheels over a year ago. That's the most accurate #'s I have:

Rear left: -1.4 degrees

Rear right: -1.5 degrees

(specified range: -2.3 to -0.8)

 

[BluePonyGT]

Starting to think these might be better in the shock/strut department:

https://www.steeda.com/ford-racing-...nd-strut-kit-15-16-gt-ecoboost-m-18000-f.html

 

[BluePonyGT]

So I did some more research and realized that the ford performance track shocks/struts are techincally more suited to the lowering springs that ford performance produce - although I don't see why they wouldn't work fine. Regardless this is a good thread:

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/steeda-pro-action-vs-ford-performance-shock-and-struts-—witch-is-best-and-why.105667/

This leads me to think that the best route would be either these:

https://www.steeda.com/steeda-pro-action-shocks-and-struts-for-s550-non-adjustable-en.html

or these:

https://www.steeda.com/steeda-s550-mustang-pro-action-shocks-struts-kit-555-8157.html

I'm thinking I may go with the latter - being able to adjust them for firmness sounds like a good idea.

 

[BluePonyGT]

I went with the pro action adjustables.

Once I get all of this I'll report back here on my progress. In fact I may just start another thread...

Thanks all for your responses. The goal here will be to prove that a 325 wide tire on a 19x11 rim with 50mm offset can be lowered 1" at least on a steeda setup and be perfectly fine after alignment.

 

[BluePonyGT]

Good news:

parts are finally (mostly) here, and I tore into the front-end yesterday afternoon. Waiting on the IRS bushing kit to come (I ordered the wrong one - dummy). I'm building some strut/coil assemblies in my garage today so the front-end should be done by the end of the weekend.

Bad news:

I dropped my exhaust to get it out of the way so I could put the IRS stuff in at the same time as the rear springs, and while I was doing that saw that I have a half-shaft seal leak on the driver's side. Really MINOR, but now's the time to deal with it. So I get to order a couple of seals.

Also - debating on bump-steer, but one problem at a time.

 

[BluePonyGT]

Finished! I'm amazed at how well this car corners now. It's firmly planted - possibly a bit more stiff than it should be (I may have to back the sway bar end links off a tad). I'll have to re-learn how to drive the car.

I have a pile of stock parts on my garage floor including the blown rear driver's side shock and the old oil seal from the drive's side half-shaft. I just got back from alignment and their two biggest pieces of advice:

1. I need to get some camber plates. Both fronts have slightly more camber than they should. They suggested the ones from Maximum Motorsports so I can have a caster adjustment option.
2. Keep an eye on the rear tires and fenders. I don't have a lot of room back there.

They also suggested I adjust the pro action shocks/struts to the hardest, test drive, then softest, and test drive again to find where to set them. Currently I'm at the Steeda suggested spot (softest + 1 full turn on all 4 corners). They suggested I go slightly softer in the rear than the front.

I also included the alignment numbers The first sheet is my numbers right after I aligned the subframe 2 years ago. The second sheet is from today.

 

[shogun32]

I'm at the Steeda suggested spot (softest + 1 full turn on all 4 corners).

Hmm did Steeda change their recommendations? First determine how many turns you actually have at each corner. I get 2 turns or a smidge more. Don't panic if after closing the adjuster (CCW) it 'locks' and won't turn for love or money. Grab a minus screw driver for leverage and it'll un-stick. 3 of mine are fine, the one will lock up every single time and needs persuasion.

I'm at 7/8" turns out from hard (~1 1/8 turns in from soft) both front and rear but I have the dual-rate springs for the moment. I suspect you'll end up 1-1.25 turns out from full hard.

They suggested I go slightly softer in the rear than the front.

by slightly think 1/8" turn but don't be shy about experimenting. Pick a test circuit and carry your jack with you so you can do back to back runs. You can't get your arm in the wheel well to make adjustment without jacking the car up.

I also included the alignment numbers The first sheet is my numbers right after I aligned the subframe 2 years ago. The second sheet is from today.

for street duty I've seen 1.8F and 1.3R camber being good numbers and rear toe of 0.12 each side for a total of 0.24 not to exceed 0.3. Front toe of 0.0-0.04 not to exceed 0.1 total. So I think you have more to fix.

 

[BluePonyGT]

Hmm did Steeda change their recommendations? First determine how many turns you actually have at each corner. I get 2 turns or a smidge more. Don't panic if after closing the adjuster (CCW) it 'locks' and won't turn for love or money. Grab a minus screw driver for leverage and it'll un-stick. 3 of mine are fine, the one will lock up every single time and needs persuasion.

I'm at 7/8" turns out from hard (~1 1/8 turns in from soft) both front and rear but I have the dual-rate springs for the moment. I suspect you'll end up 1-1.25 turns out from full hard.

by slightly think 1/8" turn but don't be shy about experimenting. Pick a test circuit and carry your jack with you so you can do back to back runs. You can't get your arm in the wheel well to make adjustment without jacking the car up.

See page 6:

https://www.steeda.com/assets/images/documents/555-8157.pdf

That's how I set them when I went in for alignment. I'm not sure where you're getting that they're stuck or anything - I can adjust them just fine. I have to use a jack to get to the rear adjusters - that's not a problem.

for street duty I've seen 1.8F and 1.3R camber being good numbers and rear toe of 0.12 each side for a total of 0.24 not to exceed 0.3. Front toe of 0.0-0.04 not to exceed 0.1 total. So I think you have more to fix.

Definitely - thats why we're talking about camber plates. We'll have to re-align the front to address camber and toe then.

 

[shogun32]

I'm not sure where you're getting that they're stuck or anything

they aren't supposed to get stuck but QC is not catching the problem before shipping to users. I'm not the only one who has experienced it. If yours back off cleanly after being closed (fully CCW) great.

 

[BluePonyGT]

they aren't supposed to get stuck but QC is not catching the problem before shipping to users. I'm not the only one who has experienced it. If yours back off cleanly after being closed (fully CCW) great.

Yep, no problems in shipping. They were all set to their softest setting by default.

 

[shogun32]

They were all set to their softest setting by default.

have you ascertained yet how many turns from closed (hard) to open (soft) on each shock? Make a note so you know in the future.

 

[BluePonyGT]

Reporting back:

Ok so after driving around a bit I'm not happy with the camber/caster being out that much in the front.

I've decided to get a set of camber/caster plates. Plus I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the bumpsteer kit with the control arms as well while I've got the fronts loose anyway. It doesn't really steer all that badly to be honest, but I can feel the car's a little jumpy in tighter turns.

I haven't had time to adjust the shocks and struts this week, but I have all weekend to work that out. I'm happy with where the sway bar ends are. Toe and Camber in the rear seem to be fine so I'm going to leave the camber arms alone - although it would be nice to have better bushings back there to complement the better toe links in the future.

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