What's In DFB's Cabinet?

[DFB5.0]

Too bad about the pressure sensors but your new girl looks spectacular! Race Red is the bomb!

I've spent the last week head down on the job, its only now that I stand back and "see" what I have been doing................if that makes sense.

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[HoosierDaddy]

But there is a problem, one that burst my bubble. Of all the parts that Ford carried over from S550, for some unknown reason, they changed the TPMS sensors from 315 MHz to 433 MHz. This means they don't talk to the car, throwing a pressure warning. They can't be coded or reprogrammed either, so of course, the only way to fix that is to remove the tyres and replace the TPMS.

Any chance whatever receives the signals from the sensors is cheap and interchangeable with an S550 315 MHz part?

 

[radar]

Looks much better with previous wheels. The birds nest wheels supplied have as much appeal as the original black S550 forged alloys.
FYI, before my trip, I replaced 2 TPMS on a spare set of S550 wheels. $55 ea at Jefferson Ford - guessing (hoping) the new ones similarly priced

 

[skinnyb]

Looks much better with previous wheels. The birds nest wheels supplied have as much appeal as the original black S550 forged alloys.
FYI, before my trip, I replaced 2 TPMS on a spare set of S550 wheels. $55 ea at Jefferson Ford - guessing (hoping) the new ones similarly priced

I have to agree to a certain degree. I generally dislike black wheels, especially PP wheels... Very few cars can pull off black wheels... One of the first things I did to my Grabber Blue GT was gunmetal wheels.... My Mach 1 has the charcoal color matte finish birdcage wheels, they are a PAIN to clean but I really like the look.

 

[skinnyb]

Wheels!

Prior to the sale of my old S550, I removed the Ford Performance HP Performance wheels from the car. I didn't necessarily do this with the intention of fitting them to the S650, rather they are worth more than the original gloss black Performance Pack items that came on the car. The same with the solid black lug nuts.

Like the S550 Performance Pack wheels, I'm not in love with the standard S650 versions. Actually, they look pretty good, especially in the graphite colouring rather than the satin black that my car came with. I have two main gripes with both S550 and S650 PP wheels, they hide the brake calipers and......................they take forever to clean.

And so, curiosity has got the better of me, I've decided to trial the HP wheels on my new car. With two sets of wheels to choose from, I have effectively doubled my wheel workload.

I bought these wheels new in mid 2021, effectively addressing three key factors. First and second being the above-mentioned caliper visibility and cleaning ease. The third being a functional aspect, ridding the car of the diabolically bad Pirelli P-Zero's. For a performance tyre, these couldn't have been worse if Pirelli tried. For a powerful rear drive car, the lack of traction you would understand in performance orientated driving, but not low-speed driving in residential areas. Replacing them for Michelin PS4S transformed the car. Having said that, the latest P-Zero Ford is currently using are apparently a marked improvement.

Being a brand-new set of wheels, I wanted to go all out in keeping them looking good. At the time, apart from applying DLUX to plastic trim, these wheels would be the first time I had used a ceramic coating on a painted surface. After looking at a few coatings, I settled on NV Wheel. Considering how nervous I was, the coating went down well, and I learned a new skill.

I never really loved that coating, it just didn't exhibit the sort of hydrophobic qualities I was expecting. From what I can tell, to get the durability needed on wheels, the slickness and water behavior tends to suffer on wheel-specific coatings. For me, both of those aspects matter to me just as much as the actual protection.

NV Wheel did provide decent longevity and was still mildly present when the wheels were removed, however, I wanted to start fresh with a new coating. The problem here being the satin/matte finish, you can't simply polish off the remainder of the previous coating, unless you want a gloss finish. So, I needed to do the best I could working with that constraint.

First up, I applied Gyeon Iron Remover to each wheel and left them to soak.

From here, I rinsed off the iron remover and used undiluted brake buster to get them clean. I then clayed using a traditional clay bar and Gyeon Clay Lube. After this, I grabbed the Big Boi to get the wheels and tyres dry.

Next, onto one of my favorite detailing tasks, refreshing tyre sidewalls with Stoners Tarminator. Both front and back sidewalls were done...................yes, I know.

I then did three rounds of prep spray, starting with Carpro Eraser, then Rupes Reveal Strong, then ADS Panel Prep.

The choice of coating wasn't really a choice, rather a mere formality. After first applying ADS High Temp Wheel Coating to the XR6 this time last year, I couldn't be happier with this product. It goes on quite thick, and has some grabbiness during the first wipe off, but it transforms to a lovely slick finish. Water behavior is exceptional and cleaning stupid easy. I may not be 100% sold on paint coatings in general, but on wheels, this coating is a must.

The ADS wheel coating is a single layer product, but it can be layered if desired. Considering how matte wheels are somewhat porous, I decided to apply two layers. The barrels in particular soaked it up, to the point where leveling was pretty pointless. After four hours, I applied ADS Ceramic Sealant to protect the coating as it fully cures.

Overall, I'm very happy with how these came up, the coating has brought additional depth and richness to the finish. I'll keep you in suspense a little longer though, I'll be swapping the wheels over tomorrow, coating the calipers as I go.

I do love the style of these wheels a lot BUT, I really like the genuine PP2 version in the factory grey. I was able to help @cerbomark clean and coat his today, man they are awesome I think I like them better than my Mach 1 HP wheels...

 

[DFB5.0]

Confession, I hadn't driven the Mustang in a week. After being washed last Saturday, the car sat on Sunday and Monday while I attended to some of my private jobs, I then jumped into polishing on Tuesday. It then sat in the garage all week as I continued working on the car. I wanted to do all that before driving the car too much, get it polished and protected from new. So, after work, I got in the car with no other reason to just DRIVE!

So, after yesterday I was pretty deflated by the TPMS thing. But..................I climbed into be late last night and had a brainwave. I got out of bed and went and found the folder I kept on the S550. I know this will come as a surprise to many, , but I keep invoices and records for all my cars. Flipping through the folder, I found the invoice for the TPMS sensors I ordered back in 2021 from my local dealer.

So, I had the correct parts all along. It would seem all Australian Mustang's come with the 433 MHz frequency. So, today's little drive was also about verifying this discovery. And to my sheer delight, no TPMS Fault Light, and the sensors automatically sync'd to the vehicle. Yes, they are a little high, they were pressured for storage, but that obviously changed.

I can also confirm the Bang & Olufsen sound system rocks! It's got the balls to out thump all the cars in my fleet, second place going to the XR6 and third to the Meridian system in Jaguar..................which is sort of not what you would expect, the Jag lacking a sub to bring some thump to the party. Last place? The XR8, even my single cab ranger with 4 speakers will out volume that, and that's despite it being the "Premium" system with a sub-woofer, its just super muddy with no bass or clarity. The B&O has plenty of volume and bass headroom, my usual song for stereo testing sounded amazing! So, I have two sound systems to listen to in this car, both active in the images above and below.............if you catch my drift.

And it has to be that version for the transcendent guitar riff at the end by Danielle Haim. Imagine having that sort of talent, killer vocals, killer guitar skills, killer drummer. I slipped that song into the music track list at work, every time it would come on it would make me smile and made a wonderful difference to all the stodgy tracks that pepper that playlist.



Or this compilation of nothing but the final sequence to that song live.................



I'm so bummed I missed their last visit to Australia. I discovered them only a month before they were here, I then looked to see what their current tour listing was and discovered I missed the show by a day. I would have gone to that 100%. It makes a difference to my usual preference of syrupy pop music by certain female singers.

 

[RSPEK 178]

I still have a few things to do, but below is the result of countless hours work. Other than cropping, there is no editing on those images, straight off the Nikon.

Exceptional mate. My RSPEC needs a recoat now I think about it.

 

[DFB5.0]

I have to agree to a certain degree. I generally dislike black wheels, especially PP wheels... Very few cars can pull off black wheels... One of the first things I did to my Grabber Blue GT was gunmetal wheels.... My Mach 1 has the charcoal color matte finish birdcage wheels, they are a PAIN to clean but I really like the look.

I grew to like the look of the PP1 wheels, when freshly cleaned they had strong appeal.

However, they don't fully suit the theme of a Mustang, they are too fussy looking and remind me of 18-inch Auzuro wheels fitted to the T3 TE50. Then compare to simple 5-spokes that the TS50 got, those looked more in keeping with a performance car.

I do love the style of these wheels a lot BUT, I really like the genuine PP2 version in the factory grey. I was able to help @cerbomark clean and coat his today, man they are awesome I think I like them better than my Mach 1 HP wheels...

100% agree! If I could have found a business in the US willing to sell me a set, I would have definitely gone with the PP2 versions over the matte black Ford Performance items. So, while I could technically buy them, I no one would ship them to Australia, which is a great shame because they ticked all of my boxes. The FP versions were the compromise.

For me, the PP2 versions have a richer look to them due to the gloss finish and would have teamed well with the chrome badges on my S550. I was tossing up having the FP wheels blasted and powder coated in the same gloss graphite finish used on the PP2. However, I think with all the back accents on my S650, I think black wheels make sense. And I say that not being a huge fan of black wheels.

 

[DFB5.0]

Magneride, Ride Comfort and General Refinement!

One of the first things I noticed driving the S650 Mustang was the improved cabin refinement. First and foremost, I highly doubt those shopping for a Mustang place much importance on hushed road noise or a pillowy ride. Still, these are grand tourers, improvements in this space will be welcomed by those who enjoy longer journeys. There are two main areas that contribute to this improved refinement.

Firstly, Ford seem to have used more sound deadening material, most obvious by the now fully carpeted wheel arch liners. On the S550, only the rear wheel arches had the carpet liners, but for S650, the fronts arches now have it too. This is clearly noticeable in the lower road and tyre noise. Yes, having wide tyres means more noise, but S650 has improved noticeably in this area.

Researching this post, I came across what Ford calls Active Pothole Mitigation. “Active Pothole Mitigation continuously monitors steering and brake input, the vehicle body, and suspension, then adjusts the suspension to respond to the changes.” I could not find reference to this feature applying to cars with Magneride, only that it was standard on vehicles with the Performance Pack.

https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2022/09/14/2024-ford-mustang-reveal.html

Backtracking for a second, my early build S550 had quite a bit of jounce at low speeds, but then turned a little soft at speed. Typically, those two elements don’t go hand in hand, so it’s remarkable Ford managed to deliver a hard ride and a lack of body control. Go figure. I wasn’t the only one to noticed this, so Ford made significant ride and handling advances with the updated 2018+ S550 update, be that with or without Magneride.

While I haven’t driven a S650 without it, the Magneride adaptive dampers contribute to the improved ride comfort when comparing old and new. I realise this is an expensive option, $2950 and bundled with red painted Brembo calipers, but I feel it's something you should be including on your order. At the very least, I think you want Magneride for its ability to calm the ride at lower speeds, ideal for long distance touring or around town driving. When the mode takes you there, you can then ramp things up to suit.

With Magneride, you have the option of the following settings -

Normal – Default factory setting.
Sport – Slightly stiffer suspension with emphasis on handling and control.
Track – Maximum emphasis on handling and control.
Drag – Maximizes shock performance for drag strip environments.

These damper settings are linked with the base drive modes (Slippery, Normal, Sport, Track, Drag). You can then create and store a custom mode by using a base drive mode, which will give you a preset damper setting, engine response, transmission calibration and steering effort. From here, you can then change the steering and exhaust modes, cluster theme, even code-out the auto-stop-start. Up to 6 custom modes can be created, activated via the main screen, with the last custom mode selected also available via the toggle buttons on the steering wheel. You could also program the favorite button next to the volume dial to quickly select you custom driving mode without delving into the menus, although I have that set to activate the Track exhaust.

What you can't do is separate the various presets built into the base drive mode. For example, you can't have Sport dampers with Race throttle and transmission response. To be fair, it's confusing enough as it is without making those choices as well.

At the moment, I’m running with the normal base mode, Track exhaust, auto-stop-start deactivated, and the Comfort steering. On the roads I like to explore the envelope, the road surfaces are in fair condition, so Sport or Track dampers would be the choice, most likely with the comfort steering. Why comfort steering? Because I don’t care for heavy steering, and that’s in any car and not necessarily Mustang’s. Comfort seems to make the car feel more agile. More on this in a later post.

Overall, the S650 is a quieter and more refined vehicle, Magneride taking it to a new level.

 

[kilobravo]

.if that makes sense.

It makes perfect sense, Deyon.

 

[skinnyb]

Confession, I hadn't driven the Mustang in a week. After being washed last Saturday, the car sat on Sunday and Monday while I attended to some of my private jobs, I then jumped into polishing on Tuesday. It then sat in the garage all week as I continued working on the car. I wanted to do all that before driving the car too much, get it polished and protected from new. So, after work, I got in the car with no other reason to just DRIVE!

So, after yesterday I was pretty deflated by the TPMS thing. But..................I climbed into be late last night and had a brainwave. I got out of bed and went and found the folder I kept on the S550. I know this will come as a surprise to many, , but I keep invoices and records for all my cars. Flipping through the folder, I found the invoice for the TPMS sensors I ordered back in 2021 from my local dealer.

So, I had the correct parts all along. It would seem all Australian Mustang's come with the 433 MHz frequency. So, today's little drive was also about verifying this discovery. And to my sheer delight, no TPMS Fault Light, and the sensors automatically sync'd to the vehicle. Yes, they are a little high, they were pressured for storage, but that obviously changed.

I can also confirm the Bang & Olufsen sound system rocks! It's got the balls to out thump all the cars in my fleet, second place going to the XR6 and third to the Meridian system in Jaguar..................which is sort of not what you would expect, the Jag lacking a sub to bring some thump to the party. Last place? The XR8, even my single cab ranger with 4 speakers will out volume that, and that's despite it being the "Premium" system with a sub-woofer, its just super muddy with no bass or clarity. The B&O has plenty of volume and bass headroom, my usual song for stereo testing sounded amazing! So, I have two sound systems to listen to in this car, both active in the images above and below.............if you catch my drift.

And it has to be that version for the transcendent guitar riff at the end by Danielle Haim. Imagine having that sort of talent, killer vocals, killer guitar skills, killer drummer. I slipped that song into the music track list at work, every time it would come on it would make me smile and made a wonderful difference to all the stodgy tracks that pepper that playlist.



Or this compilation of nothing but the final sequence to that song live.................



I'm so bummed I missed their last visit to Australia. I discovered them only a month before they were here, I then looked to see what their current tour listing was and discovered I missed the show by a day. I would have gone to that 100%. It makes a difference to my usual preference of syrupy pop music by certain female singers.

I do agree, my Mach 1 has the B&O and I was instantly impressed with it compared to the basic 9 speaker in my GT Premium. I do thoroughly enjoy going back and forth between windows up and stereo rocking, and then windows down and enjoying Coyote music

 

[skinnyb]

Magneride, Ride Comfort and General Refinement!

One of the first things I noticed driving the S650 Mustang was the improved cabin refinement. First and foremost, I highly doubt those shopping for a Mustang place much importance on hushed road noise or a pillowy ride. Still, these are grand tourers, improvements in this space will be welcomed by those who enjoy longer journeys. There are two main areas that contribute to this improved refinement.

Firstly, Ford seem to have used more sound deadening material, most obvious by the now fully carpeted wheel arch liners. On the S550, only the rear wheel arches had the carpet liners, but for S650, the fronts arches now have it too. This is clearly noticeable in the lower road and tyre noise. Yes, having wide tyres means more noise, but S650 has improved noticeably in this area.

Researching this post, I came across what Ford calls Active Pothole Mitigation. “Active Pothole Mitigation continuously monitors steering and brake input, the vehicle body, and suspension, then adjusts the suspension to respond to the changes.” I could not find reference to this feature applying to cars with Magneride, only that it was standard on vehicles with the Performance Pack.

https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2022/09/14/2024-ford-mustang-reveal.html

Backtracking for a second, my early build S550 had quite a bit of jounce at low speeds, but then turned a little soft at speed. Typically, those two elements don’t go hand in hand, so it’s remarkable Ford managed to deliver a hard ride and a lack of body control. Go figure. I wasn’t the only one to noticed this, so Ford made significant ride and handling advances with the updated 2018+ S550 update, be that with or without Magneride.

While I haven’t driven a S650 without it, the Magneride adaptive dampers contribute to the improved ride comfort when comparing old and new. I realise this is an expensive option, $2950 and bundled with red painted Brembo calipers, but I feel it's something you should be including on your order. At the very least, I think you want Magneride for its ability to calm the ride at lower speeds, ideal for long distance touring or around town driving. When the mode takes you there, you can then ramp things up to suit.

With Magneride, you have the option of the following settings -

Normal – Default factory setting.
Sport – Slightly stiffer suspension with emphasis on handling and control.
Track – Maximum emphasis on handling and control.
Drag – Maximizes shock performance for drag strip environments.

These damper settings are linked with the base drive modes (Slippery, Normal, Sport, Track, Drag). You can then create and store a custom mode by using a base drive mode, which will give you a preset damper setting, engine response, transmission calibration and steering effort. From here, you can then change the steering and exhaust modes, cluster theme, even code-out the auto-stop-start. Up to 6 custom modes can be created, activated via the main screen, with the last custom mode selected also available via the toggle buttons on the steering wheel. You could also program the favorite button next to the volume dial to quickly select you custom driving mode without delving into the menus, although I have that set to activate the Track exhaust.

What you can't do is separate the various presets built into the base drive mode. For example, you can't have Sport dampers with Race throttle and transmission response. To be fair, it's confusing enough as it is without making those choices as well.

At the moment, I’m running with the normal base mode, Track exhaust, auto-stop-start deactivated, and the Comfort steering. On the roads I like to explore the envelope, the road surfaces are in fair condition, so Sport or Track dampers would be the choice, most likely with the comfort steering. Why comfort steering? Because I don’t care for heavy steering, and that’s in any car and not necessarily Mustang’s. Comfort seems to make the car feel more agile. More on this in a later post.

Overall, the S650 is a quieter and more refined vehicle, Magneride taking it to a new level.

I read this and the first thing that stood out is, you guys get the ASS system? Man that is a HUGE bummer. I am SO glad the S550 never got that. And to my knowledge, the US Spec S650 doesn't have it either. I could be wrong though...

 

[DFB5.0]

I read this and the first thing that stood out is, you guys get the ASS system? Man that is a HUGE bummer. I am SO glad the S550 never got that. And to my knowledge, the US Spec S650 doesn't have it either. I could be wrong though...

It's a massive pain in the rear and has no place in a Mustang.

I have to say, all this nanny bullsh.t is a waste of time in a Mustang. Why do I need Auto-Stop-Star in a muscle car? I've programed it off in the custom drive mode selector, so all I have to do is press custom and it has all my settings stored. The "Keep Hands On Steering Wheel" is spasmodic in its activation, and completely unconducive to cruising. I've gone through an turned most of it off, including the radar cruise, lane keeping assist and auto-hold functions.

 

[skinnyb]

It's a massive pain in the rear and has no place in a Mustang.

I have to say, all this nanny bullsh.t is a waste of time in a Mustang. Why do I need Auto-Stop-Star in a muscle car? I've programed it off in the custom drive mode selector, so all I have to do is press custom and it has all my settings stored. The "Keep Hands On Steering Wheel" is spasmodic in its activation, and completely unconducive to cruising. I've gone through an turned most of it off, including the radar cruise, lane keeping assist and auto-hold functions.

Yes, my 22 Premium had all that except the ASS (My cheeky abreviation, kinda fits huh? ).. I didn't mind the radar cruise (Mach 1 doesn't have Radar Cruise for some reason), but the lane keep was always off unless I was on a road trip on the highway... My F150 had the ASS and I deactivated it using ForScan. I just basically turned off BMS which effectively deactivated it completely. Was the very first thing I did when I brought it home.

 

[MAGS1]

I read this and the first thing that stood out is, you guys get the ASS system? Man that is a HUGE bummer. I am SO glad the S550 never got that. And to my knowledge, the US Spec S650 doesn't have it either. I could be wrong though...

US Mustang’s don’t have the auto start/stop. Hopefully they never do…

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