Set It Straight
Restore your S550’s front-end geometry with J&M Products caster/camber plates
By Steve Turner
Photos courtesy of J&M Products
For as long has we have loved Mustangs, the first thing we wanted to do once we owned the next one was to bring to closer to terra firma. Since Mustangs have always ridden a bit too high in the saddle for enthusiasts, lowering springs and Mustangs have always been riding partners. However, when you drop the latest Mustangs, the factory suspension doesn’t offer much range of adjustment to restore the proper suspension geometry. That’s where J&M Products’ fully adjustable caster/camber plates (PN 24230; $278.85) for 2015 and newer Mustang come to the rescue.
“When you lower the car the camber goes negative, to get it back to the factory recommended alignment specifications the caster/camber plates become necessary. With production tolerances no two cars are the same,” Brian Croutcher of J&M Products said. “Our plates have the ability for a car to be lowered 2.5 inches and still get the alignment back to factory specifications. When you lower a car and can't get the alignment back to the factory specs, it causes uneven and premature tire wear and doesn’t handle the same with the alignment being off.”
These plates not only offer an easy, independent adjustment of both caster and camber, but they bestow a lifetime warranty on their original owners. The warranty a result of their robust construction, which includes a spherical bearing that minimized deflection. That solid foundation doesn’t mean they aren’t easily adjustable, as you can just loosen the bolts and the top of the strut tower and adjust your Mustang’s alignment as needed. How much adjustment is required will depend on the amount you lowered the suspension.
“At 1 inch and lower, increased adjustment becomes more necessary to prevent the premature and uneven tire wear,” Brian added.
For example, a car equipped with Eibach’s popular Pro-Kit handling springs would want -1 degree of camber and 7.5 degrees of caster in front, which would be difficult to achieve with the stock strut mount.
Intrigued by the J&M parts we asked to see how the plates were installed, so we are going to share the highlights of that process here. If they sound like the will do the trick for your S550, you can grab a set for just $278.85 right on the company’s web store front, HotPart.com.
J&M Caster/Camber Plates for (PN 24230; $278.8) offer bolt-on adjustability of both caster and camber for owners of lowered 2015 and newer Mustangs. These plates offer up to .7 degrees of caster adjustment and up to 1.75 degrees of camber adjustment, but they are side-specific, so pay close attention to the instructions when you install them.
Start by jacking up the front end of your Mustang and supporting the chassis safely with jackstands. Then remove the front wheels so you can access the strut body and remove all the clips that attach to it. Then you can remove the factory endlink bolt that attaches to the strut.
Next remove the factory caliper bolts with a 15mm socket and take off the caliper. You can hang it safely out of the way with wire so as not to stress the factory brake line. Then you can pull off the rotors.
Now remove the strut nuts and tap out the bolts so the lower end of the strut body is free. Then you can move up top and remove the bolts from the strut tower with a 15mm socket and pull out the struts.
Use a spring compressor for its intended purpose—safely compressing the spring. If you haven’t already done so, this would be an opportune time to install some handling springs. With the spring compresses, you can remove the strut nut and replace the factory upper mount with the J&M caster/camber plate. As we mentioned before, the plates are side specific, so double-check the instructions before you install the plate and torque it to 76 lb-ft.
Slip the J&M plate’s mounting studs up through the strut tower and install the included washers and nuts, then you can reinstall the struts, endlinks, brake rotors, brake calipers and other hardware you removed along the way. The J&M instructions are quite thorough and include the tool sizes and torque ratings you need.
Once you have the J&M plates installed, drive your car to an alignment shop. There they can adjust the caster by loosening all the strut-mount bolts. The front end will have to be raised to release the pressure applied by the front sway bar when the car is on the ground.
After the caster is set, torque the caster nut (marked tight) to 26 lb-ft and adjust the camber before torquing the remaining nuts to the same torque spec.
