Swaybars or cheap coilovers?

[1st usa car]

Not in a hurry to lower the car but if I did it would be very minor from the standard SVTP height. I want to know what would be the best bang for the buck... making the GT500 vert. feel lighter in the turns and lane changing?

I bought but have not installed BMR adjustable panhard bar and LCA.

 

[54First]

Don't get cheap anything.

Steve

 

[MastaAce03]

Definitely better off getting quality springs and struts over cheap coilovers. Just be patient, save up for an additional couple months and get some quality coilovers. Not cheap but worth the wait from everyone I've talked to.

I was the impatient one and bought Koni yellows with H&R super sport springs. I'm actually extremely happy with how my car looks and drives, I just wish I had the adjustability of the coilover.

 

[Mainn]

Don't get cheap anything.

Steve

This.

Cheap coilovers < sway bars < quality coilovers. Stiffer sway bars will reduce body roll and influence understeer/oversteer characteristics. A good coilover kit will influence understeer/oversteer characteristics, brake dive, body roll, how bumps in the road are absorbed, as well as the centre of gravity. You'd feel a much larger overall change/response in the car's handling out of the coilovers.

Of course, both sway bars AND coilovers would be even better.

 

[1st usa car]

Thanks for the detailed explanation of the benefits and differences. Coilovers will give more --- Would the same be said for decent springs and shocks?

This.

Cheap coilovers < sway bars < quality coilovers. Stiffer sway bars will reduce body roll and influence understeer/oversteer characteristics. A good coilover kit will influence understeer/oversteer characteristics, brake dive, body roll, how bumps in the road are absorbed, as well as the centre of gravity. You'd feel a much larger overall change/response in the car's handling out of the coilovers.

Of course, both sway bars AND coilovers would be even better.

 

[65type1]

I've got no experience with coil overs on a GT500, but I do run FRP springs, bilstein struts/shocks and hotchkis sway bars. The improvement in handling and ride comfort with this set up is substantially better.

 

[Catmonkey]

Can someone define cheap coil-overs? Granted I've seen front and rear coil-overs go for over $4,000, but what is the cut-off point to be considered cheap? A set of Koni yellows and springs would come in under $1,000 at the current sales prices. Not many rear set-ups are true coil-overs either, but come with an adjustable spring perch.

 

[54First]

Can someone define cheap coil-overs?

Raceland Coilovers starting at $469. Advertised in May, 2016 MM & FF.

Steve

 

[enormous]

BEWARE of the high cost of the cheapest coilovers.

 

[jenkins_1120]

i ran the ground control coilover kit for awhile 440lb front and 250lb rear for mostly street driven then i made the switch to a strange double adjustable front coilover with a 170lb front spring, BMR rear springs and Viking shocks for a track set up. The whole GC setup was $1600 and just the two front strange were around $1100

 

[Mainn]

Thanks for the detailed explanation of the benefits and differences. Coilovers will give more --- Would the same be said for decent springs and shocks?

You wouldn't have quite the level of adjustability nor predictability coilovers provide, but yes, decent springs and shocks are also very good.

 

[Robert M]

Can someone define cheap coil-overs?

Fitment = "All 2005-2014 Mustang V8"






R

 

[Speedboosted]

Absolute cheapest coilover I would ever look at is the Ground Control setup. I feel bad for people who buy the BC stuff and their shocks are blown out in 4 months. Best coilover kit for the money is the Vorshlag TrackPro kit by far. $2500 for everything (camber plates, end links, springs, etc.). It'll ride better than pretty much everything out there and last forever.

 

[rfugio68]

Absolute cheapest coilover I would ever look at is the Ground Control setup. I feel bad for people who buy the BC stuff and their shocks are blown out in 4 months. Best coilover kit for the money is the Vorshlag TrackPro kit by far. $2500 for everything (camber plates, end links, springs, etc.). It'll ride better than pretty much everything out there and last forever.

What do you think about the ride tech HQ series coilovers? I had bc's and ended up selling them after a month.

 

[Speedboosted]

What do you think about the ride tech HQ series coilovers? I had bc's and ended up selling them after a month.

Big fat no on them as well. Yes, they make better products then BC, but their design is terrible for S197's. Why in the world would you put the spring over the shock in the location? That takes up a lot of inboard wheel/tire clearance.

I don't really ever like to give out "wrong" advice, but I'm going to here. If you want to keep a good ride quality, get Bilstein shocks/struts, a lowering spring with a low progressive rate, and big sway bars. It's the opposite of what you're supposed to do with the bar and spring rates, but if you're not out there on the road course it won't matter. Sway bars SHOULD be used as a tuning tool for the suspension, not to control body roll. That is the job of the springs and dampers. However, that requires higher (stiffer) spring rates which will make the ride more uncomfortable.

 

[GT Premi]

... Sway bars SHOULD be used as a tuning tool for the suspension, not to control body roll. That is the job of the springs and dampers. ...

I'm not trying to give you shit, but the very name of the parts (sway/stabilizer bars) disagrees with that statement. Shocks/struts, springs and sway bars all have different jobs to do. Springs are for supporting the weight of the vehicle. Shocks/struts are for controlling vehicle motion over road imperfections. Sway bars are for controlling body roll. All three can be tuned to help each other, but ideally, they should be tuned individually to do what they are designed to do.

 

[Speedboosted]

I'm not trying to give you shit, but the very name of the parts (sway/stabilizer bars) disagrees with that statement. Shocks/struts, springs and sway bars all have different jobs to do. Springs are for supporting the weight of the vehicle. Shocks/struts are for controlling vehicle motion over road imperfections. Sway bars are for controlling body roll. All three can be tuned to help each other, but ideally, they should be tuned individually to do what they are designed to do.

That's what American Muscle likes to tell you. I should rephrase the statement that you quoted slightly. I meant that the sole purpose of sway bars shouldn't be to control body roll. Why do you think that companies produce adjustable sway bars? To fine tune the suspension. Each adjustment point is a different rate that will cause the car to react in different ways. Adjusting (tuning) is how you get your suspension dialed in and performing the best it can be. If this wasn't the case, everyone would go sell a massive 38mm bar with only one mounting hole, but that's not how it works. As I said, the correct way to control body roll is to run a lot of spring rate but that makes for an uncomfortable ride most of the time and requires real coilovers (NOT anything from BC, Raceland, under $1500 stuff). That's a lot of money for someone to spend on something that they won't see the real benefit of unless they spend time on a track. Majority of people won't want to spend the money to do all of that, so marketing sway bars as the end all of body roll is better for their business.

Go take a look at the sway bars that a Boss S uses, I think you'll be surprised. Or go look under any Continental Challenge S197, same deal. Whiteline, who probably makes the best suspension parts for these cars, uses a 33mm adjustable front sway bar. Now, 33mm is smaller then every factory bar that comes on a S197 (except for 05-10 V6), so why in the world would they do that? It's adjustability allows the end user to dial in his setup perfectly. I can promise you if you go out there and throw on the biggest front sway bar you can find (BMR 38mm, that's also adjustable ), set it to the stiffest setting, the car will understeer like a big fat pig and handle worse then before. Getting a well performing suspension isn't about throwing parts at the car, it's about fine tuning ii through testing to ensure it's the best it can be.

 

[Gtvic]

Not really, I installed BMR 38mm and dropped 40 seconds off my lap time just like that with stock track pack!

 

[1st usa car]

Since this post -- I have added a bunch of suspension mods -- very very happy with my current setup and hook up ability.

 

[moncho]

Since this post -- I have added a bunch of suspension mods -- very very happy with my current setup and hook up ability.

Can you elaborate on what suspension mods you did? I'm looking to make some changes to better handle 600-650 HP when the time comes.