Handling? Lowering?

[Goon Squad Racing]

I have an '01 GT currently sitting on 17x9s. I'm a junior in high school and I don't have money to upgrade to 18s at the moment, eventually I will. Anyways, the wheel gap (both vertical and horizontal is hideous). I have a bad bushing in my rear driver's side upper control arm (that's a mouthful) and I'm getting those replaced because it squeaks like a mfer. I'll be throwing on wheel spacers as well when I do that. I'll be lowering it next spring, do I go with coilovers or springs and shocks? Cons and benefits of both?

 

[BrothersPerformance]

Lowering kits pretty much take the guess work out of lowering the car. Most kits are packaged with parts that compliment each other. Eibach has a wide variety of kits that can also include front and rear sway bars.

With coilovers, depending on what brand you go with, provides a lot more adjustability. There is also a lot more to it than bolting it on. Some kits might require different control arms or other pieces and you may have to figure out what spring rates you will want to run. Also they can be more expensive than a typical set of springs and shocks. Maximum Motorsports make top notch kits.

 

[mike willett]

I am running progressive rate Eibach springs which removed all the gap from the wheel wells.
Easy and reasonably cheap to install.
You may want to consider a good set of 4 bolt castor camber plates so you can adjust the front end after the spring install. Handles better and you can control tire wear. Mine are billet aluminum from Steeda.
I also added KYB adjustable shocks and running 17x9 wheels up front and 17x10.5 wheels in back. No fender gaps and fills out the rear wheel well. Sticks like glue.

 

[sigmanx]

Budget! That's what you should all yourself. I started with springs n shocks. Then I went to front coilovers. Then I got rear coilovers. Mine are maximum motorsports. Right now around $2k in coilovers.

 

[95 GTS Diablo]

Goon Squad, depends what you want the car to be able to do. If it's just cruising and hooning with your mates around town, then a set of springs, $200 a set give or take, will get you low. Then, dampers will be needed to bring the higher spring rate associated with lowered springs into check. Here's where price can get crazy for a kid. $300-800 depending on quality and durability.

Raceland makes a set of coilovers for under 500. this means ride height adjustability with new dampers. it's a steal for getting stance.


If you want to race and be fast... go to maximum motorsports site and read up and then start saving up. it takes $$$ to make these sn95's really really, handle.

 

[sigmanx]

Maximum motorsports can be expensive that's for sure! But for corners it's worth it!

 

[kalvick]

each year buy some of this complete kit...... 1999-04 Mustang GT Maximum Grip Box that is what I am doing. All I have left is the kmember and coil overs.

its seriously the best kit and its all compatible with each other. just buy a few parts at a time.

 

[sigmanx]

Ya is one way to do it!

 

[95 GTS Diablo]

What the OP has to decide on is what the car is to be used for and what level of quality he desires. cheap Springs + Dampers will give you a good look.

But coil overs, tubular control arms, bigger sway bars, SFC, watts linkage.... etc ... and wide, sticky tires of course, will transform the handling.

How fast do you want to spend?

Cheers.