Hello all, Just bot a new 08 GT 5-speed and want to keep it a road car. I see no mention in the forums of people using the Ford Racing suspension upgrade. Is there anything wrong with it if you want to keep the car usable as a daily driver on curvy roads? Thanks for your input!
For a daily driver the FR suspension should be pretty good and easy but as Thumper has pointed out you could easily find better in terms of performance and cost. Take my setup for example when it'll be finished it'll be an unholy bastardy of Roush, Steeda, J&M, Fays Engineering, and Ford Racing parts all working together to turn my car's handling from that of a falling refrigerator to a precise and solid corner carver.
There's always the grand debate between drivers out there who comment on suspension systems by "seat of the pants" tuning and feeling. And while I can respect that, it is just not reliable. Suspension manufactures spends 1000s of hours tweaking their systems to work best together. When you start playing the mix/match game, even though you might think your car handles better, you may be for worse in the end. All the constant tweaking/swapping having numbed you to the fact. I always suggest sticking to a complete suspension package if you're serious about on road performance and even mild track days. (road course, not drag) Multimatic, the company who originially developed the FRPP suspension package, did a wonderful job. The kit gives your street Mustang a good look and much upgraded handling. All while not being too bouncy/jouncy. It even does a darn good job out at the track, for what it is. Any one who pieces a suspension system together, you really can only get proof of such a setups performance with track times. You need to go out to the track, run laps and see if the Frankenshock setup really did work better. If you just want a lowered ride and soft suspension, get some Steeda Ultra lites and some Monroe Sensatracs! (I kid I kid!) It's easy to make a car feel more solid or tight yet compliant by mix/matching. But you have to be able to quantify the results to justify throwing away 1000s of man hours of testing. I've installed and driven on many suspension systems in various FOX bodies and SN95s over the years and this is what I have learned. In the end, a well tested and developed "system" always performs better. Street and track.
Q is right. I may have exaggerated a bit on the mixing and matching part. Shock and spring should always be carefully matched because the shocks have to be valved for the spring that's why I'm going with a shock and spring combo from Roush. What I'm doing is using Steeda chassis reinforcements i.e. strut bars, sway bars, and finally to add finesse and refirement J&M Hotpart LCAs, Ford Racing SVT Strut mounts and the cherry on the cake my Fays2 Engineering Watts linkage. This was of course carefully picked for its function and hot thrown in there for the heck of it.
I use the fords new Fr3 kit, and it works very well for me. But then again, I am not trying to drive in the GT races...So it depends on what you are trying to do. My kit was pretty cheap as well as I got a deal on it with the car.
I just did the Roush stage 2 suspension and I was looking at the FR one as well. It was cheaper, included the STB (I paid extra for the Roush one) and lowered the car a .5" more. I know Roush is good stuff but it's not everything and nor is the FR one. I have taken my car to a track and I can tell you the Roush suspension is no joke. It's loud yes, but I don't have any problems in the driver's seat. Backseat passengers, not so much. I have 40k miles on my car and about 15-20k of them have been with the Roush setup and it's 100s of times better than the stock.
Running Tokico D-Specs, Steeda Sport Springs, BMR Adj. Panhard Bar, LCAs, UCAs, and sway bars. I wouldn't trade it for anything unless I was doing full coilovers. It's a great set-up that feels great driving, racing, etc.
