Thinking about attempting this with my 2012 GT Premium

WILECYOT

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So lets start off with saying where I came from and how I ended up with my mustang. My name's Ben, I come from a really small town in the mountains of NC. I grew up farming, hunting, fishing, dirt bikes, 4 wheelers, all that fun shit. School was a joke for me, ridiculously easy, got accepted to NCSU for Mechanical Engineering. Well I bought a 1999 Tacoma 2wd to drive to college. It was cheap, and when I was done with it really good on gas. I was getting 30mpg on the highway and damn proud of it. I was driving 720 miles home every other weekend so saving on gas was priority #1.

Here are some pics of my old Tacoma before it got totalled... damn volvo.

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Well I had fun with this little truck. Some may say it was riced out or whatever but it was good on gas, handled pretty well for a truck, and was VERY clean. I was meticulous with this truck.

After that was wrecked I picked up a '97 240sx from some black guy in Charlotte who bought it of a dude that is well known and respected in the NC 240 community. He blew the motor and dropped in a junkyard motor, fried the chipped ECU's injector driver, blew the turbo, etc etc. Basically he trashed the car. It was a clean shell, mint interior kouki (1/~4700) SE trim without the sunroof. PERFECT!

Well I got that car up and running, pulled all the turbo shit off of it and bought a motor off a friend with 195k miles on it.... seems like a lot but I changed all the seals in it and did a valve job, new head gasket, lot of cleaning, etc. Just basically got me back on the road in a clean car.

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I had that car for a little while, had it back home in the mountains over the winter and hit a patch of ice going around 40 MPH and the rear end came around on me, over corrected, spin around, hit a pole going backwards and totalled the car. Loaded it up on a trailer and took her home where I stripped her down to a bare shell. Pulled EVERYTHING off the car, sold a lot of it. The front end was saved from the wreck thank god and that helped me out. Bought a '95 shell and got to work. Got back on the road with it. I don't have a whole lot of pics of that car but here is one of when it was in halfway decent condition. The paint was SHOT to hell so I traded my stock bumpers and some cash for a Supermade body kit for the car. I wanted something that would sit a little lower on the car.

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And this inevitably led to paint, decided to paint it myself and I wanted to do it right. Stripped the car down and took the side windows out, did a really good job on the body work. Had over 150 hrs (a lot of learning time in that) in prep work. Got it to this point and I was too busy with school to spend anymore time on the car and parted it out.

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Anyway sold that car and graduated from NC State. Go wolfpack. Bought a brand new 2012 Mustang GT Premium, Black, Brembos, Comfort Package, 3.73s, Lava Red interior, yada yada. I've had it since this past December and I figure now is the time to start playing with it. I've autocrossed the car, took it to the Drag strip in bone stock trim and ran a 12.74 (this is the first time I've ever took a car to the drag strip BTW) with a reaction time of .095. Pretty good day.


Well I really miss having a low car and riding on rails. My black 240 handled like a dream. I had full coilovers, adjustable Rear upper control arms, adjustable toe arms, adjustable tension arms, and adjustable traction arms. The car would hook up really well. I always wanted to slide that car but I never got the chance to as I couldn't afford spare wheels and tires to go sliding. The black 240 was a budget build for sure.

The idea with the mustang is to get it low, probably lower it 3" in the rear and 2.5" or so in the front. I'm looking to buy D2 coilovers from a guy that's local. He's actually the North American distributor for D2s so I can get a hookup on the pricing. I could probably get a group buy going if anyone is interested. I had em on my 240 and loved em. I want to get an adjustable panhard bar as well as adjustable lower control arms. I think I need an upper control arm as well to correct the rear suspension geometry but I'm hoping someone can correct me on this. Basically guys I'm just looking for some advice to get my car setup to hit up a few local events where I'm not going to push the car hard or hit any walls. :beer:
 

WILECYOT

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Ugh, forgot to post pics of the mustang, I'm sorry. Here we go...

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krang00

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I'd definitely get a set of coilovers as the first step. You'll need an adjustable panhard bar as you mentioned to correct the rear geometry. I'd get a set of lower control arm relocation brackets too because the LCA angle gets pretty out of line going low. Your car has more than enough power; focus on suspension and have some fun!
 

EGNARO

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i lowered mine a inch and a 1/4.. its not terribly low, but handles amazing.
scrapes on driveways

set up as of now..

tokico shocks and struts,
ford racing springs
ford racing strut mounts.
stallion suspension k member support brace

stallion suspension sway bar end links
BMR LCAs
steeda panhard bar.
random american muscle strut tower brace.

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WILECYOT

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That white car is the look I'm going for. I know it won't handle worth a shit because it's going to have minimal travel. Drifters these days have started raising their cars up to allow better suspension geometry but my car isn't going to be all track duty.... it's going to see a lot of DD time. Low and slow brah.
 

WILECYOT

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Also, is an Upper control arm necessary to correct the pinion angle?
 

Menes06GT

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I think I got your solution lol, I have tracked and done a few drifting days in this car with the current set up and it does pretty damn good. I'm on an air set up by AirLift Performance (completely bolt on with no modifications needed), got some LCA relocation brackets with stock LCA's, an adjustable pan-hard bar, and some adjustable sway bars. The air in itself is the best because its nice and low when I want it to be and is a pretty comfortable ride that can clear pretty much anything.

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WILECYOT

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Static drop because bags are for those afraid of commitments.
 

WILECYOT

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Adjustable suspension is not equal to static drop. I was mocking the airbags. The reason I want to go static is because I have no issues with commitments. Also, with airbags, you are not able to dial it in without leaving the car. You have no idea exactly where you are. As you add air, you also add more preload to the suspension. Airbags are not a performance upgrade AT ALL. They say that the shelby with the bags ran a faster lap time than stock, this was due to the car having a lower center of gravity and less body roll more likely than the bags giving more performance. A set of drop springs would own these bags.
 

WILECYOT

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If you lower your Mustang that much, it will handle like shit.

From what I can see you are an avid autocrosser.

From personal experience autocrossers focus on tires, shocks, and brakes. Honestly that's about all you can change to stay within the rules unless you want to go to a higher class where the level of competition is much greater.

What I'm wanting to do, and notice where the thread is listed, isn't autocross. I've driven COUNTLESS lowered cars. When I say lowered I mean slammed. The majority of them, unless done on the cheap without the proper supporting mods (adjustable control arms, stiffer bushings, stiffer sway bars, etc) ride much better than a strut spring combo.

I'll leave on this note, I'm not trying to make my car handle the absolute best. I want it slammed. Sorry you're jelly.
 

Sky Render

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"Jelly"? I have the same car as you, dingbat. I was just pointing out that if you lower a Mustang 3 inches it will not handle well for autocross, road course, or even drifting.
 

WILECYOT

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3" Was just a number I threw out there. Realistically I'm not going to lower my car 3". Maybe 2-2.5" but the largest set of drop springs I've seen are 2" and you lose all of your travel with them. At least with Coilovers you aren't altering your travel like you do with drop springs. The ride height is adjusted separately. In the fronts of this car in particular I also have the option to adjust preload, not that I'd dare do that, but it does exist. Most other cars that can rock coilovers with an IRS system have the coilover system similar to the front and can alter preload as well. The coilovers I'm buying, today from a local vendor, are D2s. I've had em before on my 240s and loved them. Mustangs in the rear don't have a true coilover. They have springs with height adjusters on the bottom with a seperate damper. I'm ok with that if it works well.
 

WILECYOT

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Slamming will happen right away, not until I have an adjustable panhard bar for certain quickly followed by LCAs, LCA relocation brackets, UCA, UCA mounting bracket, and a panhard bar brace. That will make the rear end of my car pretty much ideal for my goals. The front end will then get some attention. I haven't looked into the front end all that much to see what I want to do.
 

Menes06GT

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Adjustable suspension is not equal to static drop. I was mocking the airbags. The reason I want to go static is because I have no issues with commitments. Also, with airbags, you are not able to dial it in without leaving the car. You have no idea exactly where you are. As you add air, you also add more preload to the suspension. Airbags are not a performance upgrade AT ALL. They say that the shelby with the bags ran a faster lap time than stock, this was due to the car having a lower center of gravity and less body roll more likely than the bags giving more performance. A set of drop springs would own these bags.

I don't know where you get your info but you could not be more wrong. I have clocked countless lap times on the track and hands down my bags have out preformed my old set ups from my drop springs to coil-overs. Not only are your being ignorant and close minded, but your badmouthing half the people that posted on this thread. You asked for our opinions, if you didn't wanna hear them then don't ask.
 

WILECYOT

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I don't know where you get your info but you could not be more wrong. I have clocked countless lap times on the track and hands down my bags have out preformed my old set ups from my drop springs to coil-overs. Not only are your being ignorant and close minded, but your badmouthing half the people that posted on this thread. You asked for our opinions, if you didn't wanna hear them then don't ask.

First of all I do not believe your countless lap times. Your old setups were on what car? This one? Ignorant is the lack of knowledge. You are the ignorant one telling me that bags outperform shock spring or coilover setups. I've only bad mouthed you because you are giving me false information. Only an idiot would sit here and argue that bags are going to handle better than a decent shock spring combo. :popcorneat:
 

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