1. Its been on for over 1 1/2 years no squeaks at all and I do not need to grease the rear bushings. Yes I listen all the time for strange and new sounds.
2. With wider tires I know some people experience the tires sticking out more on one side. Yes the mechanic that did my install is the alignment specialist and he said there is room for some small adjustment. How he does it I do not know. You can call Kimnack Ford in Norfolk,Va. ask for Russel and he can tell you.
3. I have a very low mileage car and and I have not needed to replace the ball joints. From my understanding the drop is a very mild one and I was told it should not be and issue. No I have not installed lower control arms and probably won't.
4. I have not done lower brackets but would like to. I have heard good things about them so maybe I might look into it more. The car does not squat at all if any. I have a lil over 340 to the wheels and this car hooks great,rides awesome, handles like a dream. I have rode in and driven other Mustangs with different set ups and tire and wheel combination and I must say this is the nicest kit for our cars and the level of handling and performance is perfect.
I'm glad for you that you have no squeaks...maybe the trick is to NOT grease the bushings at all, even intially. I've had a frustrating set of experiences with poly bushings, starting with those in my BMR sway bar, on my 07 GT/CS, that squeaked and required constant greasing, to the ones on the BMR LCAs I installed on this car (back to stock now). Also, when I spoke to the tech guy at FRPP/SVT, he said they warn potential FR3 hanmdling pack customers that the poly bushings will squeak and make noise, so I guess you should consider yourself lucky in that respect.
On the panhard bar, I encourage you to back the car up on a set of ramps, get underneath and you will see what I'm talking about. The bar itself is a pipe partially filled with [lastic beads (to mitigate the hollow sound it would otherwise make0, of a fixed length, with rubber bushings at each end, and the places where the panhard bar attaches on the chasis and on the axle are simply fixed holes in the sheet metal brace, welded in place on the chassis, and the iron bracket, welded in place on the axle. Don't take my word for it...do some more searching and ask others on this and other forums...the ONLY way to adjust the rear axle in lateral terms is with an adjustable panhard bar, which you would have to buy. Did you buy the car used...maybe the previous owner had already installed an adjustable panhard bar?
If you don't have an adjustable panhard bar, then one of the following is probably the case:
- The dealership tech is lying to you and no adjustment was made, or;
- It was in fact "adjusted", and I'd be concerned, because the tech would have had to enlarge the size of the holes on either the chassis or the axle, which would be unsafe and make me, as a driver, uncomfortable
- It was in fact "adjusted", and again I'd be concerned, because the other thing the tech could have done was to cut the bracket off the axle and re-weld it in a new location, which would again concern me
Let me clarify that I'm not trying to be a dick here. It's just that I've played with adjustable panhard bars and rear axle adjustment a whole lot...countless hours, and I'm VERY familiar with how they work and how they're attached, and I feel I should share my experience with you. In fact, I developed a couple of different methods of measuring to ensure that to a millimeter, the axle was properly centered. Note that each time you drive your car, when you get out depending on the surface you're parked on and who was riding in the car, and whether you backed in turning to the left or right, etc, the height between your car's body and rear tires will be different on the drivers side and passenger's side, and that car-to-axle height relationship will affect how much the tires stick out on one side or the other. In order to measure and adjust properly, you will need to ensure both sides are at the same height relative to the axle (easiest to do by seeing how many fingers fit between the wheel arch and the tire on either side).
One final note: The design of the CHE adjustable panhard bar requires that it be removed to tighten properly after adjustment, while the design of the BMR adjustable panhard bar let's it be tightened properly in-situ.
get under your car. check it out. ask the questions from your dealer. I'm not interested for my own application; I've gotten comfortable with the fact that it sticks out a little more on one side than the other, even in stock suspension form.
The reason I'm writting this long-ass post is that I'm concerned that as a fellow Mustanger/fellow S197 forum member, you're either being lied to, or an unsafe modification/adjustment was made (unless as I wrote above, a previous owner already had installed an adjustable PHB).
