Improving comfort and ride quality

Pentalab

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Currently I have in the front 20x9 255/35/20 rear 20x10 305/35/20.


Ur fronts only have a 89.25 mm sidewall ( 3.51" ) There's a big chunk of your problem right there.
The rears are fine.
 

Olerodder

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I had a 14 TrakPak Mustang. I bought it completely stock except a CAI and tune. The original ride was better than my 2019 PP1/A10 Mustang.
I didn't like the looks so, I lowered the car with Eibach Sport springs, WhiteLine adjustable panhard, WhiteLine LCA, UCA and poly carrier bushing, WhiteLine trans mount, aluminum one piece drive shaft, OE 2014 GT500 wheels and tires and other minor add ons. The Mustang would corner carve with the best of them, and on the highway it was as comfortable as my 2019 PP1/A10, which is bone stock.
If you are going to use Boss 302 Suspension pieces, don't waste your money as they are basically no different than the TrackPak pieces. If you want it to ride nicer, as everyone has suggested, the springs, shocks, and bushings are the key, not swapping parts from a Boss 302, just go back to the standard TrakPak suspension parts and replace all bushings with OE rubber or even GT500 rubber bushings.
For me, the stock TrakPak was a nice road car, but corner carving left a lot to be desired.

2014 Mustang3.jpg

old Mustang3.jpg
 

Mackitude

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Making the switch from stock suspension to FRPP P springs and Koni orange all around made a huge difference in ride quality and performance. Suspension clunk on full rebound disappeared, and ride comfort on turrible New Orleans streets improved dramatically due to progressive rate springs, which of course stiffen up nicely under load. Got about 70k miles out of my first set of Koni's, then replaced all under lifetime warranty at no cost. I have about 18k on the second set. Recently upgraded from stock 18" to Saleen Heritage 19's with 275/35 front and 285/35 rear with no noticeable sacrifice in ride quality.
 

Pentalab

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Koni orange (str) is like a koni yellow set on full soft apparently.
 

Kyle2115

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My 05 GT had Eibach sport springs (1.3 fr, 1.5 rear) and original dampers, 28k miles and road like a buckboard.
I couldn't stand it.
I bought Steeda sport linear springs,
1 inch front 1.25 rear and Bilstein shocks/ struts.
Night and day difference.
Still a nice firm ride, no diving, minimal body roll, but the little expansion joint jolts are gone.
Something to do with the valving I believe.
I ordered mine in like February a year or two ago, some kind of back order, took like 6 months to come in!
Still worth it.
Every mustang I buy will have Bilstein installed from now on.
Best mod I've done.
 

skwerl

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I never cared for Eibach springs. Had some GT500 springs made by Eibach on my car once. After 6 months I was ready to sell the car, then I swapped them out and it was great again.
 

06 T-RED S/C GT

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My 05 GT had Eibach sport springs (1.3 fr, 1.5 rear) and original dampers, 28k miles and road like a buckboard.
I couldn't stand it.
I bought Steeda sport linear springs,
1 inch front 1.25 rear and Bilstein shocks/ struts.
Night and day difference.
Still a nice firm ride, no diving, minimal body roll, but the little expansion joint jolts are gone.
Something to do with the valving I believe.
I ordered mine in like February a year or two ago, some kind of back order, took like 6 months to come in!
Still worth it.
Every mustang I buy will have Bilstein installed from now on.
Best mod I've done.
Actually, it's the Eibach pro springs which are 1.3" front and 1.5" rear. Eibach sportline springs are 1.6" front and 2.0" rear. IMO, part of the reason your "05" GT rode like a buckboard with the Eibach pro springs, was from pairing them with the original dampers which aren't designed for lowering springs, to begin with. My "06" GT has the Eibach pro springs paired with Koni Yellow adjustable struts/shocks on full soft settings. Needless to say, my car doesn't ride like a buckboard from your description lol.
 

Pentalab

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Actually, it's the Eibach pro springs which are 1.3" front and 1.5" rear. Eibach sportline springs are 1.6" front and 2.0" rear. IMO, part of the reason your "05" GT rode like a buckboard with the Eibach pro springs, was from pairing them with the original dampers which aren't designed for lowering springs, to begin with. My "06" GT has the Eibach pro springs paired with Koni Yellow adjustable struts/shocks on full soft settings. Needless to say, my car doesn't ride like a buckboard from your description lol.

With a 1.6" front..and a 2.0" rear drop... and oem dampers, u just lost 1.6" of travel on front struts....
and 2.0" of travel on rear shocks.
 

06 T-RED S/C GT

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With a 1.6" front..and a 2.0" rear drop... and oem dampers, u just lost 1.6" of travel on front struts....
and 2.0" of travel on rear shocks.
Yes! that's exactly spot on with Eibach Sportline Springs. However, the OP posted his Eibach sportlines lower the front by 1.3" and the rear by 1.5" Perhaps it was just a typo on the OP's part and intended to refer to the Eibach Pro Springs as lowering the front by 1.3"and the rear by 1.5" rather than the sportlines which do in fact lower the front by 1.6" and the rear by 2.0" :shrug:
 
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Kyle2115

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Yes. Eibach Pro springs.
My bad......still awful ride with the original dampers.
But I bought it used that way, so what are ya gonna do?
My point was......changing the springs and dampers solved the problem.
The Eibachs were too low for my taste, anyway.
1 front and 1.25 rear is perfect for me with 245/45r19 and 285/40r19 tires.
And the Bilsteins are perfect for me as well.
Your mileage may vary.....
 

07 Boss

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Yes. Eibach Pro springs.
My bad......still awful ride with the original dampers.
But I bought it used that way, so what are ya gonna do?
My point was......changing the springs and dampers solved the problem.
The Eibachs were too low for my taste, anyway.
1 front and 1.25 rear is perfect for me with 245/45r19 and 285/40r19 tires.
And the Bilsteins are perfect for me as well.
Your mileage may vary.....


I tell everyone to go with Bilsteins. There expensive but well worth it.
 

Norm Peterson

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Many of the track mustangs use the stock uca or the multimatic version. Rear sway bars are often smaller diameter than stock instead of the larger diameter aftermarket ones.
This is at least partly due to the way Ford picks rear spring rates being different from the way most aftermarket spring rates are chosen. Ford tends to go with higher rear spring rates than front spring rates, while the aftermarket generally goes the other way. So - and this is relatively speaking - Ford's setup doesn't need as much rear bar to end up with the desired handling balance. The aftermarket, with spring rates biased toward the front, needs to use more rear bar to hit the same understeer budget target.


Is one end of the car mostly responsible for your ride quality complaints? If so, which end?

What inflation pressures are you running those tires at? Chances are, they aren't right for your actual tire sizes, and I'm betting that you're over-inflating the rear tires relative to maintaining rear tire load capacity requirements. (Those front tires are probably under-inflated by the same reasoning).


Norm
 

06 T-RED S/C GT

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Yes. Eibach Pro springs.
My bad......still awful ride with the original dampers.
But I bought it used that way, so what are ya gonna do?
My point was......changing the springs and dampers solved the problem.
The Eibachs were too low for my taste, anyway.
1 front and 1.25 rear is perfect for me with 245/45r19 and 285/40r19 tires.
And the Bilsteins are perfect for me as well.
Your mileage may vary.....
As posted previously, your ride was awful due to running the stock dampers with the Eibach pro springs which are designed for the stock springs. My guess is, if you had paired the Eibach pro springs with your Bilstein dampers? you more than likely would've noticed a huge difference. Also, there's very little difference between 1-1.3" drop (front) and 1.25-1.5" drop (rear) Therefore, I don't quite follow your logic about the Eibach pro springs as being too low for your tastes? At any rate, did you change the springs and dampers at the same time, or did you change either the springs or dampers first?
 

Olerodder

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Agreed.
Unless the 2019's have dramatically improved the ride, I'll add them again!

My 19 PP1/A10 although completely different chassis, is 10 times better than my 14 TrakPak ever was. I did a 1300+ mile road trip a month ago, going through Oregon, California and into Arizona and it was a very enjoyable two day drive. As for lowering the 19, no need to as I filled the fender wells with 265/40/19 in front and 285/40/19 Michelin Pilot's. The best tire for ride comfort and very little noise.

IMG_E3888.JPG

PP2 Lower Splitter.jpg
 

vxr500

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I have a 2010 Track Pack, so i imagine It has a slightly stiffer ride than a standard GT but not bad at all. I wanted to get it handle a little better but not ride any harder. I put new Koni Srt’s on with gt500 strut mounts, added the boss 302 sway bar, and J&M tubular panhard/control arms. I also put new front sway bar links. Definitely handles flatter and even kicks the tail out more. And no change in ride height.
 

Kyle2115

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As posted previously, your ride was awful due to running the stock dampers with the Eibach pro springs which are designed for the stock springs. My guess is, if you had paired the Eibach pro springs with your Bilstein dampers? you more than likely would've noticed a huge difference. Also, there's very little difference between 1-1.3" drop (front) and 1.25-1.5" drop (rear) Therefore, I don't quite follow your logic about the Eibach pro springs as being too low for your tastes? At any rate, did you change the springs and dampers at the same time, or did you change either the springs or dampers first?


Springs and dampers at the same time.
And I beg to differ on .3 inches making little difference.
.3 at the hub isn't much but transferred out to my chin spoiler it's significant.
I had added 245/45r19 tires on 19x8.5 front wheels with the original Eibachs at 1.3 drop, and from the side, the gap from the top of the tire to the fender was much smaller than the gaps from front of the tire to the front fender and the rear to the rear.
Looked stupid to me, now the gap is uniform all the way around the fender well.
And I had clearance issues under the car at convenience stores, if i wasn't cautious I'd scrape my exhaust on the little covers on the ground where they fill the underground tanks.
The concrete parking blocks and curbs I had to be careful of my front end.
Not worth the headache to me, plus as I've already said, I didn't like the look.
So if you don't think .3 inches isn't enough to make a difference, that's your opinion.
My opinion is, when talking about ride height, it is significant to me.

My 19 PP1/A10 although completely different chassis, is 10 times better than my 14 TrakPak ever was. I did a 1300+ mile road trip a month ago, going through Oregon, California and into Arizona and it was a very enjoyable two day drive. As for lowering the 19, no need to as I filled the fender wells with 265/40/19 in front and 285/40/19 Michelin Pilot's. The best tire for ride comfort and very little noise.

View attachment 73764

View attachment 73765

That really looks good.
I bought 2. 285/40r19's Michelins Pilot Sports for the back of my 05. And man are they WIDE!
Unfortunately I think my 19x9.5 wheels are a bit too narrow to fully utilize all that width.
But I don't track it or anything, but boy do i like the way they look on it.
Good to know about the improvements on the 2019's.
Hopefully, if I get back to work when school starts, and I can add my 6 months of deferred mortgage payments to the back end of my loan, AND Ford is still hurting, I'll be in the market for a 2019 or 2020.
Going for the PP1 with A10 like yours.
My friends make fun of me (I'm 67).
None of them understand the importance of getting to 60 in 3.9 seconds.......
 
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06 T-RED S/C GT

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Springs and dampers at the same time.
And I beg to differ on .3 inches making little difference.
.3 at the hub isn't much but transferred out to my chin spoiler it's significant.
I had added 245/45r19 tires on 19x8.5 front wheels with the original Eibachs at 1.3 drop, and from the side, the gap from the top of the tire to the fender was much smaller than the gaps from front of the tire to the front fender and the rear to the rear.
Looked stupid to me, now the gap is uniform all the way around the fender well.
And I had clearance issues under the car at convenience stores, if i wasn't cautious I'd scrape my exhaust on the little covers on the ground where they fill the underground tanks.
The concrete parking blocks and curbs I had to be careful of my front end.
Not worth the headache to me, plus as I've already said, I didn't like the look.
So if you don't think .3 inches isn't enough to make a difference, that's your opinion.
My opinion is, when talking about ride height, it is significant to me.

All I can say, is from my personal experience, I haven't encountered any clearance issues with the Eibach pro springs, but then again my front tires were 255/45/18" on 18x9.5" wheels at approx 27" in diameter. Now I run 275/40/18" tires on all 4 corners with a diameter height of 26.7" Knowing that your 245/45/19" (fronts) are 27.7" in diameter and 285/40/19"(rear) are 28" in diameter, I now have a much better understanding for the clearance issues you were having with the Eibach pro springs, as your approx an inch taller in overall diameter than I'am. As for clearance issues going over speed bumps, tank covers, parking blocks and pulling up to curbs? Yes! no question about it, you do have to be very careful to prevent scrapping, which is the reason I back my car when pulling up to curbs rather than from the front. However, it's very rare that I ever take my Mustang to places that require parking blocks/curbs, to begin with anyhow, as I'll do whatever it takes to avoid being in those type of situations lol. The same goes for speed bumps, but in the event they can't be avoided? I'll slowly go over the speed bump with the front wheels turned, which will lift the front end of the car over the speed bump at a higher angle as each wheel makes contact with the curb. Anyhow, with that being said, I now stand corrected!
 
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GriffX

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I have a 07GT with Tokico struts, OEM springs and changed to 2014 front and rear sway bars. Therefore I could make the struts softer and it improved comfort a lot. And because of the stiffer sway bar it didn't sacrifice cornering much. That was the best mod I did, but on a 07GT.
So with a stiffer sway bar one can drive softer springs and dampening.
 

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