Suspension Suggestions and Experiences

So I’m looking at doing a bit of a refresh on the suspension of my ‘08. I’ve in the past replaced the front lower control arms with some generic replacements, added some Eibach Pro springs and a panhard but everything else is, as far as I know, 70k mile factory parts. I don’t do serious track days or any racing, just weekend cruising on back roads or to the store.

I am looking at minimum to do the struts, shocks, sway bars and maybe replace the panhard with a single adjustable one, I got a double adjustable on sale and it’s a hassle to mess with. I’m thinking I could budget somewhere around $1500-2000 and get a solid collection of stuff, but I’m looking for input and experience with different brands and set ups to make sure I get the best bang for my buck while not buying anything I won’t see much benefit from. So, questions...

- Is a kit my best route or should I piece it together myself?
- Is it worth doing rear control arms while I’m in there?
- What are your recommendations for shocks?

Basically, I’m looking to see what people are running already, what your experiences have been, what you would do different. How would you spend $1500-2000 on suspension upgrades knowing my existing parts above? Any specific vendor recommendations that I could give my support to?

Thanks guys!

If you are not tracking the car, I'd say just get a new set of OE replacements.

I ended up piecing mine together.
I have the Roush springs and struts (427R suspension). With Eibach sway bar kit I already had on the car.
I do track, and it works rather well. Street driving comfort is slightly stiffer than stock V6 suspension was. Running stock lower rear arms. I had to add an adjustable upper arm to fix pinion angle.
I have no issues running stock control arms, but added the urathane front lower arm bushings. (nice improvement)
I added the Steeda camber plates at max negative setting.

And here come the "stock sucks", you have to go full coil overs or go home replies...

I have Bilstein shocks and struts on my '05 which I recommend to anyone that doesn't require or want the adjustability of coilovers. You already have a good set of springs for how you use the car so there's no need to buy a kit.
Aftermarket rear LCAs are on my must have list for this chassis. The marshmallow bushings in the stock ones were the cause of most of my complaints about how the car drove when new. I also installed an aftermarket upper but IMHO, it wasn't worth the effort.
Another suspension modification I recommend is a stiffer rear sway bar to tune out some of the understeer Ford dialed into this chassis. I got a stock take-off GT500 bar and I'm happy with it. If you're willing to spend the money, an adjustable bar would allow you to tune the chassis balance.

My 2 cents.....................

1st off, I agree w\ Juice here........if you don't plan on doing any type of racing just go w\ OE replacements.

Now where I do digress is if you do go OE suspension replacements, go w\ all 07-14 SVT OE replacement parts (GT500\Boss 302\GT Track Pack) instead as all these later MY S197 SVT OE suspension parts are much better designed than any 05-09 OE stuff so you will get much of the same\similar general benefit as a lot of the aftermarket stuff as these parts are designed to handle at least 2x the TQ output of your 4.6L V8 & w\ street & track use in mind so retain all of the OE ride compliance that you've become used to experiencing so Ford Performance parts is your friend in this regard..........

I say all this from 1st hand experience as I've gone full circle (from stock OE to aftermarket back to all 07-14 SVT OE). IMHO it makes no practical sense to replace 05-09 S197 OE suspension parts w\ the same when the much better designed & better performing 07-14 SVT S197 OE suspension parts (front: FLCA's, upper strut mounts, bump stops. rear: LCA's, adj PHB, bump stops) are available packaged for the 05-09 S197's thru Ford Performance line. Other SVT OE suspension parts (front: 11-14 Track Pack sway bar. rear: 13-14 GT500 UCA axle bushing & 07-09 GT500 UCA assembly, 11-14 Track Pack sway bars) have to be bought direct from FoMoCo.
The Roush 3rd Link assembly is a modified 05-09 S197 OEM UCA\mount assembly that I've found to be all its advertised to be & then some but also retains full rear axle UCA articulation movement. But get ready for a long wait to get 1 due to the current supply chain issues..........

I can say from experience as well.......none of these parts are soft, mushy or squishy in feel. Just because they provide a smooth, compliant ride (NVH) doesn't mean they don't provide good road feedback feel.

Again my 2 cents.................

I had the SVT setup on my 2007 Shelby GT. I think that is what came on it new. I found it a bit harsh. So I bought a complete coilover kit. Upon taking the original suspension off the car, I discovered issues that could have fixed the harshness. The bump stops were not the correct ones. They were the tall ones that are on the basic GT. I cut them down and stuck it all back together. Car rode much better. I still put the coilovers on the car. I wanted the ride adjustment. And I already had it. The SVT suspension is sitting on a shelf.

Running the used 13 gt rear lower arms that came with the 8.8 axle. They work just fine on track. I just cannot see any reason to 'upgrade' them at this time.

I replaced my strange adj suspension recently with the Koni reds. The ride and handling are much improved. I could never get the stranges adjusted to where i was happy. I also added whiteline swaybars front and rear.

Thanks for the input guys, I went ahead and ordered some mid-grade SVT OE replacement shocks/struts and some adjustable Whiteline sway bars. I’ll stick with the panhard I have since in an ideal world once it’s set I really shouldn’t have to mess with it. Adding that all to the tie rods I have sitting on the shelf already should tighten it all up a bit!

jewc75 said:

I replaced my strange adj suspension recently with the Koni reds. The ride and handling are much improved. I could never get the stranges adjusted to where i was happy. I also added whiteline swaybars front and rear.

Click to expand...

Was that coilover? I have the Qa1. A bit noisy. According to some experts, I'll have to live with the noise. "All coilovers on s197's make noise". Doesn't seem right. However, I've got it tuned to an excellent ride. Firm but compliant. When tuned for the drag strip, 60ft times have dropped significantly. I'm just wondering if the noise thing is normal.

MrBhp said:

Was that coilover? I have the Qa1. A bit noisy. According to some experts, I'll have to live with the noise. "All coilovers on s197's make noise". Doesn't seem right. However, I've got it tuned to an excellent ride. Firm but compliant. When tuned for the drag strip, 60ft times have dropped significantly. I'm just wondering if the noise thing is normal.

Click to expand...

No they are adj struts/shocks. I just think the valving is not right for a comfortable ride.

I used sway bars from the 14 GT, much better and less NVH. Ford Performance front control arms and the rear axle jounce bumpers. They are softer and you don't get the harsh kick in the rear from potholes anymore.
The 14 GT rear UCA waits in my garage for install.

MrBhp said:

Was that coilover? I have the Qa1. A bit noisy. According to some experts, I'll have to live with the noise. "All coilovers on s197's make noise". Doesn't seem right. However, I've got it tuned to an excellent ride. Firm but compliant. When tuned for the drag strip, 60ft times have dropped significantly. I'm just wondering if the noise thing is normal.

Click to expand...

I have Ridetech coil overs (Fox single adjustable shocks). The rears are a little noisy, but not terribly. Just on sudden, solid bumps it sounds like something is loose. Haven’t had any luck stopping the sound.


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I ditched my Eibach pro-S suspension and installed a Pedders race suspension.. Really, if you want a real nice ride, you have the wrong car. I have a Marauder, rides real nice on its air-ride suspension, my 5th Gen Ram (2019) 2500HD rides real nice with that Cummins up front too, but I don't want a nice ride in my GT500, I want a "Slot Car"

FWIW here's my current suspension setup under my 09 GT Premium Glass Roof:
Front:
FP M-3075-E front LCA's (07-14 GT500) w\ heatshields
FP M-18183-C upper strut mounts (11-14 GT500)
BR3Z-5482-A 34mm front sway bar (12-14 GT, 12-13 Boss 302 PP)
OEM front strut bump stops (05-09 GT) note: FP M-5570-A front strut bump stops (12-14 GT500) to be installed
4R33-5310-AA lt blue front springs (05-09 GT)
Koni STR.ST struts (orange)

Rear:
FP M-5538-A rear LCA's (07-14 GT500)
Roush 3rd Link UCA assembly (modified OEM 05-09 GT, 07-09 GT500 UCA)
DR3Z-5A638-A rear UCA axle bushing (13-14 GT500)
FP M-5570-A rear bump stops (12-14 GT500)
FP M-4264-A adj PHB (07-14 FR500S\Boss 302R1 racers)
4R3Z-4264-AA PHB brace (11-14 GT, 12-13 Boss 302, 12-14 GT500)
CR3Z-5A772-Q 24mm rear sway bar (12-14 GT, GT500 vert PP)
5R3Z-5560-AA lt blue rear springs (05-09 GT)
Koni STR.ST shocks (orange)

All riding on FP 07-09 GT500 18" x 9.5" wheels w\ Continental Extreme DWS06 255\40\18 front, 295\35\18 rear (26" dia).

The only true aftermarket parts are the Koni STR.ST struts\shocks...........rest is FoMoCo SVT\OEM or aftermarket modified FoMoCo OEM.

@GlassTop
I really like your set-up. I have questions regarding your springs. Why are they blue? Are these the FP K or P springs?
I would like to have a 1 inch drop, but here in Germany no spings have TUV approval with such a low drop. A Ford OEM coil would be the solution, but it has to be black (otherwise it would be a look-at-me for the inspector)

I have a set of FRPP "P" springs but they're blue. Suppose you could take them out and get them powder coated black. However, the shipping would probably be horrendous.

GriffX said:

@GlassTop
I really like your set-up. I have questions regarding your springs. Why are they blue? Are these the FP K or P springs?
I would like to have a 1 inch drop, but here in Germany no spings have TUV approval with such a low drop. A Ford OEM coil would be the solution, but it has to be black (otherwise it would be a look-at-me for the inspector)

Click to expand...

These springs are the FoMoCo OEM production springs that were installed on my Stang at the factory when built. The tag color (lt blue) that is attached to the spring & 2 letters at the end of the engineering number (AA, BA, CA, etc) indicate the spring rate\ride height dimension design of the OEM spring in question. Been looking for the chart that tells what each color\letter designation represents but haven't located that yet.

All FoMoCo OEM production springs regardless of spring rate\ride height design are black powder coated.

They aren't the Ford Performance "aftermarket" springs that are blue powder coated that use the "K" or "P" or "T" letter designation to denote spring rate\ride height drop from OEM.

You might have an issue finding a FoMoCo OEM production spring that lowers ride height that much........

This chart gives some real world numbers, thanks to a super nice guy. Lol.

These are the springs I have in the "for sale" thread.

MrBhp said:

This chart gives some real world numbers, thanks to a super nice guy. Lol.

These are the springs I have in the "for sale" thread.

View attachment 80916

Click to expand...

Is this graph etc, just the springs by themselves.... or with mating shocks/dampers ???

Pentalab said:

Is this graph etc, just the springs by themselves.... or with mating shocks/dampers ???

Click to expand...

Roush front springs and mating roush shocks makes for a very rough ride on crappy roads...extremely stiff. I sat on it, doesn't budge. The roush front spring is 1/2" lower than oem. Roush front shock lower's it another 1/2". I ended up busting a front roush shock, so went to oem front shocks....but still use the roush front springs.. which are 20% stiffer than oem springs.