Springs?
coil over kits?
panhard bars?
shocks and struts?
Caster Camber Plates?
Ball join and bumpsteer kits?
shocks and struts?
I've grouped all these parts together because they are related.
You said your car will be mainly used for driving on the street, so I would just get some Eibach or Tein springs and Koni shocks and call it a day. You will probably be overwhelmed by the amount of spring/coil over choices out there. Take a look at some pictures of lowered Mustangs and decide how low you want your car to be. For the most part, lowering it more than 1.5" will significantly change the suspension geometry and you will need to replace parts other than just shocks and springs (i.e.
ball joints and bumpsteer kit). The purpose of aftermarket ball joints is to correct the front roll center on a lowered car. Excessive lowering will force the front control arms to be no longer parallel to the ground. This can cause bumpsteer, and a bumpsteer kit can help correct this.
Another way of lowering your car is
coilovers. But a quality coilover setup will cost you at least $400 more and is absolutely unnecessary unless you want to lower more than 2". Even some guys who race their cars still use the OEM McPherson style shock and spring combo. If it works for them, it will work for you.
Whichever route you choose, you will need to get a wheel alignment. Insist on a 2 wheel alignment because our solid axle cars will not benefit from a 4 wheel alignment. Shops that try to sell you the 4 wheel alignment are trying to shaft you. There is nothing you can adjust on a stock solid axle Mustang. And depending on how low you want your car to be, you may need
caster/camber plates and a
panhard bar to get things aligned correctly.For example
, I lowered my car 1.5" with the FRPP K springs and needed the panhard bar, but not the caster/camber plates.
Strut Tower Braces?
Subframe connectors and braces?
roll bars/cages?
These parts are in the category of "chassis stiffening." The newer Mustangs won't benefit as much (for street driving) than the older cars from
subframe connectors. You might improve handling characteristics by getting the
strut brace, but in my opinion that should not be your first suspension mod. Take care of that body roll and nose dive first (with springs/shocks), and then worry about bars and braces. A
roll cage would be a complete waste of money and impractical on a street car.
sway bars and anti roll kits?
Control Arms?
suspension bushing?
These are the leftover items that I couldn't quite put in any of the above categories.
Swaybars can drastically change the handling balance of your car. Changing the size of the swaybar on either end can induce (or reduce) understeer. If you don't know what understeer and oversteer is, look it up.
Control arms are located on all four corners of the car, and there is an
upper control arm on the rear end. I don't know what exactly they do but aftermarket
lower control arms for the rear will reduce wheel hop during launching and give you better traction overall during acceleration. I have been told not to get upper control arms unless the focus is on drag racing. Also, you can buy tubular
front control arms to reduce weight.
I would highly recommend using the search function and look for posts made by Norm Peterson and Sam Strano. It's hard to cover all these topics in just one post.
