Improving Handling

Strut tower brace is the easiest to do, all you need is to open the hood and bolt it on.

Nick85 said:

Think i'm going to order one....is the difference really noticable?

Click to expand...

Yes. It prevents the strut towers from "Tacoing" as you corner. Had one on my 98 V-6 and my 03 GT bot from BBK. I usually prefer the triangle STB design as it also creates a ridgidity to the frame as well as the strut towers. I think most of the ones out for the GT right now are a straight member STB.

Good Luck Nick.

Jennifer

Jenns05Stang said:

Yes. It prevents the strut towers from "Tacoing" as you corner. Had one on my 98 V-6 and my 03 GT bot from BBK. I usually prefer the triangle STB design as it also creates a ridgidity to the frame as well as the strut towers. I think most of the ones out for the GT right now are a straight member STB.

Good Luck Nick.

Jennifer

Click to expand...

I read somewhere that they went with the straight tower brace for the 05's because the firewall isn't a structural component on the 05. So the triangular brace is just extra weight.

I did the Eibach Pro kit and run 18x9 tires with a 35 series sidewall. The car handles like it's on rails, I couldn't see it being any better. It amazes me everytime I wind it through some twisties.

As for the strut tower brace, I'd bet you don't feel any difference with it. The 05 has superior chassis stiffness and according to the engineers, those braces do little to nothing.

Militarymustang said:

I read somewhere that they went with the straight tower brace for the 05's because the firewall isn't a structural component on the 05. So the triangular brace is just extra weight.

Click to expand...

Power Surge said:

As for the strut tower brace, I'd bet you don't feel any difference with it. The 05 has superior chassis stiffness and according to the engineers, those braces do little to nothing.

Click to expand...

Very well could be. I have not looked into the chassis structure and design on the 05. Thanks for the correction. Wouldn't want to steer anyone wrong!

Jenn

Some speculation on my part, but:

I don't think you would want a strut brace as your only mod. The car pushes a little as is. Seems to me a strut brace would tighten it up, then it might really plow.

I added a Pro Kit as well and the car handles much better and the car didn't get "slammed" as far as ride height. I was planning a strut tower brace, but as per my other thread, it's a no-go due to the ProCharger. Check out Steeda or BMR Fab. for some good parts.

Kris

Steeda races these cars and I'd say anything they make will be top notch quality and will work. Sway bars will help your handling without lowering the car. If you decide to lower it later use the steeda springs instead of eibachs. I know some people have not had a problem but I'm doing a $300 alignment job after installing my pro-kit. Also, the springs will definately change your ride quality while the sway bars will only make a difference when loaded in a turn. I would definately go with steeda's heavy duty sway bar mounts and links too.

want quality stuff? Maximum motor sprots and Griggs are the top of the line for mustangs. I dont think they have much out yet though.
A little about strut tower baces quoted from www.maximummotorsprots.com

MM Strut Tower Brace

Flexing of the strut towers, both fore/aft and side to side, causes unpredictable alignment and handling changes, lack of roll coupling, vibration and metal fatigue. The MM Strut Tower Brace keeps the strut towers from moving relative to each other, by providing a load path between the strut towers and between each strut tower and the firewall. This will prevent alignment from changing under braking and cornering, making the car more stable and predictable. In addition, the increase in rigidity from the strut tower brace will also reduce firewall and dashboard vibration, metal fatigue and noise.
The MM Strut Tower Brace is unique:
The MM strut tower brace uses three bolts at each strut tower top, as three bolts are more rigid than two. We use 5/16" bolts, rather that the commonly used 1/4" bolts (which are known to break).
MM's main tube is made of rigid 1-1/4" DOM seamless tubing. 1-1/4" tubing is twice as stiff as the generally used 1" tubing, and DOM seamless tubing is is 30% stiffer than the commonly used ERW type tubing.
The firewall mounting point for the strut towers’ rear braces is the pinchweld which runs the width of the firewall. This pinchweld was formed by folding three pieces of metal together, and then welding them together. When attaching something to sheet metal, the best mounting point is at a joint or a corner, such as the pinchweld (the joining of the upper firewall, the lower firewall, and the floor of the cowl). The pinchweld is the strongest portion of the firewall, providing an extremely stiff mounting point for the strut brace.
Nearly all other strut tower braces attach to the center of the firewall - the weakest and most flexible point. Attaching in this location adds little stiffness, and leads to cracking and tearing of the firewall.
Our strut tower brace allows the use of all popular intake manifolds because no part of the brace passes over the top of the intake manifold.
The MM strut tower brace is designed to allow the use of caster/camber plates.

They dont have one for the 05 yet but i would guess it'll be worth the wait

Nick85 said:

Was checking out the Steeda site and am thinking of starting with this setup:

Front Sway Bar
Rear Sway bar w/end links
Adjustable Panhard bar

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Cool. Let us know how it works out. Try to get in some slaloms before and after.

Nick85 said:

Anyone?

Click to expand...

What do you want from the car?

Slamming it, with silly low profile tyres and no suspension travel is NOT the way to make it handle!

It may improve lateral grip on a smooth race track like surface but thats about it.

If you want a cheep mod to improve turn in, just change the front geometery setup, setting the car up with less toe in or a little toe out will give you a very immediatley responsive car, it may washout a bit thru the corner.

The downside is the car will also feel more twitchy at speed. But you can't have it all ways. Hence lots of high end performance cars are limited to under 150mph as suspension and aero geometry setups need to be very different if very high speed is involved.

Other things to look at is lowering the cars centre of gravity, but not by slamming the car. You need susepsion travel else it will just crash out against the stops.

Also as its a live rear ultra low profile tyres are pointless unless on a race track. Remember the tyres are the 1st part of the suspension and the only bit actually in contact with the road. Low profile is good as it limits tyre wall roll, but with a live rear you want a bit of movement in the sidewall as the axel setup will NOT cope with it.

Also ditch the panhard and get or make a Watts linkage at the rear.

The ride is pretty firm so you probably don't need stiffer springs, what you do need to revise is the jounce rate and bounce rate. The shocks need to be able to react quick enough to cope with pot holes and such but stiff enough not to crash out on the bump stops.

If you can revise the front/rear weight distribution it will help, maybe relocate the battery to the boot and dry sump the engine with the oil reservior in the boot.

Upgraded bushes (polybush) maybe a good idea but expect less refinment in ride and more road noise.

Slightly stiffer anti-roll bars may help but don't make the car over stiff as this will limit grip. Remember the car should move and lean a bit - allow the suspension to do its job.

If you car looks like its sitting on scaffolding poles when cornering it is WAY too stiff for road use.

Don't go OTT with the rims either, match them to the trye width and profile.

Most of the off the shelf suspension items are more SHOW than GO, they may hint at more lateral grip but unless its usable its pointless. Go for parts and setups that are used and proven on tarmac rally's or road courses NOT race circuits.

300bhp/ton said:

What do you want from the car?

Slamming it, with silly low profile tyres and no suspension travel is NOT the way to make it handle!

It may improve lateral grip on a smooth race track like surface but thats about it.

If you want a cheep mod to improve turn in, just change the front geometery setup, setting the car up with less toe in or a little toe out will give you a very immediatley responsive car, it may washout a bit thru the corner.

The downside is the car will also feel more twitchy at speed. But you can't have it all ways. Hence lots of high end performance cars are limited to under 150mph as suspension and aero geometry setups need to be very different if very high speed is involved.

Other things to look at is lowering the cars centre of gravity, but not by slamming the car. You need susepsion travel else it will just crash out against the stops.

Also as its a live rear ultra low profile tyres are pointless unless on a race track. Remember the tyres are the 1st part of the suspension and the only bit actually in contact with the road. Low profile is good as it limits tyre wall roll, but with a live rear you want a bit of movement in the sidewall as the axel setup will NOT cope with it.

Also ditch the panhard and get or make a Watts linkage at the rear.

The ride is pretty firm so you probably don't need stiffer springs, what you do need to revise is the jounce rate and bounce rate. The shocks need to be able to react quick enough to cope with pot holes and such but stiff enough not to crash out on the bump stops.

If you can revise the front/rear weight distribution it will help, maybe relocate the battery to the boot and dry sump the engine with the oil reservior in the boot.

Upgraded bushes (polybush) maybe a good idea but expect less refinment in ride and more road noise.

Slightly stiffer anti-roll bars may help but don't make the car over stiff as this will limit grip. Remember the car should move and lean a bit - allow the suspension to do its job.

If you car looks like its sitting on scaffolding poles when cornering it is WAY too stiff for road use.

Don't go OTT with the rims either, match them to the trye width and profile.

Most of the off the shelf suspension items are more SHOW than GO, they may hint at more lateral grip but unless its usable its pointless. Go for parts and setups that are used and proven on tarmac rally's or road courses NOT race circuits.

Click to expand...

Nice read! Thanks.
Michael