Suspension ?'s

I don't know much about control arms other than they are appearently a good investment. What I do know is that if all you have are SFC's and springs, then your next mod should be shocks/struts. Bilsteins if you can swing it. What springs do you have?

Really depends on what you like to do with your car. If you don't race it much, drag racing that is, then I would also go with shocks/struts before I bought control arms.

Really, now that I think about it I would get some good shocks/struts before control arms no matter what type of driving I did.

Tim2002GT said:

Really depends on what you like to do with your car. If you don't race it much, drag racing that is, then I would also go with shocks/struts before I bought control arms.

Really, now that I think about it I would get some good shocks/struts before control arms no matter what type of driving I did.

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This is exactly what I was going to say. A good set of shocks and struts will make all the difference in handling, ride quality, and overall drivability of the car. After installing my Bilstein HD's, the car felt like a completely different animal.

Look into Bilstein HD's, Tokico d-specs, and Koni Single Adjustables (Yellow). They will all run between $500-700, but you can score them slightly used in the classifieds for great deals. I picked up my Bilstein HD shocks and struts and MM front coilover kit with 3k miles on them for $650.

Don't cheap out on suspension. It's one of those things where you'll buy something cheap, then regret it. Thats what I did on my old '95, and the car rode like ****. Just save for the good stuff and you wont regret it!

I would also think about one of the kits from MM. It really takes the guess work out of the equation as opposed to trying to piece something together. It's quality hardware and as stprorolla said you will only have to do it once and can add on to one of the basic kits as funds become available.

Maximum Motorsports Performance Suspension Packages

+3 on the shocks/struts. I noticed a huge difference when I replaced my stock shocks/struts with Tokiko HP's. I know the HP's are on the cheaper side but I definitely recommend them. The only reason I bought them as opposed to Bilstein's is because I was a poor college student at the time. I may upgrade to Bilsteins in the near future. Anyways, you can't really go wrong with Tokiko, Bilstein, or Koni.

I'd look into doing the control arms at the same time you install the shocks/struts. There are many different schools of thought about what constitutes a good rear suspension set up. You can spend big money back there with panhard bar's, TA's, etc... That said you can still get good results without spending a boatload of money and have a headstart on parts that will work together nicely if you ever decide to upgrade to a PHB/TA setup. I'll tell you from experience that I absolutely love my current suspension set up. I have the MM LCA's w/ the poly bushing on the frame side and the spherical bushing on the axle side, and the FRPP UCA's (basically just stock replacement units with slightly stiffer rubber bushings). There are some guys in my car club w/ full UPR setups (LCA's and UCA's w/ spherical bushings on both ends), and while they can launch well at the drag strip they'll be the first to admit that my car handles much better and is a more rewarding driving experience on a road course.

So all in all you should decide what you want your car to do. I wanted a car I could take aggressive turns on the cloverleafs and excell at the autocross, but others I know want a car that can launch well at the drag strip.

Just like others have said. I would do the shocks and struts first. I waited and did them last with my suspension and I wish I wouldnt have. I am running Strange 10 way adjustables on mine and absolutely love them. They are $120 apeice for the front, and $70 apiece for the rear. They have 10 different settings for whatever kind of driving you do.

I'm not going to get into a debate on the control arm's, so I will just tell you MY OPINION. If you plan on daily driving/road race, then go with Maximum Motorsports. If you plan on daily driving/drag racing, then go with UPR.

I would be going with some lower control arms...

Shocks/Struts

Nightfire said:

Control arms.....can someone give me a quick run-down on the basics of control arms? Advantages/disadvantages of replacing LCA's as opposed to UCA's and vica-vera.

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When it comes to construction, boxed mild steel, tubular mild steel, and billet aluminum are all stronger than the factory stamped steel arms. Tubular chrome-moly is the strongest of all. This is relevant because control arms take a lot of abuse!

The factory bushings are soft rubber, but most aftermarket control arms use polyurethane bushings which are stronger, more durable, and have less deflection than the soft rubber. This translates to less rear end sloppiness and more traction! (in corners and in a straight line) Some companies use delrin for the bushings and it's supposed to be better, but I've never noticed the difference between polyurethane & delrin from the seat of the pants feel.

Above 500hp or so, the service life of polyurethane and delrin bushings becomes limited. Basically, the harder the suspension hits (like from mega power or even low power launching slicks) the bushings deflect too much and can become damaged. The recommendation above this power level is to go with spherical bearings (also called heim joints). The spherical bearings allow the suspension to move very freely and they offer the best traction out of all of the options, but they're a less popular choice than the other bushings because they are solid metal. Solid metal bearings transmit all of the vibration from the road and the drivetrain into the body of the car. It doesn't bother me a bit, but some people really dislike the extra road feel coming through the car.

Sometimes in an attempt to create the best of both worlds, people will choose control arms that have polyurethane bushings on one end and spherical bearings on the other end. It's a reasonable compromise, but I prefer going with sphericals all the way around. My '89 LX has spherical bearings (or heim joints) on the LCAs, UCAs, and even the front a-arms! In the interest of fairness, I should confess that I just picked up a set of control arms for my 2006 daily driver that has polyurethane bushings all the way around... but that's another story. (they're for a tech project... not all out racecar performance)

Some people will tell you to replace the lowers but not the uppers. That's crazy to me because the uppers cause plenty of sloppiness, and I don't buy into the whole the uppers cause bind philosophy that some people profess. They say the uppers cause snap oversteer. In my experience, the snap oversteer is caused by bushing flex when the arms are side loaded by the weight of the car, and the best ways to eliminate snap oversteer are to run solid control arms (spherical bearings) or run a panhard bar.

I'm also a strong proponent of replacing the factory uppers & lowers to eliminate wheel hop, which then allows you to remove the factory quad shocks. (win-win scenario) However, this too has been heavily debated on all of the forums.

Another item to consider is the adjustability of all of the arms. Typically, adjustable lowers are only used to set the wheelbase of the car. The adjustable uppers are used (with or without adjustable lowers) to set pinion angle and pre load. Fine tuning your pinion angle can improve traction on the launch, but I don't think it's as monumental as some people make it out to be. -4° pinion angle for control arms with polyurethane bushings or -2° for solid control arms are good places to start with the adjustment.

Lastly, some people will recommend using a torque arm which allows the removal of the upper control arms entirely. These torque arm setups have advantages and disadvantages. But I'd only use a torque arm if I was building the car for HPDEs. Don't get me wrong, torque arms are perfectly streetable... I just don't think their benefit is worth their added complexity on a street car.

With that statement, now is a good time for a disclaimer. Nothing I've said here is like universal law. These are merely my opinions based on 25 years of working on Mustangs and my ownership of literally dozens of different Mustangs with different suspension setups.

One last comment, anyone with a 79-04 Mustang should consider torque box reinforcements, especially when upgrading the control arms. The "torque boxes" are the control arm mounts on the body side (not axle side) of the car. From the factory, these mounts are tack welded sheetmetal... not very durable even with factory horsepower levels. When you start modding, they can literally tear apart! The torque box reinforcements are just this metal plates that are bolted and/or welded in place to support the factory mounts.


Phew. That was a lot of typing. I hope this helps. Feel free to swing by the vendor's forum to see what the different site sponsors carry to improve the handling and durability of your Mustang.

I was just looking at Eibach shocks and struts earlier today as I have the Eibach pro kit springs. Does anyone have any info on these/experience with them?

PAN1K said:

I was just looking at Eibach shocks and struts earlier today as I have the Eibach pro kit springs. Does anyone have any info on these/experience with them?

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I had Eibachs on my 89 Fox and liked them. I like my Road and Track springs a lot on my 91. If I already had the Eibachs I wouldn't change them though. I have Steeda's on my Cobra and so far IMO H&R > Eibach > Steeda.

Kinda apples to oranges to pecans however. As all three cars these springs were/are on, have totally different personalities.

I don't know what number we are on but +6 on shocks/struts.

Add yet another vote for shocks / struts. The factory ones are ****, and wear out within 40,000 miles anyway (if not sooner). Get Bilsteins if you can afford them; you won't regret it.

+185485 for shocks n struts and bilsteins. From experience they are worth the extra buck. And rlca's are a worthy mod as well. Also bumpsteer kit and rack bushings for the front.