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Lowering Question


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I got a buddy with a 08 GT500 thinking of lowering his in the back 1 1/4".Should he install a adjustible upper control arm to correct the pinion angle or will it not change that much to matter.Also is there anything else that will be of concern.I'm thinking of doing the same to mine but i know i'm changing the upper & lower ca's to get ride of that dang wheel hop.His dealer is wanting to install a frpp handling pack that does not include the uca or lca's and mentioned nothing about needing the control arms.Thanks for any input.

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I bought Roush rear springs and it lowered the rear almost an inch. I also used an Edelbrock adjustable panhard bar. Rides like stock, looks factory and helped with the wheel hop. Total cost about $225.

 

Did you need the adjustable panhard bar to realign the rear end?

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Did you need the adjustable panhard bar to realign the rear end?

 

 

Yes, you will need an adjustable panhard bar... at least I did when I installed my lowering springs. I just did the springs and nothing else. I did lower the front and you might contemplate either camber/caster plates or camber bolts (which is what I did) to get everything aligned within spec.

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My car is lowered with the FRPP springs; lowered the rear by 1.5" and the front by nearly 1" at the center of the wheel wells. I currently have the OEM UCA and LCAs ... without any problems. However, I did install an adjustable panhard bar to center the axle and camber plates for alignment purposes.

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I got a buddy with a 08 GT500 thinking of lowering his in the back 1 1/4".Should he install a adjustible upper control arm to correct the pinion angle or will it not change that much to matter.Also is there anything else that will be of concern.I'm thinking of doing the same to mine but i know i'm changing the upper & lower ca's to get ride of that dang wheel hop.His dealer is wanting to install a frpp handling pack that does not include the uca or lca's and mentioned nothing about needing the control arms.Thanks for any input.

 

 

To set up correctly, yes, with lowering springs you need adjustable UCA to correct pinion angle and adj panhard bar to center axle. I have the FRPP handling pack and with that and the stock UCA/LCAs and panhard bar the setup was incomplete. With the adjustable UCA and adjustable LCAs added afterwards, it set pinion angle correctly and I noticed much better squat and bite from the rear end. Don't get me wrong, I still blow off my rear tires squeezing the throttle, but before the control arms it was almost as if the rear kind of lifted under acceleration and immediately spun the tires (no more wheel hop though). Now it kind of settles (tries to squat) and works hard to bite before the tires let go. I make about 525 rwhp. I also needed the adj panhard bar to center the rear axle after the car was lowered with FRPP springs. As far as just rear springs go, that's a no-go IMO. You're not really going to accomplish much to enhance performance and will likely be disappointed because the car will be out of balance.

 

If you're going to do it you might as well do it right. The complete FRPP handling is great to enhance the overall handling capabilities of the car, and I recommend it, but not necessary just to eliminate wheel hop if that's your only goal. Also, many say just a UCA will eliminate wheel hop and and LCAs are not really necessary to eliminate wheel hop. This is true. I know because I first installed FRPP handling pack, then adjustable UCA, then adjustable LCAs. Each incremental mod made things better, but IMO the LCAs are a must because they definitely helped the overall rear end bite. Adjustable vs. non-adjustable LCAs is really the way to go if you're going to lower the car.

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Roush sells just the rear springs if that is all you want to do. I did find that the rear was slightly off center so I used an adjustable panhard bar. Just lowering the rear made the car sit almost level, very slight rake still.

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  • 1 month later...

Just wondering since Im new to this site and the car. (2010 gt500) I just lowered it with the FRPP springs. Drop was perfect at about 1.4 inches front and rear. Did J@M LCA and adjustable panhard bar with BMR upper brace. Its going to get boated off island to the mainland for a front end alignment. Can anyone tell me if the adjustable camber plates are really needed here as this is all that being done to it? I was told that only the toe in should need to be reset with the FRPP springs. Hmmmm, inquiring minds need to know! Thanks for any info.

Steve

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Just wondering since Im new to this site and the car. (2010 gt500) I just lowered it with the FRPP springs. Drop was perfect at about 1.4 inches front and rear. Did J@M LCA and adjustable panhard bar with BMR upper brace. Its going to get boated off island to the mainland for a front end alignment. Can anyone tell me if the adjustable camber plates are really needed here as this is all that being done to it? I was told that only the toe in should need to be reset with the FRPP springs. Hmmmm, inquiring minds need to know! Thanks for any info.

Steve

 

 

Welcome to TS, Steve!

 

My gathering is, you will get close to spec without c/c plates. There are basically two options to fix the camber: 1) camber caster plates, or 2) camber bolts. C/c plates are great if you would want more degree in camber and caster. If you're intention is just to fix the camber, then camber bolts are the way to go.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Welcome to TS, Steve!

 

My gathering is, you will get close to spec without c/c plates. There are basically two options to fix the camber: 1) camber caster plates, or 2) camber bolts. C/c plates are great if you would want more degree in camber and caster. If you're intention is just to fix the camber, then camber bolts are the way to go.

 

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SS,

Thanks much, nice to be on board this forum! As a follow up to anyone interested, I did get the car to Ford and have the front end aligned. They had to re-set the toe in which I knew would be the case, but said the caster/camber was right on spec so no caster plate needed. It drove down the road straight on before and affte their work. Hopefully they knew what they were doing!! I now have the adjustable J@M UCA and BMR LCA relocator paltes to finish this mod off. Mostly it is a off and on driver with little track time coming. Just wanted it to be the best at what it does, track and street. Any thougths on adjusting the pinon angle? I assume it needs a bit since it was lowered, and after reading ALL the information out there, its a bit confussing as to what the proper angle shoudl be for the GT500.

Thanks again, Steve

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As mentioned already, lowering the car will mess us the suspension geometry and the rear end will need to be re-centered if you want to "do it right". Evolution Performance makes a really nice complete kit for $1,775: http://www.evoperform.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11_15_110&products_id=470

 

Of course, you can also put in a set of springs and camber bolts for a fraction of the price. Funny, but all Shelby GTs and GT500KRs (and GT500SS...?) are basically lowed this way without ever correcting the geometry / centering issues (they also get new shocks / struts, anti-sway bars, etc., but that's it for the suspension), and Ford sells them all day.

 

All it takes is money...

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Blk Snk.

 

Thanks for the information about the camber bolts, thats news to me! Your car looks great!

Steve :hysterical3:

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