The Mustang Forum for Track & Racing Enthusiasts

Taking your Mustang to an open track/HPDE event for the first time? Do you race competitively? This forum is for you! Log in to remove most ads.

  • Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

GT 2013 Handling improve/daily drive

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Hi MTO people! im new to the forum.
im Rolando From Zapopan, Mexico,
i have a Mustang GT 2013, and i want to improve the suspension.

My main goals is improve handling/cornering/traction, BUT, keep the comfort its a must, i want to avoid NVH the most possible. (dont get too low too)

Im seeing ocassional road course track days and some twisteed fun roads, i want to feel confident when push the car (next step brakes)

i already have brand new koni Orange, and keeping the oem 19x8.5 wheels for now.

so my wish list its:
-Steeda Sport springs
-Steeda panhard bar
-Steeda Gtrac brace

i want your opinion, recomendations, options, maybe do i need LCA or something else?
Also i was thinking on get some spacers, nothing too wide, but i dont know if i feel safe with an extra element in my suspension, do they represent some handling o traction improvemnt? i like the idea of the wider look but thats not enough for me if its just appereance mod.

Thanks for you time reading my post !
 
Last edited:

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,424
8,349
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
You stated your main goal is to improve handling, cornering and traction and honestly the easiest and best way to do that is not all the other things listed first , but getting wider and stickier tires. The rims you have are very skinny and you will only be able to go with a skinny tire. Spend the money and get a set of wide Apex or Forgeline Rims and put some wide tires on your car.

You may need spacers in the front , as you want a square set -up so you can rotate the tires. You will also need to instal ARP long studs all the way around too. Best of luck and welcome to TMO!!
 
Last edited:

Norm Peterson

Corner Barstool Sitter
939
712
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
a few miles east of Philly
Hi MTO people! im new to the forum.
im Rolando From Zapopan, Mexico,
i have a Mustang GT 2013, and i want to improve the suspension.

My main goals is improve handling/cornering/traction, BUT, keep the comfort its a must, i want to avoid NVH the most possible. (dont get too low too)

Im seeing ocassional road course track days and some twisteed fun roads, i want to feel confident when push the car (next step brakes)

i already have brand new koni Orange,

so my wish list its:
-Steeda Sport springs
-Steeda panhard bar
-Steeda Gtrac brace
I think unless you want to start over with better shocks & struts (i.e. Koni yellows or comparable level), the only thing you should consider doing would be a set of firmer sta-bars (usually but incorrectly aka "sway bars"). Preferably adjustable so you can tune their settings to suit you and to provide options for retuning down the road as you develop both the car and your driving.

Chances are, your car already has a lower K-member brace, and it's all you'll need for a long time.


and keeping the oem 19x8.5 wheels for now.
I'm mostly with Bill on this item, more tire and more wheel. The 'mostly' part? If you're willing to forego easy front to rear tire rotation schemes, you can get sets of very wide wheels that either do not require spacers at all, or only very thin ones. Either way, you will want stronger studs, which I think tend to be longer as well (think ARP here).

8.5" is an OK width for 245-wide tires, but I wouldn't put anything wider on 8.5" for any serious - as in on-the-track - cornering. You might consider keeping the 8.5"/245-45 setup for your strictly street driving and put together a wider setup for the track time. At a minimum, think 10" and 275/xx, but preferably wider. At 11" and 285/xx or wider, you won't be needing spacers for the purpose of creating a "wide track" image. These cars need a lot of tire (they aren't Miatas), and a lot of tire needs a lot of wheel,


. . . maybe do i need LCA or something else?
LCAs? Wait until you can identify your own reason for possibly needing them in your driving. And if/when you do decide you need them, do some research before you buy anything keeping in mind that the aftermarket is oriented more toward straight line acceleration than corner-carving. IOW, don't just blindly buy the first pretty pieces you see.

For your eventual brake upgrade, buy for function and leave the crossdrilled rotors for the car show guys. The 14" GT500 SVT/Brembo front kit is the easy recommendation, along with some supplemental brake cooling. And track-rated pads at least for those times. You'll want somewhat better brake fluid (higher wet and dry boiling points).


Norm
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
I guess the Ford Performance kits would be a great option as mentioned many times on TMO. For the price difference, I like the 15in S550 brembos over the 14in Boss Gt500 kits.

And!!! the most important, Track School!! always a great idea.
 
6,361
8,183
always a fan of bigger tires, and also the Ford Performance "kits". if you want to keep the ride, then just go with the sway bars, Ford "blue" bar up front and an18mm bar in the rear, with 1 inch wider tires and stickier tires sounds like a reasonable way to go and it's proven.
 

xr7

TMO Addict?
706
821
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Minnesota
I would throw a set of caster/camber plates in when changing springs or struts, the extra camber is helpful on the track and will also allow you to stuff a bigger tire on it up front.
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top