CAR LIFE, DROPPING THE PONY

As you might know, back in April I got rid of my NC Mazda MX-5 and became the proud owner of a 2006 Ford Mustang GT. I've since put a few thousand miles on the Mustang, and found that even while bone stock the car was a blast to drive.
Still, all stock things must come to an end sometime. Last month, I finally got around to to upgrading the suspension on my car.


The great thing about owning a Mustang is that there's a massive selection of parts available, and I spent months researching what suspension to go with. I wanted something that was affordable, and would be bearable for a daily driver on crumbling California roads. After all of the debating, I ended up ordering a set of Tein S-Tech springs, and hit up a certain Vaughn Gittin Jr. for a set of RTR/Ford Racing dampers.

The first weekend in October, I loaded the new parts in the trunk and drove up to my parents' house in the Fresno area. Before the car had even cooled off, my dad and I got to work on swapping the suspension.

It certainly felt good. This was the first time I'd done any sort of a modification to a car in over a year. I've promised myself not to let that much time pass until the next mod...

There's the springs and dampers looking nice and shiny before being installed.

So long, stock suspension. We've had some good times, but I can't say that I'll miss you a whole lot.

There's pops assembling the new struts and springs, while I "help out" with my camera.

We've done quite a few suspension swaps, and I think this one was the smoothest install of any. There's the front struts and springs all ready to go.

You can say what you want about live axle rear suspension, but you can't beat the ease of swapping the shocks and springs on these things. In and out!

Rear suspension done! Now comes the moments of anticipation as the the wheels are put back on and the car comes off the jack stands.

A quick photo of the car at stock ride height, just for reference.

And the final result. I'm quite happy with way she sits. It's not slammed or anything, but there's a very noticeable difference from the stock ride height.

The new setup would get a good workout the following day when I drove the 250 + miles back to Los Angeles. Of course the car rides stiffer than the stock, but the ride quality is not bad at all.
I was curious how the Tein springs would match up with the RTR shocks, and it seems like a good combo so far. Based on street driving the car feels noticeably more responsive, and body roll has been greatly reduced. There's a few more things I want to install to tighten the chassis, but I think this a good start.

Now that the car is sitting properly, comes the much harder task of figuring out what wheels to go with....
Time to break out the MSPaint "renderings".
I'll keep you updated!
-Mike Garrett