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2019 GT first time at track video, recommendations/suggestions?

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Hey everyone! Just signed up to the forum and busy reading through tons of articles and knowledge here. I took the Mustang to Roebling Road Raceway, for a private track day with the car club I'm a member of for its first outing. I've run on this track at least a dozen to two dozen times with my 2014 Viper GTS, now that car is gone and I'm out there in the Mustang. It's just the stock GT premium, no performance pack. But I do have a Borla S-Type catback exhaust, JLT intake and 93 octane tune. Also just installed the steeda functional race wing. I don't have any "before" performance data, so can't tell you if any of those things helped with the lap times. I do know that I started the day off at 1:36.XX lap time and by the end of the day I was at 1:29.XX but the stock 255/40/19 PZero Nero's were not liking life. I've upgraded to Nitto NT05s for the next track day on June 5th, so we'll see how these do. I'm still trying to figure out a dedicated wheel/tire setup, so I wanted something that was a lot better for the track while still being street friendly too.
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I wanted to know if anyone had any suggestions or recommendations about track oriented mods that are must have type mods? I'm thinking about a nice set of upgraded sway bars and coil-overs, but do any of you have any tested recommendations? Any important things to watch out for? I'm reading the 10 speed auto over heating thread, and I'm a little worried about that. I typically don't stay out for very long, maybe about 10 minutes at the time, as the track days we do are open track and you can come and go as you please. But are there other things to be concerned about or watch with your experiences? Thank you in advance for any guidance you may offer.

Here's a link to a quick video I did of the track day. Thanks again.
 

JDee

Ancient Racer
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Brakes. Before you do anything else you're going to want to get the 6 piston Brembos from the PP for sure and some cooling, either hoses or the Vorshlag deflectors with a PP splitter. Your car may have the famous "reversed cooling rotors", in which case that's just an accident waiting to happen. Even if it doesn't have that problem the 4 pot stock brakes are just not going to cut it once you really get going.

The auto definitely has cooling issues, read ITALIAN STANG BUILD for a very informative thread on tracking with the 10 spd auto.
 

Bill Pemberton

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Brake pads for sure and I would be happy to give you some ideas since I sold Vipers from 1999 till 2017 at Woodhouse Dodge, and I also sell ( and own ) alot of Mustangs , so can give you some comparisons and ideas. Even though there are some distance differences the two machines are not as far amount as first imagined --- well except the hp of course, ha.

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Hey guys, thanks for the help so far! I did change the the brake fluid to a racing high temp brake fluid to make sure that was at least up to par. Roebling road has a few hard braking zones, but the stockers felt pretty solid to me, again, didn't stay out long, and first time with the car I didn't push really hard.

Bill, I've actually talked to you and Mark about Viper stuff in the past. You helped me with some tire recommendations and Mark helped with some misc. parts over the years with the Viper.

Brakes are a good idea for sure, no since going fast, not to be able to stop! Thanks again.
 

Bill Pemberton

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Cool, well still here to help , you have my number and though I sold a ton of Vipers I have had numerous Mustangs over the years and either autocrossed or raced all of them!!
 

PaddyPrix

If breakin' parts is cool, consider me Miles Davis
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Echoing the brakes, I've got a base 18 and 19, and I and others will say that they're borderline dangerous if you run your track sessions to 20-25min and aren't paying attention to the brake fade. If you google or stalk your ford parts website, you can get the part numbers and get performance pack 6-piston Brembos and rotors for less than the $1200 that FRPP sells the conversion kit for, and if you're on some facebook groups, you can usually find somebody selling their takeoffs for about $600. It's also probably your biggest bang/buck mod, as having that confidence and braking ability means you can really open up cans on people, because they stop this 4k beast pretty well, and with your 10 speed, you'll have the perfect gear to fly out of that turn.

As you learn your tracks, you'll know which side they eat up, and with some caster/camber plates, you can make some quick adjustments to help you get better tire wear to not only improve your handling, but extend their life. Good call on having a set of track rims too, which can fit into your car much better if you do your homework and find a set of 18"s that clear the pp brembos, which also helps keep your cost of consumables down. A 315/30/18 is barely $300, whereas the same 315/30/19 is more like $425, and the 20s are even more. It might get annoying having to change your tires a couple of times a day, but street tires generally don't perform well on the track, it gives you that piece of mind that if you have a bad day with one, you can still drive home.
 
Echoing the brakes, I've got a base 18 and 19, and I and others will say that they're borderline dangerous if you run your track sessions to 20-25min and aren't paying attention to the brake fade. If you google or stalk your ford parts website, you can get the part numbers and get performance pack 6-piston Brembos and rotors for less than the $1200 that FRPP sells the conversion kit for, and if you're on some facebook groups, you can usually find somebody selling their takeoffs for about $600. It's also probably your biggest bang/buck mod, as having that confidence and braking ability means you can really open up cans on people, because they stop this 4k beast pretty well, and with your 10 speed, you'll have the perfect gear to fly out of that turn.

As you learn your tracks, you'll know which side they eat up, and with some caster/camber plates, you can make some quick adjustments to help you get better tire wear to not only improve your handling, but extend their life. Good call on having a set of track rims too, which can fit into your car much better if you do your homework and find a set of 18"s that clear the pp brembos, which also helps keep your cost of consumables down. A 315/30/18 is barely $300, whereas the same 315/30/19 is more like $425, and the 20s are even more. It might get annoying having to change your tires a couple of times a day, but street tires generally don't perform well on the track, it gives you that piece of mind that if you have a bad day with one, you can still drive home.

Thanks so much for the info guys, I'll start the hunt for the brembos and see what I can turn up.
 

PaddyPrix

If breakin' parts is cool, consider me Miles Davis
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Just make sure the RockAuto calipers are actually rebuilt Brembo's with the authentic numbers in the casting.

"Remanufactured" can mean pretty much anything.

RockAuto, Cardone, AutoZone, etc are selling 4-piston S197 "Brembo" calipers that were Chinese made knock-off copies. No casting numbers, nor the FoMoCo. And the pics on the web site showed actual Brembo but there was a tiny "appearance of actual product may be different" in the corner.

If they're doing this for the S550 too, such calipers may be fine for cruising on the street but I would not take them on the track. I would seriously doubt that their metallurgy and heat treatment are up to the task.
 

JDee

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I have a hard time believing Rock Auto would knowingly sell knock off Chinese junk, that sounds like a good way to ruin a business. Call me stupid, but I just don't think they got where they are by doing stuff like that. For sure if I had any reason to suspect that I would not do business with them. I'll be seeing my buddy's car in a few weeks and I'll try to get a look, but he was very happy with what he got and he's no fool.

I buy parts from Rock Auto because they're very Canuck friendly and do cross border e-commerce very well. I've yet to see anything suspicious or weird about what they sell. If it says its Motorcraft then that's what it is.

BTW, what are the odds the FoMoCo castings were actually not made in the Far East and perhaps finished elsewhere? Or even cast and finished totally over there? It is astounding the amount of stuff that comes out of there these days with big name branding on it but Far East made nonetheless. Anything environmentally ugly to make gets offshored to the far east. I'd love to see that end, but it's not going to happen in this lifetime.
 
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Believe me, I ordered a set of the S197 calipers and the box said "Made in China" and the calipers were devoid of any casting data. To their credit they gave me a full refund.

I then ordered the Brembo's from Tasca Ford. The are authentic and said "Made in Italy".

I don't know where the S550 calipers are made. And many large reputable companies indeed have their own factories in China. Whether it matters to you where a part is made, I submit that a Brembo part made in a Brembo factory is more trustworthy than a knock-off made by a 3rd party.

I have no problem buying name brand items such as Centric or StopTech rotors from RockAuto. Curiously they still sell Centric but no more StopTech.
 
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I just looked at RockAuto's site for a 2018. The only Brembo caliper they sell is a Motorcraft. That would have to be legit. They do list Cardone 4-piston base GT calipers.

But if you look at the 2014 Mustang you'll see they sell a Cardone 4-piston caliper. They state "Brembo" in the application but they do not claim they are Brembo's. They are one-third the price of the Motorcraft reman Brembo's also listed on their site.
 
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I guess I lucked out - I ordered the S550 Brembos from Ford Parts Direct in April for $167/ea + $50/ea for the cores. I just checked their site a minute ago and they’re now $262/ea + $50 core. No matter which OE part number you type in, their cataloging brings up Motorcraft part #’s BRCF430/BRCF431. As they processed the order, the Motorcraft #’s were “replaced by” Ford OE #’s JR3Z2B120A & JR3Z2B121A.


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