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Introduction and sway bar question.

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Hello TMO. New member here but long time lurker. My name is Admir C. Im from Vancouver B.C, I have a 2014 Mustang GT thats a summer daily/HPDE toy. Its a pretty mild build, H&R Race springs with Koni sports, MM plates, poly bushings all around except panhard bar is rod end, and typical brake line and cooling mods. Home track is in Mission BC, small technical track with not a lot of runoff room and favorite track is The Ridge motorsports park. I have also done several HPDEs at Seattle which is also quite fun. This year I picked up some 18X11 Apex wheels and will be probably running 295/40R18 Hankook RS4s on them until I can get a setup to trailer some R compounds down to the track. My question is about sway bars, is the 38mm BMR sway bar overkill and provide too much front roll stiffness? Does everyone prefer something like the Ford Racing blue bar? I have a stock rear sway bar and also a boss rear sway bar that I can swap out if needed. I also plan to upgrade to some MCS coilovers or Cortex setup this winter. Thanks again.

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1,289
1,113
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Philly Metro Area
Are you oversteering or understeering now? Have you run it with the 18x11's and R-S4's? If not, I would recommend you do that first and see how it handles. You may find that you might want to go to a smaller rear bar than a bigger front bar.

I see you have the Roush splitter on your car. What top speed have you hit on the track and has the splitter sagged at the high speed?

The rates of various sway bars and springs can be found at:
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Keep in mind you have quite a few other choices with 18x11 Apex rims ( with a 25mm spacer up front you can go to 315s), and Hankooks are in short supply of late. You could run BFGs Rival S 1.5s, A052 Yokes, and even the Falken RT615Ks. Have not seen any reports on TMO concerning the Falken's which is somewhat surprising. They are definitely not as quick as the Yokes or BFGs , but have a sneaky suspicion they might last longer on a road course.

Your options are good though with the Apex rims and welcome to the site --- love the shots of your Stang!
 
Are you oversteering or understeering now? Have you run it with the 18x11's and R-S4's? If not, I would recommend you do that first and see how it handles. You may find that you might want to go to a smaller rear bar than a bigger front bar.

I see you have the Roush splitter on your car. What top speed have you hit on the track and has the splitter sagged at the high speed?

The rates of various sway bars and springs can be found at:

This is going to be my first year with the 18X11s, I previously ran 19X9.5s with nitto NT05s and the car did have some push. I suspect it was probably from the narrow tires. The boss sway bar did help neutralize the car but throttle out had to be very progressive to not induce to much oversteer. This year will be my first year with MM plates as well. Previously I only had camber bolts so not sure if that will help the camber curve some. I have read that when people go bigger sway bar up front it helps with understeer which is counter intuitive but i have seen many posts regarding it. Thats why i was going to try the BMR 38mm up front to see how it feels. But I should probably just run it as is now and see how the balance is with the new rims and tires. Also, I have not noticed anything with the Roush splitter. Im sure it is sagging at high speeds as the straight at Ridge you do get up to about 130-140mph and the splitter isnt really held on by much. I want to install a real splitter underneath it one day.
 
Keep in mind you have quite a few other choices with 18x11 Apex rims ( with a 25mm spacer up front you can go to 315s), and Hankooks are in short supply of late. You could run BFGs Rival S 1.5s, A052 Yokes, and even the Falken RT615Ks. Have not seen any reports on TMO concerning the Falken's which is somewhat surprising. They are definitely not as quick as the Yokes or BFGs , but have a sneaky suspicion they might last longer on a road course.

Your options are good though with the Apex rims and welcome to the site --- love the shots of your Stang!

Yeah i have the spacers but in 20mm, It gave me about 5mm to the strut. I was looking at the 315/30s but the diameter is so short at around 25.5 inches. I wasnt sure how it was gonna look. I know they make a 295/40 Falken but I couldnt find any info if it was more of an autocross tire. I may have to try them if i cant get the RS4s.
 
1,289
1,113
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Philly Metro Area
I don't have any direct experience with the Falken RT615K+ but a buddy of mine runs them on his BMW E36 in American Endurance Racing (AER) and loves them.

Thanks for the info on the Roush splitter. I've wondered if there is a way to fab a narrow aluminum plate or series of thin bar stock pieces along the bottom to provide extra support.
 
I don't have any direct experience with the Falken RT615K+ but a buddy of mine runs them on his BMW E36 in American Endurance Racing (AER) and loves them.

Thanks for the info on the Roush splitter. I've wondered if there is a way to fab a narrow aluminum plate or series of thin bar stock pieces along the bottom to provide extra support.

If he runs them in endurance racing they must hold up well, E36s are a bit lighter than our cars so that may help but i may have to try them regardless. I think you could easily fab up support braces for the splitter underneath.
 
1,163
2,121
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
SoCal
I don't have any direct experience with the Falken RT615K+ but a buddy of mine runs them on his BMW E36 in American Endurance Racing (AER) and loves them.

Thanks for the info on the Roush splitter. I've wondered if there is a way to fab a narrow aluminum plate or series of thin bar stock pieces along the bottom to provide extra support.


This is the Roush splitter with a larger DIY splitter below it made with Alumalite. The Roush makes a nice flat surface across the bottom to seal the gap between the bumper cover. Not the prettiest, but can cut 3 to 4 of them out of a 4’x8’ sheet for $185.
58325028-A129-4064-B13F-4F76915A9E3C.jpeg
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,356
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
May be a new necessity ,but also assuming that will not include shipping? Shipping could be pretty high but the price is pretty reasonable and as the years go by likely to get harder and harder to acquire ( since already it is super difficult to get the factory piece).
 
1,163
2,121
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
SoCal
Agreed Bill - depending on where you live, the shipping could be problematic. Alumalite is primarily used by sign companies, so best to find a local sign shop that’s already buying in bulk. They probably have a remnants pile that would have a large enough piece.

This will drift a bit off topic of the OP, but I feel many may want this info. Moderators - feel free to push this to a new thread if warranted.

I found this place searching for local distributors. I’ll start out by saying I have not purchased from them yet, so I cannot provide a recommendation on their service and process. Only offering up as a potential option, as they list multiple distribution points across the US & Canada. They have a local branch that’s 10 minutes from my house, and I will certainly try them out when the time arises to replace my current piece.


https://overnightgrafix.com/alumalite-material.html


Over 50 locations throughout the USA and Canada, Overnight Grafix provides on-time delivery on a wide variety of sign materials, vinyl sign supplies and more. Below is a list of our Distributions Centers Near You.


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Burnaby, BC
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Toronto, ON
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
This is going to be my first year with the 18X11s, I previously ran 19X9.5s with nitto NT05s and the car did have some push. I suspect it was probably from the narrow tires. The boss sway bar did help neutralize the car but throttle out had to be very progressive to not induce to much oversteer. This year will be my first year with MM plates as well. Previously I only had camber bolts so not sure if that will help the camber curve some. I have read that when people go bigger sway bar up front it helps with understeer which is counter intuitive but i have seen many posts regarding it. Thats why i was going to try the BMR 38mm up front to see how it feels. But I should probably just run it as is now and see how the balance is with the new rims and tires. Also, I have not noticed anything with the Roush splitter. Im sure it is sagging at high speeds as the straight at Ridge you do get up to about 130-140mph and the splitter isnt really held on by much. I want to install a real splitter underneath it one day.


Vancouver!! Love that city, Spent 18 years getting rained on and still miss it. I have the bmr fornt bar with the Ford 18mm rear bar and its a nice mix. Running on 315/30-18 square R7 Hoosiers. Spring rates on coilovers are 500F and 300R... Very little understeer till I got a big wing on the rear, but thats a whole other problem.

Whats the track at Mission like??
 
Last edited:
Vancouver!! Love that city, Spent 18 years getting rained on and still miss it. I have the bmr fornt bar with the Ford 18mm rear bar and its a nice mix. Runnig on 315/30-18 square R7 Hoosiers. Spring rates on coilovers are 500F and 300R... Very little understeer till I got a big wing on the rear, but thats a whole other problem.

Whats the track at Mission like??

Thanks for the info! Yeah Vancouver can be a bit rainy and it gets depressing sometimes not driving the stang. Mission is fun in my opinion, it's a pretty short track at around 1.3 miles or so. Pretty narrow and uses part of a dragstrip as the straight. It can get a bit scary as it has concrete barriers on most of the corners with very little runoff area, seen some cars go off before but I guess it's part of the game.
 
This is the Roush splitter with a larger DIY splitter below it made with Alumalite. The Roush makes a nice flat surface across the bottom to seal the gap between the bumper cover. Not the prettiest, but can cut 3 to 4 of them out of a 4’x8’ sheet for $185.
View attachment 12927

That's pretty awesome for a DIY splitter, I may have to get some and try it for myself. On another note how do you like that mishimoto oil cooler? Did you find the oil temps come down after the install? I installed a gauge in the pan using a subie adapter in place of the level sensor and it gets to about 290 by the end of a 20 min session which I know isn't ideal.
 

Apex Wheels

Race Proven, Street Approved
Supporting Vendor
670
1,061
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Bay Area, CA
Welcome to the forum and thanks for choosing our wheels! I was just at Thunderhill this past weekend with our staff built e46 330i. It's a basic track prep build; pads, fluid, bushings everywhere, and some APEX wheels of course :) We were using 255/40-17 Falken RT615K+. I thought it had really good grip, but I could only drive at pace for about 3 laps before they would get greasy and require some cool down.

That poor car saw 17 sessions over the weekend and the tires, which already had around 16-20 sessions on them, still look good. I suspect they will heat cycle out before cording. Keep in mind this is a 3300lb car with 200 hp, so not fast, but it was quite fun to throw it around flat through turn 8 on the East Course and the car not care at all. The RS-4 will hold heat a little better than the Falkens from my experience.

As for sway bars, it sounds like you're currently using the factory bars front and rear? If so, leave them for now until you get a feel for how the car behaves with the latest parts.

- Cory
 
Welcome to the forum and thanks for choosing our wheels! I was just at Thunderhill this past weekend with our staff built e46 330i. It's a basic track prep build; pads, fluid, bushings everywhere, and some APEX wheels of course :) We were using 255/40-17 Falken RT615K+. I thought it had really good grip, but I could only drive at pace for about 3 laps before they would get greasy and require some cool down.

That poor car saw 17 sessions over the weekend and the tires, which already had around 16-20 sessions on them, still look good. I suspect they will heat cycle out before cording. Keep in mind this is a 3300lb car with 200 hp, so not fast, but it was quite fun to throw it around flat through turn 8 on the East Course and the car not care at all. The RS-4 will hold heat a little better than the Falkens from my experience.

As for sway bars, it sounds like you're currently using the factory bars front and rear? If so, leave them for now until you get a feel for how the car behaves with the latest parts.

- Cory

Thanks looks like I'll probably run the RS4s. Would you guys drive to the track on R compounds like a 888r? I'm debating this route as well. Local track is close so no worries but the ridge is about 230 miles away. Street miles on tires like that may be a waste.
 
147
60
How do you finish off the edge to fill the voids after you cut the Alumalite?
 

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