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!

LS Struts-VS Std Boss-VS aftermarket

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

So I now have the Ford Racing P springs in along with jounce bumpers, adjustable panhard bar, LCA relocation brkts & rear LCA's. Struts/shocks set at 5. My car has just a little over 10k so I didn't see the need to upgrade the shocks/struts yet. (A side note, had alignment done on Hunter machine and without CC plates the P 's came in with -1.7 camber)

I have seen various opinions on needing to upgrade struts/shocks with the P springs, some say yes some say not really needed. The Yes always come from the places that sell shocks & struts. ::)

Which leads me to my question, the LS was said to have struts/shocks that start where the base boss leaves off. Is that really the case and if so would using these be better, or the same as any aftermarket like Koni or Bilstein.

Thanks

PS The car is just for enjoyment drives and occasional track days
 
898
544
I would just keep you stock struts for now. The P springs are not that stif.

If you decide you do not like the ride quality, I would go with a set of the monotube Bilstein struts. Better yet, you might consider a move to the Vorshlag TrackPro kit which matches springs to the Bilstein valving and includes camber plates.
 
I agree, the P springs are really nice and ride fine. When the stock struts/shocks get weak I will upgrade. I have used Bilstein's in my other cars and prefer them to Koni's

But questions still is.... are the factory LS struts/shocks really that much better? I haven't seen anyone that sells the factory LS set or if they are even available.
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
When I had P springs on my GT, I liked it best with the LS struts and the Boss shocks. When I had them loose, I did verify by hand that the LS units are notably stiffer even comparing LS at 1 vs Base at 5. I never tried the LS shocks.

I've been in other cars with Koni yellows and various springs, and I think the P spring and Boss dampers (either) are way more comfortable for the street. Can't say which are better as some of the cars on koni's had other issues like crappy A/S tires (IMO) and lack of geometry correction and alignment issues, etc. Hard to really evaluate how a car handles when there are clear issues with a car's overall grip limits.
 
I run p-springs with the stock Boss struts/shocks (all set at 5) and P-zero slicks. I have a set of LS take-off struts and shocks, along with H&R race springs that I have never installed as the car handles so good. I am afraid I will alter the handling to the worse. I will say my car handles really good with the stock struts and shocks along with the P-springs.
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top