Justin: Hey everybody, Justin with AmericanMuscle.com back here with my buddy Mike Smith.
Mike, good to see you again, man.
Mike: You too, you too.
Justin: Absolutely.
You guys might remember Mike of course.
He brought his brand new 2015 in with us.
Did his first run of mods which included that AirAid cold air intake, Flowmaster exhaust,
and of course the Bama V2 tune.
How are you liking these things so far?
Mike: Absolutely loving it.
Everything that they did to smooth out that low RPM shifting and everything going into
it, the power, the sound, everything that it brought for the Mustang itself has been
amazing.
Justin: Can't beat it.
With over 400 wheel horsepower, too, you've got to be happy.
Mike: Very!
Justin: All right.
Well, just like many other Mustang owners including myself, Mike has been bitten hard
by the mod bug.
That's why he's back with us today.
It's only been a couple of weeks, but you're already back with some new plans.
What do they entail?
Mike: Well, I was reaching out, trying to look for some things, just to kind of to get
a little bit more of a performance stance to it, get it down a little bit, make it a
little bit tougher.
I'm looking for new wheels.
Justin: I think we have something in mind for you, Mike.
Mike: All right.
Justin: Of course, we worked together on a few parts, and we'll show you guys what we're
working on.
But for now, Mike, get out of here.
We've got to get to work, brother.
Mike: All right.
Justin: All right, guys, the first part on Mike's suspension and handling build, as you
can see we're working on a set of sway bars.
Now, he decided to go with the Whiteline front and rear sway bar kit for the 2015 GT which
should be a nice improvement even over the beefy performance pack sway bars.
Whiteline's looking at a 35 millimeter front bar and a 24 millimeter rear bar as opposed
to a 32 and 22 factory bar, which should give the car a lot more grip in turns and make
it feel a little flatter as well in turns to basically make it handle a lot better on
the street for Mike.
Full disclosure, guys, it's a little tricky getting the front bar off, mainly because
there's a few bolts you have to get from the engine bay.
But, the rear should be a lot easier.
And of course, we are going to tackle that rear bar in a minute.
I did want to mention real quick, though, Whiteline does include these nice beefy adjustable
end links which is a very nice little touch.
And, of course, the bars themselves are three way adjustable, so it allows you to dial in
your optimal settings, optimal preload, things like that.
So, we are going to talk a little bit more about some of the suspension mods that Mike
has chosen for his ride here today, but first we're going to finish up getting this front
bar installed.
All right, guys, what's a suspension build without an aftermarket set of springs, right?
That leads us to our next part here in Mike's build, these Vogtland lowering springs which
are going to lower the car an inch on all four corners.
Now, Vogtland is actually a well known brand in other automotive fields.
They've been around for over a hundred years, but they're relatively new to the Mustang
game, so I'm really excited to see how they're going to work out on Mike's ride, as is he.
Again, the one inch drop should be just right for this car getting rid of some of that ugly
wheel gap of course, but the car shouldn't be slammed to the ground.
Even more importantly here, we are going to reuse his factory dampers because as of now
no aftermarket company has released a set of aftermarket dampers for these cars.
So, basically, the factory stuff should be able to handle it just fine, the mild drop
and relatively low mileage stuff.
So, we're going to get these fronts installed here and move on to the back.
And we have a few more things to talk about there.
All right, guys, with that last bolt we're pretty much wrapped in the rear.
We've got the Whiteline rear bar installed along with the rear springs and we're pretty
much good to go underneath the car.
Now, obviously, the 2015's do have the independent rear suspension which makes spring install
a little different back here.
Before with the solid rear axle, you'd just basically drop the thing down and pop both
springs at once and you're good to go.
With this, it's a little bit more labor intensive.
You have to lower the subframe on each side, pull the springs out, put them back in.
Not the end of the world, it just takes a little bit longer.
So, with that, we're all done back here.
We're going to get the car down on the ground and show you guys the last part of Mike's
build.
Well, guys, as you can see, the third and final part for Mike's build today here, brand
new set of MMD Zeven wheels, 19 inch diameter in bright silver.
He didn't want to do the traditional black on black or even charcoal on black.
Instead, he wanted to do the bright silver.
He thought it would pop on his car, and I would totally agree with him.
We want to get him in here, of course, and see what he thinks of this thing.
I think it looks killer of course.
But, we also want to go for a ride and see what he thinks of these new handling parts
and to see if they've improved on his handling performance.
Well, Mike, moment of truth, man.
Springs, sway bars, and of course those MMD Zeven wheels are in place.
What do you think?
Mike: Wow!
Wow!
I tell you, instantly, you just look at it, the wheels are popping at it.
The stance of the car now with the springs on it just lowered a little bit, filled in
all that gap.
Justin: Absolutely!
Mike: It looks amazing!
Justin: Well, there you go.
Very nice!
I'm glad you're stoked with it.
Of course, there's more than just looking at this thing, though.
We've got the springs.
We've got the sway bars.
We want to see if this thing's handling better, so what do you say we hop in and go for a
spin?
Mike: I'm ready!
Justin: All right, Mike.
We're out in the car.
We've got the springs installed.
We've got the sway bars.
Of course, those wheels and tires.
I have to ask.
First impressions of your ride?
Mike: It's been awesome!
Just the grip, just the handling of everything from the corners to the bumps and everything
else we've been going through.
It just grips at a whole other level right now.
Justin: Absolutely.
We're in the Northeast.
The roads this time of year are brutal to say the least.
Mike: You're going to get a good test right now out of these springs and the sway bar
and how it's handling in the corners in this area.
Justin: Oh, man!
Yeah.
Mike: You feel that grip!
Justin: Thing just did with no spin at all.
Mike: Finally.
That's all I've ever wanted from this damn thing and I couldn't get it.
Justin: Well there, it's amazing the difference an All-Season makes.
Mike: Absolutely.
Justin: I tell you what, Mike.
We have a hard right hander coming up here.
Let's see how these sway bars are working for you.
Mike: Man, all right.
Justin: We've got another left hander coming up here.
Ripping off a downshift.
Let's see how she feels.
It's a hard one, too.
Mike: Oh, man, we're going in.
Justin: Yes, sir.
Oh, man, overall, a success, you think?
Mike: Yeah, absolutely!
What a performance handle, and just everything that it has done to wrap it all together with
the sway bars from the cornering to the springs.
Your number one, driver is the performance piece of it, but also you've got to look at,
you want it to look good.
Justin: And you got the looks.
Mike: And this thing right here, just sits mean right now.
Justin: You do.
You've got that aggressive stance.
Mike: Just right.
Justin: You've got the rubber.
You've got the wheels.
Overall, success.
Mike: Absolutely.
Justin: There it is, guys.
Mike: I'll be back.
Justin: Mike, he can't stop man.
He's been bitten hard by that mod bug.
So, he might be back in a few weeks maybe for that blower we're talking about.
Mike: Yeah, you never know.
Justin: Well, there you go, guys.
You have to follow this build.
Mike's having a blast, as are we.
Be sure to stay tuned right here at AmericanMuscle.com.