Hey, guys, Stephanie with americanmuscle.com, here with an overview and an install of this
Ford Performance Street Handling Pack for the 2015 and newer S550 GT and EcoBoost Mustang.
In this video, we're gonna cover a few topics with this handling pack.
We're gonna talk about the different components, the performance you can expect, and go over
the install as well.
I'll get into more detail later, but I could tell you right now that the install for this
kit isn't hard but there are quite a few pieces, so it's gonna be a little time-consuming and
a little bit of work.
That being said, I'm gonna call this install a two out of three wrenches in the difficulty
meter.
The Ford Performance Street Handling Pack is gonna be a good option for the S550 owners
out there that are looking to do some handling upgrades to get their car to perform like
a performance packed Mustang.
If you're looking for the handling characteristics of that performance packed car but you missed
out on getting that package when you purchased your Mustang, this kit is gonna get you there.
This kit includes all the same components that come with a performance pack and it's
a complete suspension upgrade kit.
What's more is that you have the peace of mind to know that all of the components are
gonna work well together and that all of the most important areas of the suspension are
taken care of.
This kit has some of the most important suspension upgrades that are really gonna change the
handling performance of the car.
It has a performance pack front and rear shocks and struts, a set of Ford performance street
lowering springs, performance pack front and rear sway bars with bushings, performance
pack rear tow links, all the required hardware, and front and rear jounce bumpers.
So, if you didn't get a performance packed car, then the factory suspension is set up
more for having a comfortable ride quality and being easy to drive in anything else,
which is why there's so much room for improvement.
[inaudible 00:01:37] wants something more than comfortable, they want effective, and
this handling pack is gonna help get you there.
Usually, in order to get better suspension performance, you need to take away some ride
quality since a lot of the ride quality comes from soft rubber bushings and components that
allow for twisting.
Taking away too much comfort, however, leads to an uncomfortable ride, notice all the little
bumps in the road.
Overall, this kit does give a stiffer than factory ride quality when you compare it to
the non-performance packed cars, but it's still a factory suspension, so you know it
isn't gonna be rough at all.
We're gonna talk a little bit about each component, and the first thing we're looking at is the
Ford racing street lowering X-springs.
These springs are gonna have an even one-inch drop all the way around the car, which doesn't
sound like much, but that's a pretty decent drop for the S550 chassis.
The S550s respond a lot more to a little bit of a drop from the lowering spring, so it
doesn't take much to get these cars looking and driving better.
The springs are enough to make a noticeable difference in both handling and [inaudible
00:02:32].
The street springs do have a progressive spring rate, which means that they're a good option
for a streetcar.
They don't have a harsh ride quality, but they will firm up as you start pushing the
car, which works to give you the best of both worlds between comfortable and functional.
Moving on to the shocks and struts, you're looking at pre-assembled front struts with
the new upper strut mount, which is nice because Ford racing is taking a little bit of the
work out of the install for you.
You won't need a spring compressor now since these things are ready to just go right into
place.
Then you have your rear shocks as well, and I'll say that these shocks and struts are
better designed for lowered cars and they're also made to complement the Ford racing springs
and sway bars.
So, we all know that all of these parts work very closely together, so when you start upgrading
things like lowering springs and sway bars, you have to keep in mind things like spring
rate and sway bar thickness and setup.
With an assembled kit like this, you have the comfort in knowing that all of these components
are gonna work well together.
Moving on to the front and rear sway bars, the performance pack sway bars are thicker
in diameter than the non-performance pack sway bars.
These are solid steel construction bars, which are a big upgrade over the factory bars, but
the downside here is that they do have some weight to them.
Like I said before, these bars are designed to work with the progressive springs that
are included in the kit.
They're not adjustable, so if you're looking for an adjustable sway bar, Ford performance
does have a track pack handling kit that'll come with adjustable sway bars.
It is different than this kit, but you can always check it out anyways.
The last thing we're looking at here are those tow links, and these are gonna help you a
little bit with wheel hop and even in the corners.
They give some stability to the IRS and help produce some of the unwanted handling characteristics.
Now, keep in mind that while all of these components are the major suspension upgrades
and they're designed to work together to improve handling, they're not the only components
that you can upgrade.
There are always other ways to improve upon the S550 platform based off how you like your
car to perform, but this is still a good step towards making some changes.
Even though these aren't a huge upgrade, we're just upgrading to performance pack specs here,
you're gonna expect to eliminate some wheel hop, have less nose dive during hard braking,
better cornering ability, and a lower center of gravity for an overall more planted car
and having a more stable rear, which allow for harder launches and keeping the suspension
more consistent and planted no matter what you're doing with your car.
As far as price, this kit is gonna be just south of a thousand dollars.
Now, I will say that picking up an assembled kit will save you a few dollars over purchasing
each component of the kit individually.
You probably could mix brands and piece together your own kit, but you do run the risk of missing
out on some ride quality and performance, just from the fact that these pieces are all
made to work together.
But piecing your own kit is always an option if you don't have the budget for a kit like
this.
You also have to keep in mind that this exact kit will get you the performance pack upgrade,
and this suspension does come from the factory on some cars, so you can expect a perfect
fit and highly functional components.
So, the install here is a lot of work, but I wouldn't say that it's a difficult install.
Like I said earlier, I'm gonna call this one a two out of three wrenches just because you
are doing a bit of an overhaul.
It's all straightforward and you won't need any tools out of the ordinary, especially
since the front springs are already installed on the struts.
You just need to get your stock springs out.
You'll need an assortment of different sockets and wrenches.
And if you decide to tackle this yourself, you can expect to spend about six hours.
Having a lift is gonna make things a lot easier here, but you can complete the install with
a jack and stands.
You'll also have to keep in mind that you'll want to go for an alignment after the install
is all completed.
You're tweaking pretty much of the suspension here, so it's necessary to get that alignment.
So, ultimately, you're going to need to get down to the spring and strut assembly, so
everything like the wheels, the brakes, ABS lines will need to be moved out of the way
so you can pull the assemblies out of the car.
The front spring and strut install is very straightforward.
The rear is a little bit different because the IRS sub frame will be dropped, along with
the rear shock mount, so you can slide the rear springs out and get your new shocks in.
And getting the sway bars and tow links out is really only a few bolts.
You might need to pop out your air box to get to some of the bolts for the front sway
bar, and the majority of the bolts can be removed from reaching down through the engine
bay, except for the unlink [SP] bolts, of course.
And the rear is even easier to get to.
You can get to all your bolts from below the car.
All these parts are reinstalled the same way that the factory ones came out.
And like I said, this is a good amount of work to get done but it's not difficult.
Wrapping things up here, the Ford Performance Street Handling Pack comes with lowering springs,
front and rear shocks and struts, front and rear sway bars, and rear tow links.
This kit is gonna upgrade your non-performance pack Mustang and give it the same handling
abilities that the performance pack cars have.
And as always, I suggest you check this out more online for yourself.
For all things Mustang, keep it right here at americanmuscle.com.