- If there's a car out there that might have bridged the gap
between JDM and American muscle,
it's absolutely the S550 Mustang.
Now hear me out.
If I were to go into some sort of V8 domestic car,
I would more than likely find myself
behind the wheel of one of these cars.
It's just something about them.
And definitely I'm not the only one
since we've been seeing these things literal everywhere.
And they are finding themselves
in the ownership of a wide variety of enthusiasts.
And surprisingly enough, a lot of enthusiasts
who have come from previous cars like Subarus
and Evos and even Nissan Zs.
With the S550 generation becoming the favorite generation
of the modern Mustang.
Odds are, you might have gone and picked one up
or are looking at getting behind the wheel of one
in the near future.
So, first of all, welcome.
I'm Gels, from Fitment Industries.
And today we're gonna be taking a look
and going over everything
you need to do to your S550 Mustang.
(upbeat music)
Of course, before we go ahead
and just dive right into all the fun stuff
and talk about cool car parts
and what to do to make these things a little faster
and maybe sound a little cooler or look the best,
we should first go over a little overview
of what this generation of Ford Mustang actually is.
Stuff you should know
before jumping straight into modifications.
Any weird quirks it might have
or anything that is like an absolute must do
when you get your hands on one of these cars.
So first things first, S550 generation of the Ford Mustang
debuted in July of 2014 for the 2015 model year.
The sixth generation of the Mustang
featured a wide variety of options.
Not only for like appearance packages,
trim levels and whatnot,
and all sorts of different engines as well.
From your classic 50 Coyote V8,
5.2 liter Voodoo for the GT350 and GT350R,
5.2 liter Predator for the later years of those,
in the 2020, GT500 and a 3.7 liter V6
and of course last but not least,
the 2.3 liter EcoBoost four cylinder engine.
That's right EcoBoost four cylinder
in an American muscle car.
It happened.
Remember when bagging on V6 muscle cars was bad.
Well, this just kind of kicked it a nickel
and brought things to a whole new level.
However, people do really love the EcoBoost Mustang
and they have proven
they can do some pretty impressive things with them.
And even though we sure do love the GT350 the GT350R
this video is going to focus more on those two platforms,
the 50 and the EcoBoosts platforms.
Overall, these are some fairly rock solid cars.
They have proven themselves and have arguably
become one of the most popular generations
of the car as a whole.
The 50 Coyote engine at the aluminum block,
forged connecting rods, forged crank and variable timing
make it a very solid V8 engine for this generation.
However, it does have a little bit of a known issue
of stalling.
It's kind of a weird thing
that Ford doesn't really wanna do anything about.
Bit of a weird subject 3.7 liter Cyclone V6,
again, another good engine,
however more built for a balance of performance
and efficiency versus just performance.
Leaving us the 2.3 liter EcoBoost four cylinder engine
found in this generation Mustang
as well as other known favorites,
such as the Ford Focus RS.
And even though
it has been a proven platform that can perform,
it still isn't free of its issues.
Some most notable ones,
they tend to run a little bit of hot.
They do suffer for some carbon buildup
that can lead to misfires and things like that.
Besides your typical annoyances
with the infotainment system,
overall great cars.
But you probably already know that,
you already made the decision of buying the car
and now it's time to make it your own.
So let's start talking about mods.
What are we going to do?
Is break this down into different categories.
We'll start off with some good wheels, tires and suspension.
You know, what else would we do first?
What are people running on these cars? What fits?
And move into some performance stuff after that.
What can you do to waken these cars up a little bit
and then wrap it up with anything else we would recommend.
New set of wheels can really make or break
the look of your car
and it can be the best thing or the worst thing that you do,
depending on how you do it.
So let's make sure you do it right first time,
so you don't look silly.
First thing you need to know is your bolt pattern.
Unlike what they decided to do with the Ford Focus,
Ford chose a good bolt pattern this time for this car
and went with a 5 x 114.3.
The most popular bolt pattern out there. Thank God.
So options, pretty open for wheels.
Our friends over at Konig
have been doing aftermarket wheels four a long time.
They've become a staple in the aftermarket wheel industry.
The Konig Ampliform is the first wheel
that we'd recommend looking at,
when going with new wheels for this generation Mustang.
Flow Formed wheel comes in the right specs
and looks damn good.
Nothing too crazy, just the right amount of change
to get the right fitment
and provide a nice upgrade to the car.
Coming in at like a higher entry level
to medium price point, right around $1400 or so.
It's a great option to go with
when looking to get a new set of wheels
for this generation of Mustang.
If there's a wheel brand out there
that has the new age of muscle car seen unlocked.
It's definitely Ferrada.
They have some absolutely killer designs
that come in the big sizes to fill out
those massive wheel wells on these cars.
And one that a lot of people tend to snag
is the Ferrada FR3.
The classic five spoke design that goes super well
with the old muscle cars and especially these cars
and not to mention the finishes that Ferrada has
is out of this world.
They truly make 'em something special.
And the third wheel setup, we would recommend,
would be the Anovia Elder.
Whether you're looking for something functional
or something a little wider to air it out.
The Elder has the specs for it.
We've seen the 19x11 plus 7 setup go crazy
for those who want the stance look
with these cars and can literally lay frame.
If that's not more your style.
You can sit with something like an 18 or 19 inch setup
that will leave room for something like a bigger tire.
Deco Directional, meaning you'll get a left and right side.
Make sure both sides of the car looks the same.
And the sizes coming in under 21 pounds per wheel.
Speaking of sizes,
let's talk about some fitment for these cars real quick.
You have the option
and you could choose a staggered or square setup,
really depends on what you want to go with.
For the front,
looking at anything from an 18 to 20 inch for the diameter
with a width landing between 8 1/2 to 11 inches
and an offset falling between plus 15 and plus 35
is your typical range that you want stick with.
As for the rears?
18 to 20, again, 8 1/2 to 12 inches for widths,
so a little bit higher.
And then of course, a little higher offset
to make up for it.
So about a plus 20 or plus 40.
Course with a new set of wheels,
you're gonna need a new set of rubber.
Especially if you want to keep that thing
in a straight line.
We've all seen the videos.
All right, you don't wanna be another statistic.
So some good tires can help.
Our recommendations would be
the Falken ZE 960 All Season,
the Continental ExtremeContact Sport
or the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S.
To tie it all together,
a nice drop in ride height helps a ton.
And we see a ton of people and a lot of owners of these cars
go with more of a lowering spring
versus a coilover for a few reasons.
A lowering spring like Eibach
is probably the most common go-to.
They're pretty affordable.
They're everywhere, they make 'em for everything
and they're most of the time readily available.
It's a pretty straightforward process.
Something like a lowering spring, we see a lot,
especially on new age muscle cars,
'cause a lot of these things, being a little bit
of a heavier car are coming with things like
Magride suspension or MagneRide suspension
or whatever that brand is gonna call it.
And for a lot of people they wanna keep that functionality
of their OEM suspension.
Being able to adjust, basically adjusting the damping
from a stock setup, which is pretty neat.
So they go with something like a lowering spring
versus swapping out the entire strut.
If you do wanna go the coilover route
we would recommend BC Racing coilover.
BC makes pretty much a coilover for everything out there,
especially with their BR series.
BR series is their entry level series,
it's gonna be the most affordable,
but gives you literally everything you need
from camber adjustment to damping adjustment,
of course, ride height adjustment.
You can get some custom spring rates and stuff like that
to get you squared away, good and neat.
If you want to go the air suspension route
which we've seen a lot of people do,
especially with the EcoBoost platform,
you can absolutely do that.
Air Lift makes a fantastic kit for these cars.
Air Lift 3P by far being one of the most easy
and straightforward suspension setups to install
when it comes to air suspension.
And that's what our recommendation would be.
Unlocking more horsepower is one of the best things
of owning a performance oriented car.
So naturally we would want to do the same with this thing.
Starting with the 5 liter Coyote.
This being the big old burly naturally-aspirated V8,
there are some things that we can do to it.
Now typically, you aren't going to see crazy numbers
out of like some bolt-on modifications,
but you know it will help a little bit
and lets you enjoy the car that much more.
Starting with something like an aftermarket intake
will help feed more air into the engine,
freeing up other parts of the combustion process,
specifically with the exhaust as well.
It's also another decent way of freeing up some more power
as well as releasing all those bald eagles.
I don't know why, these cars specifically,
but they're so fricking loud.
Typically something like cat-back exhaust will get you by
but we tend to see people go like the whole nine yards.
They go headers and all, probably one of the reasons why
all of them are so loud.
Brands like JLT, SR Performance and Roush,
being some of the go-to brands for things like intakes.
And for exhaust, here you see
brands like Roush again, Corsa and C&L.
Of course, if you really want to go all wild and crazy
you can start adding things like forced inductions
and cracking open the engine to upgrade some internals
and things like that,
even though they are pretty strong from the factory.
On the other hand, when we get opened up
to a whole new world of modifications
when you slap a turbo four cylinder into these cars.
Things like your bolt-ons and tunes,
will get you way more on this platform
versus an NA platform,
simply because that's just how they work.
Naturally the tuning guys took onto this car like crazy.
Just like they did with the Focus ST and the RS.
Brands like Cobb, being able to hop on board
and offer things like intakes, exhaust, the flash tune
make it incredibly easy to start modifying these things
and unlocking some pretty decent power.
Now, it's not gonna be a V8 by any means,
but impressive nonetheless.
I mean, even the fact that they come factory
with like 310 to 330 horsepower is pretty dang good.
Blows earlier generations with the V8s out of the water.
People are claiming numbers right around 370, 380,
with bolt-ons and a decent tune with these cars.
And if you're wanting
to break into that 400 horsepower number,
you're gonna need to start looking at things
like a custom tune.
Maybe get bigger turbo and especially E85 to get you there.
As far as other modifications,
honestly these things are set up pretty good
from the factory.
I mean, they got a good aggressive look to 'em.
The interiors are pretty decent.
Like I said, the infotainment thing,
it's a little bit weird,
but I feel that's just like every car nowadays.
Of course you can never go wrong with little bit of aero,
some custom lighting.
We see people go crazy
with the custom lighting on these cars,
especially in the taillights and headlights.
Not to mention, you get a lowered ride height
and then maybe add on some air suspension
some underglow will look pretty dang good.
I know underglow on a muscle car sounds kinda weird,
but we see a ton of people do it.
But definitely get some aero,
make it a little more aggressive.
The car deserves it.
They look so fricking good.
But other than that,
I hope you guys enjoy your S550 Mustang,
if you picked one up or if you're looking to pick one up.
And of course, if you need some wheels, tires or suspension,
like we talked about in this video,
head on over to fitmentindustries.com, we got it all.
You check it out, all over there.
You can check out the galleries
to see what's gonna fit your car as well.
See real first hand images of what it would look like.
So go check it out, fitmentindustries.com.
Thank you guys so much watching.
I'm Gels. We'll see later.