All right guys, today we're gonna be looking at the SR Performance shock and strut kit
for 2005 to 2010 GT and V6 Mustangs.
You're gonna wanna be checking this kit out if you're looking for a paired shock and strut
kit that is a replacement upgrade but that's also very budget-friendly.
This is gonna work well with the stock springs or a set of aftermarket lowering springs.
It does offer a small bump in performance over the factory setup but it will still work
with those factory springs just fine.
The kit costs just over 250 bucks which makes it currently the most budget-friendly paired
shock and strut kit that you can pick up.
The install is gonna be a two out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter and I will
let you know now that you guys are gonna need a spring compressor to complete the install.
But let's go ahead and get started.
For this install, you're gonna need a couple of different open-ended wrenches, possibly
a few different size extensions, a three-eighths ratchet, an assortment of different sockets,
I used two different impact guns, a half inch and a three-eighths.
The other thing that will be nice to have but may not be necessary is a body clip removal
tool and a pry bar.
All right guys, so you're gonna need a way to get your car in the air whether it be with
a jack and jack stands or if you're lucky enough to have a lift like I do.
So I'm gonna raise the car up in the air and I'm gonna start the install just by pulling
off this front wheel here.
The first thing that I'm gonna do now that I have the wheel off is I'm gonna unbolt the
caliper.
So I'm gonna leave the caliper brackets and the pads and the rotor on as well, I'm just
unbolting the caliper.
For that, I need a 12-millimeter socket.
Before I do that though, I'm just gonna put one lug nut back on a stud here because when
I unbolt the strut from the spindle and this falls forward I don't want this coming off
with it or moving at all.
So, I'm just gonna run a lug nut on quick and that's gonna hold everything in place
for me.
With the two bolts removed we can slide our caliper off.
One thing I will say is you don't wanna leave thins hanging by the brake line so I'm gonna
set it up here in the control arm.
You just wanna make sure that it is completely resting and not hanging on that brake line
at all.
Next, we're gonna do our ABS sensor which just clips into place right here and we're
also gonna remove our stainless steel brake line off the back of the strut with a 10-millimeter
socket.
Next, we're gonna unbolt the strut from the spindle.
You have two bolts here.
One thing I will say, guys, is I'm gonna jump up to a half inch impact with an 18-millimeter
socket for this.
When you loosen these you wanna be undoing the bolt side, not the nut side.
You'll see that both upper and lower positions have a flag nut here.
You just wanna stay clear of that.
So when you loosen this, this flag nut is gonna spin around and catch and you'll see
it happen.
So you wanna be undoing the bolt side and not the nut side.
So the last thing that I'm gonna do under here before we move up top is actually I'm
gonna undo our end link right here and this is a 19-millimeter on a half inch impact.
So the last thing holding the strut in place is actually the strut nuts up here on the
strut tower.
I'm gonna undo three, and then just know that once you undo the fourth one you need to be
holding the strut body because the strut will drop out of the car at that point and these
are 13-millimeter, so I have a 13-millimeter socket here.
Now we are ready for our spring compressor.
You guys are gonna have to compress the spring in order to separate it from the strut.
So if you don't have a nice wall mounted spring compressor like we do here in the shop, you
guys can always head over to a local auto store and just rent one for a day.
Now you're gonna be undoing the nut in the top of the strut here and that is a 21-millimeter.
Real quick before we throw our new setup into place, I wanted to just do a quick comparison
of your stock setup versus the SR setup on the table here.
So your SR Performance setup is gonna give you a small bump in performance over your
factory setup that's because the SR, both the shock and strut have a larger diameter
piston in them.
That is gonna mean a little bit stiffer of a ride quality but you're gonna get that better
performance out of this setup.
Now, this is considered an entry level kit because you do have pre-set compression and
rebound valving in the shocks and struts.
If you guys want something that you can totally customize or something that's a little bit
more performance oriented, you're gonna wanna look towards a fully adjustable shock and
strut setup.
One quick thing we're gonna do before we go ahead and get our spring on this strut is
we're gonna is we're gonna transfer over our bump stop and our dust boot.
So one thing that I wanna mention before you go ahead and install this is you have a small
indexing notch on the top of your strut mount.
You're gonna wanna make sure that indexing notch is gonna be lined up with your spindle
mounting points down here on the strut body.
This needs to be pointing outward from the car, so actually what I'm gonna do is I'm
just gonna rotate it by hand and just make sure that it's lined up with those spindle
mounting points on the strut.
All right, so now I'm just gonna slide this entire assembly up into place and hold it
while I get one of the strut nuts mounted.
So now that we have our new strut threaded and into place, the first thing that I'm gonna
do when I'm down here before I connect to the spindle is I'm actually gonna connect
my end link.
I'm gonna do it now so I have a little bit more wiggle room as opposed to when I'm connected
to the spindle.
Now you might be able to see I'm not 100% lined up here with the end link and I don't
really like that too much.
I want to get it lined up a little bit more before I try to thread the nut on.
So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take the pry bar and I'm gonna pry downwards on the
sway bar to get this lined up a little bit better.
So now we're gonna mount to our spindle and the goal is to get one of these lined up so
I can just run the bolt through for now and then we'll get everything straightened out
later.
You are gonna have to muscle this, sometimes you gotta call in the big guns.
As you saw I did need a little bit of help lining that first bolt up.
This does require a lot of muscle and you saw sometimes it can fight you a little bit,
but now that I got the first bolt lined up and through I'm gonna line up the second one
and get the second bolt through.
So I got our lower bolt started.
I'm gonna get it the rest of the way through with my impact gun.
So now we're back to our flag nuts.
What I'm gonna say right now, is I'm gonna hold the flag nut very loosely with my fingers,
and I'm gonna start it very gently with my impact.
Once it's started on the threads I'm gonna completely let it go and just hammer down.
All right.
So now we're gonna get our brake line attached to our strut.
Now we're gonna slide our caliper back into place and bolt it down.
So with our front struts installed, we're gonna move to our rear shocks now which means
that we need to pull both of our rear wheels off.
So in our case, our first step is actually going to be to unbolt our end link at the
body here because if you guys look closely you can see that the sway bar is actually
blocking the bottom bolt on our shock that we need to undo.
So once I drop the end link from the body here, I'll be able to move the sway bar out
of the way and get to this bottom bolt.
So I have a 19-millimeter wrench to hold the nut and a 19-millimeter socket so I can back
my bolt out.
So now I'll be able to pull the sway bar down and away from the shock bolt.
We'll just let it rest where it wants to rest.
Now we're ready to undo the bottom bolt on the rear shock.
It is a 15-millimeter but there are two things that I wanna point out before I do that.
I have a pole jack underneath the rear axle right now because once I undo this bolt the
rear will fall down just a little bit.
The other thing that I want to point out is once again we have a flag nut here so we're
gonna be backing the bolt out this way.
At this point, I'm gonna remove my pole jack here.
I'll let the rear sit and hang where it wants to.
I'm gonna lower the car down some and then we'll be ready to remove the top knot on the
shock from inside of the trunk.
You guys can see our shocks hanging loose now.
And the pole jack's free.
In the trunk you're gonna wanna peel back your liner here.
Yours is probably gonna be held in by body clips, mine isn't at this point.
That right there is your shock nut, it is a 17-millimeter and at this point, you might
wanna have a friend just on the other side of the car to grab the shock because once
you undo this nut, there is a likelihood that it'll fall out, and if you don't want it to
hit the ground you can just have someone over there to grab it.
SR Performance does give you a new hardware with their shocks, so your first step is actually
going to be to remove the nut, save your lock washer, and grab this first bushing off the
top of the shock.
Leave it up here in your trunk.
And at this point, it might be beneficial to have a second set of hands to help you
out here.
You can either have someone slide the shock through so you can be up here to tighten the
nut, or you can have someone tighten the nut up while you're sliding the shock through.
So from inside the car right now my friend is sliding that top bushing, the lock nut
and the nut onto the top of the shock and he's gonna tighten it down.
All right, so now we're back under the car.
I have my pole jack again, I'm gonna raise the rear up.
Basically what I'm trying to do is get my shock aligned right here so I can run my bolt
through.
All right, we're really pretty close right there so I'm gonna see if I can get the bolt
through.
All right we're through.
And I'll put my nut on the other side and I'll tighten this down.
All right guys, so same thing here that we saw on the front.
I'm gonna loosely hold this flag nut, start getting it threaded, and then once I have
some threads on, I'll be able to tighten all the way.
With that tightened up, that's gonna complete the install for the shock on this side, the
install on the other side is going to be exactly the same.
With both shocks bolted up and in place, we can move our pole jack out of the way.
The rear is gonna stay exactly where it is now since we're all good to go on that end.
We can bolt our end links back up to our body and then we'll be all set to go.
All right guys, one thing I will say right now is you gotta make sure both sides are
lined up before you run a bolt in or else you won't be able to get anything straight.
All right.
So now that I have this lined up, I'm just gonna run the bolt in, put the washer and
the nut on the other side and then I'll be able to tighten it down.
With our suspension all put back together we're gonna get our wheels on and that will
button up our install.
All right guys, that's gonna wrap up this review and install.
Keep in mind that you can always check this kit out more online right here at americanmuscle.com.
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