Bilstein B6 Performance 46mm Monotube Rear Shock Absorber Mustang 2005-2014

You might notice we didn't mention the 2011 GT. What we're doing in our case is we're using GT 500 struts so we can use the GT 500 strut mounts. These are a much heavier duty item over the stock strut mounts found in the '11 through '14s. Because the stock style started '11 through '14, you can't use these mounts so by switching to the GT 500 struts it allows us to use these mounts. In the case of the rear shocks, all of your '05 through '14 rear shocks are going to be the same.

Here you can see it closer with the top of the strut that we're using, which again is a 2005 through 2010 GT or GT 500 style. The reason we're going for that is so we can use the GT 500 heavy duty strut mounts. The factory struts '11 through '14, this is actually the same thickness at the top so these upgraded strut mounts will not work.

For this installation you'll need jack and jack stands or a lift, pole jack, and a jack, 3/8 ratchet, 10 mm socket, 13 mm socket, 15 mm socket, 17 mm socket, 21 mm socket, 22 mm socket, 5 mm Allen key, 15 mm wrench, 17 mm wrench, 18 mm wrench, coil spring compressor, and safety glasses.

You'll want to start by getting your Mustang up off the ground and then we remove the front wheels. We'll start by disconnecting the strut from the sway bar end link here, put a wrench on the back and remove this nut. You're going to remove the brake line next. There's a small bolt behind the strut, remove that and remove the bracket.

Now you're going to remove the Christmas Tree clip for the ABS line. Now we're going to unbolt the strut from the spindle. You want to support the lower control arm before removing the lower bolt. The last step to remove the struts is four strut nuts located on top of the strut tower. You want to make sure you hold onto the assembly when you take the last one off and remove the strut assembly.

The only thing we're going to need from our original strut assembly is going to be our Eibach coil springs, so we'll grab our spring compressors, remove the spring, and install them onto our new struts. Once it's compressed, you can remove the upper strut nut, which holds on our strut mount. Here you can see again why we went with the GT 500 strut versus the factory 2011 and up style. See this shoulder goes all the way up to the threaded section here and if we try to install our GT 500 mounts they won't go down far enough. Here's a comparison again with a GT 500 mount here and the stock mounting. It's a much beefier piece and definitely better for high performance applications.

We'll install our Eibach spring onto our new strut, make sure it's seated properly, and install our new strut mount. Make sure that's lined up as well and then we'll tighten it down. We've got to make sure our spring is lined up in the base of our strut, as well as the top of our strut mount. We can release tension on our spring compressor and we're ready to reinstall in our car.

You want to make sure this arrow is facing outward toward the mount where the strut mounts to the spindle. We'll get the spindle back up to place into our strut and now we'll going to work on reconnecting our ABS line and brake line. Push that through first. I should mention the hole back here on our Bilstein is actually not threaded like the factory one is, but the hardware provided by Ford will thread into it and hold it in place. We're going to reconnect our sway bar and repeat the process on the other side and remove on to the rears.

To start the rear shock installation you have to get to the top shock nut, which is going to be located behind these panels here. We want to pull that aside and that's it right there. You'll want to remove both sides while you're in the trunk and now you can move under the car.

Once you have the car up in the air the rear shocks remove by removing this bolt right here. Unfortunately if you pull it out it's going to hit your sway bar, so you're going to start by removing the end links so the sway bar can swing down. You'll want to support the axle. Now we can pull the sway bar down. Install a lower washer and lower bushing, reinstall the factory nut and bolt, and now we can put our sway bar back into place.

We can release our pole jack and now we can go in the trunk and install the nuts on top of our shocks. We do this install on the ground. You can use your floor jack on the pumpkin and simply jack the rear up into place to put these on. If you're doing it on a lift like we are just put the car back on the ground and they'll go up into place. You want to install the top bushing, washer, and then the nut and tighten it down. If it spins you can use a 5 mm to hold the strut assembly and then tighten with a ratchet wrench and your installation is finished.

Unfortunately, the snowy roads here in Pennsylvania keep us from doing our normal test drive, but given the fact that Ford looked to Bilstein for high performance shocks and struts to go with the '03 through '04 Cobra, as well as the Cobra R, we know they're going to do a great job on our 2011. Installation should take you around three hours, so you'll be back on the road in no time.