Pedders Adjustable Coilover Kit eXtreme Xa Mustang 2005-2014

Bill: While the IRS in the S550 Mustang is a huge plus, a lot of people forget the 2005 through 2014 is an excellent chassis with a three link to make it into a really good handling car. Now what we're gonna do today, we've got Angel here from Pedders Suspension. Pedders is a company you may not be familiar with, but trust me, if you lived in Australia, you would definitely know their name as they are huge down there. Tell us about this kit you brought along you're gonna install, and tell us about the company a little bit.

Angel: Thank you Bill. Pleasure to be here. We're a 60 year old company. A household name in Australia, as you mentioned. We do everything under-car related. So we're suspension specialists, and nothing else. The kit I have here today fits the 2005 to 2014 Mustang, and it's a great way to sort of turn your daily driver into a more capable package, or just to get the look you want, the stance.

Bill: When you brought this kit in, I remember looking at it, I asked you where the hardware package is, because it looked like this couldn't be everything. But you guys use basically a lot of the Ford stuff to make it a pretty simple installation.

Angel: Yeah, very simple installation. Anything that is required to be changed is included, but for the most part, it's really just a remove and replace scenario.

Bill: And tell us about ... Let's start with the suspension in the front here. Tell us about this front strut assembly here.

Angel: Well, they're 30-way adjustable, and critically the height adjustment is done here at this lower clevis, so you don't sacrifice any of your travel.

Bill: Okay, now this is set-up out of the box or do you want to adjust that first?

Angel: It is. This is really our sort of recommendation as a base setting. The way they come out of the box. Now you're free to go lower if you'd like, mess around with the damping, but as they come out of the box, it should be a fairly ... It'll be a bit lower but it's not gonna be into the fenders or anything like that.

Bill: Okay.

Angel: And it should be really nice looking.

Bill: So if you want that look obviously, you have a lot of space you can go.

Angel: You've got ... You can go much further.

Bill: You're going more for look and performance, the whole package, out of the box.

Angel: And a true balance. Yes. Striking a good handling balance without beating you up.

Bill: Okay, and about the rear now, tell us about this. You're going with a ... It looks like a replacement shock and then a perch mount.

Angel: Yes. Yeah, they're ... Being with the divorce set-up there we run this perch here and that's where we achieve our height adjustment, in the rear. And then-

Bill: And it's adjustable on the car as well?

Angel: It is. It's a bit tricky there but as long as you've unloaded the rear, you can just loosen the locking collars and wind that up.

Bill: And again, is that something you want to measure before you install or is that good to go out of the box?

Angel: That would be good to go as it is. Again, if you're following our recommendations, but if you were gonna change the height, then yeah, I would still start as a baseline. Take your measurements and then go back in there and make your adjustments.

Bill: Okay. What are the adjustment we have on the rear shocks?

Angel: 30-way, just like in the front.

Bill: Just like the front, full through-

Angel: Exactly.

Bill: And design to work, you have a sway bar key offer for this? Are the components available for...

Angel: We do. Yeah, and I'm sure I'll be here again, in the not too distant future, doing the sway bars. But yeah, the sway bars we've actually released this month, so they're available as well.

Bill: Now with this kit, I know you guys do offer a caster camber plate kit for this car. I'm gonna do an installation on that in the future, but do you need it? Can you actually run it without it if you want to?

Angel: No, no. It's entirely up to the individual and what they're gonna do with the car. So I mean if they feel they're gonna go a bit lower or maybe track the car a bit and run more aggressive tires or comps, then they probably want a little more camber up front. In that case, it's perfect for them, but if it's somebody who just wants to throw on the suspension and enjoy 90% of the benefits, they're not needed by any means.

Bill: Again we're talking about the front that you're getting a whole bolts on, which is really nice. Now, one issue that plagues these cars is the front mount. They become an issue, the strut mount itself. What is your solution with that? What are you using here?

Angel: Well these, obviously come out with a billet aluminum plate from the factory.

Bill: Okay.

Angel: Or from the way we provide them, and then there's a bearing in here to avoid any sort of friction.

Bill: Okay.

Angel: So you still get smooth, steering articulation.

Bill: That's a much meatier slide up than you would find on the back of the step.

Angel: Yeah, and it's not gonna fail at anything close to that sort of rate. I mean if anything wears over time, it will be these bearings and they're easily replaced.

Bill: Okay. Well let's get started with the installation.

Angel: All right, sounds great.

Bill: For this installation, need a lift and a pull jack, or a jack and jack stands. 1/4 inch ratchet. 10 millimeter socket. 3/8 ratchet. 5/16 socket. 12 millimeter socket. 13 millimeter socket. 15 millimeter socket. 18 millimeter socket. 19 millimeter socket. 5 millimeter Allen key. 6 millimeter Allen key. Torque wrench. 18 millimeter wrench. 19 millimeter wrench. Panel removal tool. Hammer and a tape measure.

Since we have Angel here from Pedders, I'm gonna let him handle the installation. I'll just give him some assistance. We're gonna start up top here and loosen these bolts, and then go underneath and remove the whole strut assembly as a whole, since the Pedders is a complete replacement.

Angel: All right, we're gonna remove three of these bolts and leave the fourth one in place to support the assembly, or we go below and take out the remainder. We're gonna start by removing this 10 millimeter bolt that holds the clip for the brake line behind the strut. We get that out of the way. All right and next we're gonna remove the 18 middle nut that secures the play bar and link. All right, and we're gonna use a soft blow mallet just to tap this out and get it free. Now Bill was kind enough to put this jack underneath the spindle to support the strut, so when we remove these it won't just crash to the ground. We're gonna go now to these 18 little bolts that secure the strut to the spindle and remove those. All right now that we've removed the lower 18 millimeter bolts to the spindle, we're ready to remove that last bolt up top and remove the strut assembly. You wanna support this with your hand so it doesn't drop away.

All right, we're gonna use a panel trim remover to take this plastic rivet out that locates the ABS sensor. And now we can remove the strut. Now that we removed the strut and gotten it out of the way, we can get much better access to this lower sway bar now. So we remove that next. And this again, 18 millimeter, just like the struts. Now it's basically the reversal of the process we just used to take everything off. We're gonna start by putting the shortened sway bar bracket on. Now, not all of the models had this reference point, but just be sure to line this up with the outside, where the spindle side of the strut before you go to install it. Now we're gonna do the same as we did earlier and just have one of these nuts here to retain this initially, and hold it in place. All right, Bill's assisting here, lifting the spindle with the jacks so I can get these strut holes lined up a little closer. Can you go up a little bit more? One more time and we should be good.

All right. Now start by putting in the lower one, just generally a little easier and then we can pivot the top one into place. Bill just a little bit more, sorry. There we go. Right now we replace the lock nuts on the back side. All right now we're gonna replace the hardware for the brake line bracket and whereas the factory comes with a screw, we use a nut and a bolt. All right now at this point because we've only done one side of the car, there's no way this is gonna be made to work. I'm gonna go up in top and tighten these back and we'll revisit this connect. All right, now we're gonna reinstall the last three bolts up here that retain the strut and tighten those down. Now these bolts are pretty sensitive to their torque value, so we want you to torque them down to about 44 pounds. Now you just repeat this process on the other side and then we can mount the sway bar. Now, Bill was kind enough to disconnect the other side of the sway bar so I can move this link back into position and connect it properly.

Now the final step before reinstalling the wheels on this side is to reconnect this ABS sensor. Now I just pop it through its plastic rivet. All right and now we're ready to move on to the rears. At this point we've moved on to the rear, and the first step is to peel back this carpeting. Pop the plastic rivets out and pull it back, so you can gain access to this on top of the shock, which is what we are gonna remove next. Now we move back underneath. Now that we're underneath the car, the first thing you wanna do is support the rear. Then we're gonna disconnect the sway bar, which will allow it to drop away so we can gain access to these lower bolts to shock. 'Cause otherwise it runs right in front of them, you can't get them. All right now we're gonna take the sway bar link off. 15 millimeter. Move on to the other side. All right here we are on the other side, doing the exact same thing and removing the upper sway bar link.

That will allow the bar now to drop away, so we can get these lower shock mounts. Gonna take a 15 mill and remove this lower shock bolt. Now we're gonna remove the bolt, carefully secure the shocks so it doesn't fall on your feet, and it'll be ready to slide out. All right, I didn't mention this earlier, but you want to remove this top mount and a lower assembly from the factory shock absorber, 'cause this is gonna be transferred over to the coil levers set up in the rear. To transfer that upper shock mount, you're just gonna back this, that off and slide the factory hardware down over it, so it rests on that washer. They now go on top, I'm doing this just to illustrate how they go back together 'cause I'll have to put it through the value before I can do this, and you simply thread that back in place. All right, we're gonna start by lowering the axle assembly so we can remove the spring. We loosen the sway bar so we can get this extra droop back here. Thank you.

Bill: Yep.

Angel: Need to see here that we've left the factory isolator in place in the bottom, there's also one in the top. You're gonna wanna leave those both in place to avoid any unwanted noise and vibrations. All right, and now we're ready to slide the replacement coil spring and perch into place and lift the axle back up. Now we're ready to slide the shock back into place. So we're gonna slide it up through the upper hole in the body and then run the bolt through the bottom again. Replace the locking tab. Now we're ready to move back into the trunk to finish the upper mounts. All right since we've got the car up in the air, we're gonna put the sway bar back in place, just to serve as a support for this rear so we can move back to the top and put the upper strut mount back on.

Now you may need to jack up the rear assembly to get this to fall back in place, this bushing here, but now we're ready to put the top mount back on. Now you can thread the adjusting assembly back in. I'm using a 19 mill wrench, you can snug that assembly up. Just hand tight, not very tight at all. Now you're ready to put the factory carpet back in place. We'll repeat the same procedure for the other side, and make a few adjustments to get the right height, where we want.

Bill: So we put the car down on the ground, the front was exactly what the owner wanted. He said, "Nice and tucked up, right on the fender line." But the rear was sitting a little bit high. So how do we adjust the rear? I guess the front adjusts the same way with these collars.

Angel: Yeah, pretty much. We're gonna loosen this lower collar here and that allows to back this one down. In the case of this car, since we've already done our initial measurements, we're gonna back this all the way down.

Bill: 'Cause he wants it low, so we're gonna drop it down.

Angel: All right, as I said earlier, gonna start by loosening this lower collar. Taking the tension off of it, relative to the one above it.

Bill: Now you said in our case, original lower all the way down, but if you weren't I'm assuming you could use a depth gauge, all kinds of different things in there to get that measurement-

Angel: Yes a small-

Bill: To make sure it's the same class-

Angel: A small socket, something just to give you a reference, so they're even side to side.

Bill: Gotcha.

Angel: As you can see, that inside droop, there's not a whole lot of tension on this anymore. So it's relatively easy to spin. Now up front if you were to change the adjustment, you're gonna loosen this collar here, and literally just spin these down, so you can retract this in. Thread a piece down into the body and that would lower it, or go the other direction to raise it. And then lock the collar back in, and you're ready to go. Now in the case of both ride height, and damping, the kits come out of the box without sort of baseline recommended settings. In this case we're running 24 clicks out of 30 towards full soft and there's literally detense. So with each click, you've made another step of adjustment, and it's damping a couple together so whenever you make an adjustment, they're both adjusted to suit at the same time. So simply turn it left to reduce the stiffness, right to increase it. And the rear is the exact same setup. Same sort of knob situated on top of the shock, with the same number of detense and the same adjustment method.

Bill: Obviously that's a huge difference from where we started, and this car was lowered before but on stock struts. It didn't ride real well. Well now you get the low look, and the performance to go with it.

Angel: Indeed, and critically we've retained our travel, both in the spring and the shock because of the design of the lowering mechanism. This coupled with the dampening adjustment, allows the end user to pretty much adjust to suit his needs and his uses.

Bill: And the installation over all ... Honestly this is easier than doing springs, because it's assembly. So, two to three hours tops, be back on the road in no time. Angel thanks again for coming out.

Angel: Appreciate it.

Bill: Help with the installation, and a quality product.

Angel: Pleasure, thank you.