Hey, Alex here from americanmuscle.com.
Today, I'm bringing you my detailed review and breakdown of the KONI STR.T strut and
shock kit, fitting your 2005 through 2010 Mustang.
So in this video, I'm gonna talk about who this kit's going to appeal to, what you should
be expecting in terms of performance, what you should be expecting to pay, and then we're
gonna take a look at the installation.
We're gonna be giving this an easy one out of three wrenches in the difficulty meter
and about a two to three-hour job to get these onto your car.
Then we'll have a little bit more detail for you on that later.
So if you're the owner of a 2005 through 2010 Mustang and your struts and shocks are on
their way out, which we'll talk about a little bit later, or if you're in the process of
lowering your car or just overhauling your suspension, I would definitely take a look
at this kit.
So before we get in the thick of the video here, guys, we're gonna talk about some common
signs of strut and shock failure, and if you've owned an older mustang or even an older car,
you're probably pretty familiar with what your suspension's gonna be exhibiting.
So first and foremost, one of the signs of strut failure is gonna be excessive nose-diving,
which is self-explanatory and it can be characterized when you get on your front brakes, you can
honestly feel the front of your car literally dropping down.
Now, that's not only bad for corresponding suspension components but it's actually making
your front brakes work overtime, which they already are.
So you're probably gonna be running through them a little bit faster than you would be
under normal circumstances.
So, secondly here, guys, it's gonna be a little bit more of a rocking feeling, and I don't
mean being characterized as when you're tagging a pothole or going over some railroad tracks,
but more of like a swing feel, which on the '05 through '10, the car's a little bit on
the nose-heavy side but it does have a tendency to sway as it's gonna have a higher center
of gravity.
It's not only gonna make you a little bit more disconcerted driving your car but it's
not gonna make you a confident driver.
Now, on the flip side, if your struts are in good working order and you're just looking
to lower your car, it might be a decent idea to look into a complete kit as with brand
new struts and shocks that are geared towards a lowered suspension.
They're gonna work hand-in-hand with each other to give you the best drive possible.
Now to piggyback on what I had just said, pairing a lowering spring with your factory
strut isn't the end of the world.
You can definitely get away with doing it, but I honestly wouldn't suggest doing it just
because if you're gonna pair one with a factory component, you're not gonna get the best driving
dynamics out of your car.
If you're gonna overhaul everything, it's a really decent idea to do everything at once,
as you're not only gonna be lowering your car for good looks, but it's gonna make your
handling that much better, which at the end of the day, it's gonna make you a lot more
of a confident driver.
So on the flip side, some of the premature signs you might pick up if your shocks are
failing, just like the struts, it would be nose-dive but it's more characterized by a
real loose end bouncing all over the place.
Not only that, if they're physically leaking, it's gonna be a great time to swap them out.
Last but not least here, if your shocks are failing, they're actually gonna make your
tires wear prematurely, which at the end of the day, your car's rear wheel drive.
You're already putting a lot of hell to the rear end.
It's just gonna make you burn through your tires that much faster.
So in terms of performance here, guys, swapping out your factory components for an aftermarket
set-up that's gonna be geared towards being a great replacement but something that's gonna
work hand-in-hand with lowering springs, you're gonna feel this right off the bat.
Take a look at the reviews all over the place, even on the website right here, and you're
gonna see that it is going to be night and day in terms of the feel that you're gonna
get behind the wheel of your car, as well as running it through its paces.
Now, that can be either on a road course, autocross or just hitting the back roads on
your way home from work.
So one thing I do wanna mention here, guys, is that right out of the box, these are gonna
have a fixed dampening rate, which essentially means that they're not adjustable.
So if you're running your '05 through '10 on a road course a lot, or if you're gonna
be hitting some autocrosses, you may wanna look into a fully adjustable kit as it's gonna
give you the ability to custom tailor your set-up for whichever road course or whichever
parking lot you're gonna be driving in.
All right, guys, so taking a quick look at the pricing here, you should expect to be
spending only about 350 bucks for this kit, which in my opinion is a steal.
At the end of the day, you're gonna be greatly improving your driving dynamics.
And if you're gonna take it a step further and install these with a set of lowering springs,
it's just gonna make your drive that much more enjoyable.
On the flip side here, there's a slew of other kits out there that we have on the website
and you're gonna see that they're definitely gonna run up there in terms of pricing as
if they're fully adjustable or based on the brand, it will fluctuate that much higher.
All right, guys, so switching gears to the installation portion of the video.
Just like I had said up top, you're gonna be looking at a pretty straightforward one
out of three wrenches in the difficulty meter and about a two to three-hour job to get these
onto your car.
All right, guys, so I do wanna mention that this is gonna be a really quick glance at
what's entailed to get these installed.
A couple steps might be missing here, but this is just gonna give you a decent idea
of what's gonna be necessitated to get these pulled off.
And if you've ever pulled a strut out of your Mustang or any car, you shouldn't have any
trouble with this.
But if it's gonna be your first time doing a job like this, might be a good idea just
to get a second set of hands in there as it can never hurt to have them onsite with you.
All right, guys, so looking ahead, some things I'd make sure to have onsite would be a basic
socket set, a breaker bar, and most importantly, a spring compressor when it comes time to
pull your struts, and these can be rented pretty easily from a local part store.
All right, guys, so first off, you're gonna want to get the car on a set of jack stands,
pull your wheels and tires, and then you're gonna need to pull off everything in terms
of your brakes.
It's gonna be calipers, caliper covers, rotors, you name it, that's gonna have to come off.
So after that, you're gonna want to pull your [inaudible 00:05:37] bolts out and then I'd
make sure to have a separate stand underneath your A-arm, as once you drop that down, it's
essentially gonna be supporting itself and you're not gonna wanna damage any of your
brake lines or any other corresponding hardware when you're removing it.
So after that, the strut's essentially gonna be loose from the bottom.
You're gonna wanna go up top, hold the four bolts holding this into place, and a good
idea is to make sure you have a hand or at least you have somebody's that's gonna have
a hand on the underside just so it's not gonna drop.
All right, guys, so after that, you're gonna wanna move up top and then remove the four
bolts holding in your factory strut.
Pro tip here.
Make sure you have your hand on the underside of the strut so that once you pull that last
bolt, it's not gonna fall.
So moving to the back of the car, you're gonna want to get into your trunk, pull up your
liner in order to access the top of the shock, and then get underneath the car, remove your
two bolts, swap them back with the new shocks and you're good to go.
All right, guys, so just to wrap things up here, some final thoughts.
If you're the '05 through 2010 Mustang owner and you're in the process of replacing your
worn out or broken shocks and struts, or if you're in the process of just overhauling
your suspension and lowering it, I would definitely check out this kit as it's gonna give you
some of the best handling out there possible without burning a hole in your pocket.
So that's my detailed review and breakdown of the KONI STR.T shock and strut kit, fitting
your 2005 through 2010 Mustang, available right here at americanmuscle.com.
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