Added some small personal touches to the 2015 Stang, also driving impressions

July 10, 2015, 12:41:59 PM

So I've had the Mustang for about 3 months now, and it is showing 4100km on the clock (about 2500 miles). Enough seat time to finally provide some driving impressions.

First off, I've just got to say it - that Coyote howls. Third gear at 60MPH and WOT will put a smile on anyone's face. The sound is spectacular. Spectacular enough that I don't think I'll be doing anything with the lers, because I don't want to ruin it. I will probably put an X-pipe with resonator delete on it though, which hopefully won't change the sound too much. I've read magazine reviews that said the car is too quiet, but I find it's just perfect. I realize that there are faster cars out there, but believe me, at WOT this car feels like it's the fastest thing in the world.

I'm a little less than impressed with the shifter action. I might just be fussy - I'm used to driving Hondas (but not anymore, I've left the Honda dealership), and everyone knows that Honda does one of the best manual transmissions around. It's not horrible - it's a hell of a lot better than the T5 was in the T-Bird, but third gear can sometimes be difficult to find. I've read that this has been a problem since day one with the MT82, and that a fix is to install an aftermarket shifter bracket. Therefore, that will be my first "real" mod - a Blowfish racing aluminum shifter bracket that mounts directly to the tranny instead of to the body like the original one does.

Daily driving the car is a pleasure. It's a little noisy on rough pavement, but that can be expected of a car with 35-series tires. It goes where it's pointed and does what's expected of it, and the seat is quite comfortable (getting in and out is another story, but it's not Ford's fault that I'm old). The Shaker Pro stereo is sufficiently loud and very clear, the Sync is easy to use, and, to answer a question somebody asked in another thread, the cooled seats are AWESOME. I just wish that the seat back was cooled as well - only the arse part is. Both parts are heated, though.

So far the car seems to be wearing well. The tires and brakes show no visible wear, and the wheels have remained free of brake dust.

All in all I am perfectly happy with this car. Having seen the new 2016 Camaro makes me even happier. It may prove to be a little quicker, but it will never come close in looks.

I have also done some very minor custom tweaks, just to make it mine. First order of business was to paint the brake calipers. Those huge and gorgeous brakes could not just be left to corrode and get ugly, especially with the open spoke design of the wheels, so I took them apart and painted them. It makes quite a difference in looks, and if the Civic guys are a reliable source, painted calipers are worth +35 horses to the wheels!

I've posted most of these on Facebook, but I figure a lot of you haven't seen them.

So first step was to remove the wheels, then remove the calipers so I could take the rotors off. With the rotors off I loosely bolted the calipers back on, just to hold them for painting. I masked off everything I didn't want paint on, such as the backing plate, control arms, strut, inner fender, brake line, etc:

Then I applied the paint. I forget the brand name, but it's one of those ones you read about in Hot Rod magazine and the like (VHT maybe?), and is actually called "Caliper paint". It's a spray bomb, and it came out quite well - nice and smooth, no fisheyes or runs, and looks like factory powdercoating:

Once the paint dried (overnight) I reassembled the brakes and bolted the wheels back on:

Added some small personal touches to the 2015 Stang, also driving impressions

Reply #1 – July 10, 2015, 12:52:57 PM

Also did the rears. These were a bigger pain because of the park brake hardware and the separate caliper bracket. I wanted them to look like they were painted from the factory, so I took them all apart , removed the pads, etc (because factory painted calipers would not include painted pads). No step-by-step pics here, but I do have one of the finished result:

Also got a vanity plate to replace the rust-stained plate that I put on it when I bought it. Just4Kixx has long been a user name of mine on other forums, and even back in the old IRC days. We can only use 7 characters here, so I got as close as I could: JUS4KIX. I actually ordered this plate a few days after buying the car, but it took that long to get it:

And finally, just a gratuitous "pretty pony" pic that I took after giving it a bath yesterday. Those oil rainbows in the water on the driveway are from an oil leak in my pressure washer:

I've already ordered another vanity plate for the Pimp Sled (Chrysler 300). That one will say "UP2TRIX", in memory of another user name I used to use: UpToTrixx. If that one isn't available my second, third and fourth choices were LEDSLED, PMPSLED, and THESLED

Added some small personal touches to the 2015 Stang, also driving impressions

Reply #2 – July 13, 2015, 02:02:20 PM

Calipers look good. I noticed yesterday when I was washing the '12 Mustang that after 28K the calipers are starting to look shiznitty. I think the winter project on it will be to paint the front and rear calipers silver to match the factory look. I can't believe they are getting funky even though the car has never seen road salt.

Added some small personal touches to the 2015 Stang, also driving impressions

Reply #3 – July 15, 2015, 05:00:43 AM

Looks great, nice touch