Video Review & Installation

Hey, guys. Stephanie with americanmuscle.com, here with my review and an install of the Pedders Extreme Xa Coilover Kit, available for all 2005 to 2014 Mustangs. In this video, we're gonna go over a few different topics with this coilover kit, but mostly we're gonna talk about the performance abilities of the kit and the install. I'm gonna cover the install in more detail later, but I'll tell you right now that the install is straightforward but it is a little bit of work, so I'm gonna call it a two out of three wrenches in the difficulty meter.The Pedder Extreme Coilovers are going to be for the Mustang owners out there that are looking for a coilover kit on a budget that's still gonna give the benefits of both ride height adjustment and a wide range of rebound and compression adjustment. Generally speaking, coilovers offer a way to get away from the fixed drop of a lowering spring. Typically, a lowering spring is gonna be best for someone that's looking to simply lower their car. If we look at the height adjustability that the kit offers, we're gonna see that the kit will allow for you to set your ride height anywhere between one inch to three inches lower than the OEM ride height. This means you can go anywhere from just below stock height to very low and anywhere in between, depending on what you're looking for here. And we know from a lowering spring for the S550 that a three-inch drop on these cars is significant, so you have a lot of room here to get your ride height how you like it.So the kit is gonna include two front strut assemblies, two rear shocks, two rear springs and links, which you don't typically see included with coilover kits, and your spanner wrenches. You don't get new dust boots because you can see that the dust boot is integrated into the body here, and the spanner wrenches are gonna be your way to adjust your coilover height, which you can see your threads right here in the actual strut body. Having a fully threaded body is better than the other types of coilovers because these are gonna be able to give you the most performance benefits. Full-bodied coilovers like these allow for spring height and preload to easily be adjusted.Getting into some more of the specifics about the construction here, other than the fully threaded monotube body and the integrated dust boot, you have alloy steel motorsport springs, which are designed for the abuse of the coilover, aluminum spring seats and lower mounts, and, of course, a factory-style bracket, which makes these a direct replacement and a direct bolt-on. Another big feature of these coilovers is that they're 30-way adjustable, which means that you have a 30-position adjustment in both rebound dampening and compression, which is the compression and rebound of the shock and strut. This is gonna allow you to stiffen or soften the shocks and struts, which means that you're gonna have a whole 'nother level of adjustment here and customization as well. You're really gonna be able to set your car up for the performance that you want out of it. The fact that these coilovers offer you both height adjustment and dampening adjustment makes this kit one of the most capable kits that'll benefit you more than some of your other options out there. This kit gives you more performance than a kit with height adjustment only.When we start to look at price, you're gonna notice that this kit is inexpensive when you compare it to all of your other offerings that are currently out there. Coming in with a price tag close to but under the $1100 mark. Even if you look at another kit that's offering you less, you're looking at spending more. And looking at this kit right here next to me, I can tell you guys that this really does look like a solid kit. In my opinion, the difference in price comes down to brand popularity and the fact that Pedders is more known in Australia than in the U.S. here, at least right now anyway. So if you're looking for the next level of performance at a steal of a price, and you don't mind going off the grid to find it, then I'd say, "Go for it."This is a bolt-on kit, guys, and will work for both coupe and convertible models. There's no permanent modification necessary, but there is a fair amount of work involved with the install, a few hours or so, so I'll call this a two out of three wrenches on our scale when we look at overall difficulty. The work is straightforward, and ultimately you're gonna need a decent socket set, a jack and jack stands, or a lift to get the job done. And again, it's nothing too hard, but just a little time-consuming. You have to break down everything like your calipers and rotors and get your old shock and strut and spring setup out. Then you've gotta get your new setup in, and don't forget, you might need a little extra time to get the right height dialed into your liking, and the dampening adjustment as well. You may end up having to do a few adjustments to get your car to be where you want it to be, and then you have to make sure it's even on each side. You're gonna want to make sure you're setting it up for whatever you plan on doing with your car for the performance that you want out of it. And keep in mind that after tweaking this much of your car's suspension and ride height, you're gonna need a good alignment to make sure everything looks good and is in spec.So overall, the Pedder Extreme Coilover Kit is a high-quality kit that's gonna offer a lot of room to adjust ride height and dampening as well. Its design means adjustment on the strut tubes themselves, which is better than other methods. But as always, don't just take my word for it, especially when it comes to something of this nature. I always encourage you to check it out more online for yourself and look at your other options out there.I'm Stephanie, and for all things Mustang, keep it right here at americanmuscle.com.