[jim_howard_pdx]

The negative wedge plate allows you to dial in more negative chamber. This is ok for racing but is DANGEROUS on the street or highway.

The roads are purposely angled so that water will run off the pavement.

The angle of that drainage is pretty much standardized throughout the nation. WHY? Because every car is aligned so that it will drive straight on the road at speed, without pulling right or left.

So most street and highway cars would simply scrub the edge right off their tires in 20-30 thousand miles if they dialed in negative chamber. You must align the car. That means that the chamber will be different for the right and left tire.

So if you are aligned, you will have approximately 2/3 degree positive chamber on the driver side, and 1 1/2 degree POSITIVE chamber on the passenger tire.

SO WHAT DID THAT NEGATIVE WEDGE PLATE DO FOR YOU?

NOTHING!!!! You would literally have to have the car loaded all the way over on the suspension to get ANY benefit from the wedge plates!

The proper way to get negative chamber while cornering, and still have neutral chamber while running straight is to use unequal length A arms. Back in the 70's Global West Suspension began selling a shortened upper A arm with properly tuned ball joint geometry. These arms work very well on the street.

Now Global West arms and Total Control Product arms are the right way to go. The negative wedge plates work basically ONLY at the track, and you have to dial in the negative chamber on the tire because it does not shorten the A-arm. Even with the additional 1/2 inch drop, the shortening of the A arm is extremely minor.

So why does anyone use the wedges? Because several racing brackets prohibit you from using NON STOCK A-arms. So we run the wedge plates in these classifications. Not because they are good, simply because they are the only way to dial in negative chamber using the stock A-arm with a Shelby drop.

Hope this helps. If you have the money, buy those Global West arms. They are absolutely the finest way to improve the handling on an early Mustang.

The TCP stuff is nice, especially for racing. With the Global West arms you get Delrin bushings and synthetic grease to eliminate bind and wear. The Global West arms are the right way to deal with maintenance.

Unless you are racing a car on a track, and have the desire to dial in negative chamber, the negative wedge plate will offer you almost zero difference over the Shelby drop.

I have run the Shelby drop on my car since 1979. My car has 290,000 miles on it, and 180,000 miles WITH THE DROP.

My ball joints are ORIGINAL and they measure NO WEAR simply because I grease them with moly grease every 5,000 miles.

I have bottomed the car out hundreds of times. NO PROBLEMS. PLEASE do not scare people about the 1 inch drop. Simply make sure your parts are in good shape and go for it.

Actually, the concern over the Shelby 1 inch drop is that during very heavy cornering loads, the ball joint is at a drastic angle. It is possible to bind the joint, in which case you now have a skate board instead of a suspension. This has never happened to me. I have no desire to put the car on the very edge of its handling capability. .

For the street, do the drop and run the factory alignment. This will give you safe driving, good tire wear, and a big grin on your face.