Are Aluminum Driveshafts Worth It For Mustangs?

One of the first mods that come highly recommended for Mustangs is an aluminum driveshaft replacement. But are they worth it? Do they actually make that big of a difference in performance? I did some research and testing to separate fact from fiction.

Are aluminum driveshafts worth it for Mustangs? Aluminum driveshafts for S197s can save up to 20 pounds compared to the stock driveshaft. Weight removed from the drivetrain will reduce the effort required by the engine to move the vehicle forward thereby increasing acceleration and overall performance significantly. 

20 pounds does not sound like that much, but when you consider that it helps the engine move the tires that much easier, it makes a huge difference in performance. Let me explain…

 

What Are the Benefits of a Mustang Aluminum Driveshaft?

Aluminum driveshafts are great for a few reasons.

First, they’re a lot stronger than the stock driveshafts. S197’s stock driveshafts are two pieces. This means that there is an additional place for them to fail right in the middle of the driveshaft. No one likes a failed driveshaft. 

They will also provide a lot better throttle response compared to a stock driveshaft. Since there is less weight for the engine to have to push, your right foot will be more efficient. I personally can feel a lot better response during acceleration and the car feels a lot lighter overall because of that. And let’s be honest, as Mustang owners, we are really looking for the best acceleration possible, right?

Overall weight savings is also important to consider. Although you are removing the weight from the drivetrain, as I explained above, which will make a more pronounced impact on performance, you still also removing 20 pounds of static weight from the gross of the car in total. That may not seem a lot, but after a few mods for weight savings, it will certainly add up to a lot.

 

How Much Weight You Really Save with an Aluminum Driveshaft

It is a common misconception that weight saved from the drivetrain is equivalent to 10 times the amount of weight saved from other parts of the car. However, this is a bit of an exaggeration. If you replace your driveshaft, you won’t be saving the equivalent of 200 pounds. That’s nuts.

While there certainly is a huge impact in reducing drivetrain or unsprung weight, it’s not quite 10 to 1. All things considered, it’s actually closer to 3 or 4 to 1, but that is nothing to shake a stick at.

If you have a choice, always reduce weight from the drivetrain versus static parts. 1 pound saved on the drivetrain is usually much easier to do than saving 3-4 pounds from other part replacements! Especially for driveshafts, if you can save 20 pounds by replacing one part, that may be worth up to 80 pounds of weight savings elsewhere.

It is said that for every 100lbs removed from the weight of the car is equal to a 0.1 faster quarter mile time. For many people, changing one part to make their car that much faster is worth it.. especially if they’re stuck at a personal best of 12.0! I know many people who would pay a lot more to move their car into the “11-second car” bragging category!

Have you ever seen the stock Mustang driveshafts? It is clearly a part that Ford cheap out on at the factory. The stock unit weighs nearly 40 pounds! Many people call it “the boat anchor.” Not exactly the thing you want in your race car.

There have been some theories around the forums that this was intentional to reduce vibration caused by the coyote engine. While some people report that extra vibration can be felt when moving from the stock driveshaft to a single piece aluminum driveshaft, I personally think it is nothing to be worried about. In fact, I don’t notice a single difference at any speed with my driveshaft.

 

How Much an Aluminum Driveshaft for a Mustang Costs

As I mentioned, they can make a significant performance increase by dropping weight, but I would not say that this is a cheap piece. I was lucky enough to get my driveshaft on holiday sale, but most quality units are somewhere around the $700 mark. Depending on your budget, this may be a significant purchase.

I think that for the price, you’re still getting an awful lot. One piece driveshaft itself has a lot of engineering built into it and it’s made out of a lot of material. For example, the joints on either side are usually very high quality to make sure that they do not fail during hard acceleration.

Additionally, most driveshaft companies employ expensive balancing machines that spin the driveshafts an extremely high rate to make sure that the driveshafts themselves do not induce any extra vibration into the drivetrain.

This may not seem like a big deal now, but if you are ever caught without a driveshaft safety loop and your driveshaft fails, you’ll have wished that your driveshaft had high-quality components. Driveshaft failure has caused more than one catastrophic wreck. This is one piece that you’ll be happy is built and quality controlled to a high degree.

 

Is a Carbon Fiber Driveshaft Worth It for Mustangs?

I don’t think so. Personally, unless you have money to burn, I would not recommend a carbon fiber driveshaft. While they’re even lighter than an aluminum driveshaft, you begin to enter diminishing returns. Carbon driveshafts are only a handful of pounds lighter and provide some strange considerations, especially if you plan on daily driving your car.

Aluminum driveshafts are not delicate pieces. They can handle a bit of abuse before they fail as they are usually very solid. I’ve even seen a couple of them take some pretty significant hits or drops and still work great without any compromise in performance.

Carbon driveshafts are different technology altogether. The carbon fibers that they are constructed from are held together, or bonded, to make the shaft. If there is any failure in that bonding, the shaft essentially fails by ripping in half. Bits and pieces of the carbon fiber fly everywhere. This means that you have to be a little more protective of your driveshaft as it cannot sustain a lot of abuse.

Taking this into account and the diminishing returns that you experience by only saving another two or 3 pounds over an aluminum driveshaft, the aluminum unit is the clear winner by this alone. However, price is always a factor. Aluminum driveshafts hover around the $700 mark all carbon fiber driveshafts can be found for around the $1200 mark. I don’t know about you but $500 is awfully steep to save a few pounds.

  

How Do I Choose an Aluminum Driveshaft for My Mustang?

There are a few major vendors that supply or create aluminum driveshafts for our mustangs. Ford Performance also has one in their catalog. One of the benefits of owning an older Mustang, either fox body or an S197, is that nothing about our cars is a mystery anymore.

Companies like the Driveshaft Shop have made thousands of driveshafts for our cars. All you have to do is ring them up, tell them what type of car you have, and give them your credit card number.

Personally, this is one part that I would definitely pay slightly more for a quality part. I want to replace it once and never again for the life of the car and, since the Mustang is also my daily driver, I want the least amount of downtime as possible. If there’s something wrong with the driveshaft or it has not been balanced properly, I do not want to wait around for a replacement. DSS driveshafts come highly rated and I’m also a happy customer, myself. (I am not compensated in any way for this testimonial.)

 

Related Questions

Should I get a driveshaft loop? If you plan on running drag radials or going to the track, you should really think about it. It’s cheap insurance and one less thing to worry about. Plus, most tracks won’t let you run without it.

How hard is it to replace the driveshaft? Easy to moderate. You can do it on jack stands in your driveway, if you want. No special tools are required if you’re replacing the stock driveshaft with the same length aluminum version.