[SS*11]

One of the first things I noticed about my ‘11/SS-RS/M6 (Purchased Aug. ’10) was it’s very long throw & sort of ‘notchy’ shifting. My car required a very deliberate, almost forced shift…especially when under any kind of spiritied acceleration. I signed up on Camaro5 & read for hours about what short throw shifter to purchase. In November I finally settled on the Barton Short Throw w/flat stick. It arrived a few days later and I quickly installed it, very much looking fwd. to a 40% reduction in length of throw. I got the reduction in throw just as Barton promised, but immediately figured out a shorter throw only exacerbated the notchy shifting. Seeing as it was November and the temps were beginning to drop, this only made things worse. By mid-winter it was to a point, the car was almost undriveable. You had to force the transmission into 2nd gear under mild acceleration and don’t even think about trying to get from 1st to 2nd under any kind of aggressive driving. (The most seasoned driver could not make that shift 7 out of 10x without a nauseatingly loud grind that made you think the tranny was about to drop out of the car.)
While I really liked the look & throw of the new Barton…what was the point of having an LS3 power-plant if you could never take advantage of it. (Note: I am not a kid that roasts the tires at every stop light, so when I say spirited or aggressive acceleration…I mean just that. The car was almost undriveable and absolutely no fun to drive.) One of the things I considered was changing out the Barton for a Hurst, but read it wasn’t Barton’s fault. Those having a similar issue, had installed Hursts and it hadn’t resolved anything.
I read forum after forum (in fact that’s when I found this one) and tried to sit patiently for Chevy to admit the problem and issue a TSB so I could be one of the first in line. Meanwhile winter came and went as my new car stayed mostly parked in the garage. (Note: I live in TX, so when I say winter…take it with a grain of salt.) With spring arriving, temps began to rise again and as expected the warmer temps definitely helped. Transmission was now driveable…however still not much fun. (I just simply avoided acceleration off the line and might as well have been driving a Camry.)
While I am not a big DIY’er, I felt like with still no TSB I had no choice. So I got on the internet, bought a jack & jack stands and 2 qt’s of Royal Purple. I went into the ‘updg’ with very low expectations as to just how much difference I would see by installing the $18.00 a qt. RP (synthetic) Syncromax, but felt I had to give it a try.
Don’t misunderstand me, I am not shouting it from the rooftops, but have to say…I immediately saw a MARKED improvement. I am not to a point I would want a new Mustang owner to compare my shift to theirs, but at least it’s to a point (for the first time) where I’ve enjoyed driving it the past couple of days. I can even accelerate fairly aggressively and haven’t grinded a gear since the fluid change. (Let’s hope it stays this way come winter & colder temps.)
Lastly, I am not trying to sell anyone on swapping their stock transmission fluid with RP. That’s just what I chose after hours of research. There are a thousand different opinions and frankly I don’t care what brand of transmission fluid or oil anyone runs…I am just sharing my personal experience in hopes to help someone else while we all patiently await the illusive Tremec 6060 TSB.