[ModMustang97GT]

The IRS will be smoother. But the solid axle will probably be prety close with a set of coil overs, as long as they are not Super stiff. The irs is more of a, keeps the right wheel flat while the left wheel is in a pot hole. Rather than, the solid axle, where both sides are affected by all bumps. It sounds MUCH worse, but with a good set of coil overs, its all just a question of dampening. So in short, the most important thing to your ride quality is the wheel rate and dampening. The softer your coil overs, the more comfortable. Ofcourse that means worse handling too. Although soft coil overs will outperform stiff springs even with a soft spring rate. Something to think about.

[simon94]

so to define my problem for example from a dead stop i acelerate(not much) to make a right turn my back end slides to my left so when the car understeers too much that's fish tailing?

what kind of subframes should i get? what do u guys recomend?what brand? standard or full lengh and whats the difference besides full length being longer? and what about Blue Oval Industries cheapest on ebay subframes heavy 14 gauge square tubing powder coated?

lca's what brand for best price with those spherical bushings and what do u guys i think for me to get max motorsports lca's with derlin bushings instead of the spherical ones?the steeda adjustable rear sway bar is suposed to be and add on to my existing rear sway bar- how does that work? and if i get this do i have to get new front sway bar? acording to my sean hyland book high-performance mustang builder's guide 1994-2004 he sugests getting 35mm front sway bar and steeda adjustable for the rear? and he was saying that with steeda adjustable rear sway alows use of lower-rate spring because they increase roll stiffness when car is cornering. but he doesn't say which spring rate for front or rear to use for the street. most forums are saying to get spring rate 600/650 in front and 160/250 rear- waht do u guys think?

and sean's book sugests lowering springs that say lower the car 1 1/4 inch front 1 inch rear, but if i do that my car will be sitting too low with the weld wheels i got on. also if i get lowering springs do have to get caster/camber plates, bumpsteer kit etc to fix suspension geometry? i thinking maybe instead of doing all this, just cutting my stock springs a little, where do i cut them and how much should i cut off?

[simon94]

hey what u think about these UMI Performance lca's?



Replace your weak, factory stamped lower control arms with UMI's heavy duty tubular adjustable set up. These direct bolt-on replacements minimize wheel hop, improve cornering while lowering ET's and helping track consistency. The spherical rod end allows for a “Bind Free” operation making a great upgrade for both your track and auto cross driven car. The polyurethane bushings are designed to be bolted to the car chassis for a quiet comfortable operation. Control arms are constructed DOM mild steel tubing 1.500” OD x 0.120” wall, 4140 chrome-moly threaded tube adaptor, completely CNC machined and fully TIG welded for outstanding strength. Control arms feature Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings, zinc plated steel sleeves and “on car” grease-able zerk grease fittings. Adjustments can be made using the high quality QA1 Teflon lined spherical rod end that operates for a quiet bind free performance. Our lower control arms feature reinforced spring perches and heavy duty sway mounting points.

This item is supplied with high quality QA1 spherical rod ends (Part # XMR12/XML12), alloy steel, heat treated, hard chrome plated featuring Teflon/Kevlar self lubricating race. Teflon lined rod ends allow for a quiet operation not found with other brand rod ends. When purchasing rod ended components don't be fooled, use only the best, QA1 for a long lasting performance.

Features:
- 1.500” x 0.120” DOM Mild Steel Tubing
- 4130 Chrome-Moly Threaded Tube Adapter
- QA1 ¾” Hard Chrome Plated, Teflon/Kevlar Self Lubricating Race Rod End
- Complete Arm Features TIG Welded Construction
- CNC Machined 6061 Aluminum Step Bushings with Zinc Plated Steel Sleeves
- Energy Suspension Fluted Polyurethane grease able Bushings
- Uses OEM Hardware

[simon94]

what are the square plates with 2 bolt holes for(that don't seem to have any purpose)

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by simon94 what are the square plates with 2 bolt holes for(that don't seem to have any purpose)

Rear sway bar mounts

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by simon94 so to define my problem for example from a dead stop i acelerate(not much) to make a right turn my back end slides to my left so when the car understeers too much that's fish tailing?

What you're talking about is oversteer - if you're steering to the right, and the rear end goes to the left, you're getting more angle than you "should" based on the input you gave the car at the steering wheel. How much acceleration is "not much"? Are we talking "not much" as in "not full throttle", or "not much" as in "1/8th to 1/4 throttle"?

Originally Posted by simon94 what kind of subframes should i get? what do u guys recomend?what brand? standard or full lengh and whats the difference besides full length being longer? and what about Blue Oval Industries cheapest on ebay subframes heavy 14 gauge square tubing powder coated?

Being that you have to weld SFCs in (yes, you can bolt them in, but you really, really, really should weld them) buying them pre-powdercoated is a waste of money; you're just gonna have to remove the powdercoat where you're gonna weld anyway. Better to get bare ones, and paint them once they're in place. I recommend Maximum Motorsports full length SFCs, their full-length heavy duty ones are only $119 for the set.

Originally Posted by simon94 lca's what brand for best price with those spherical bushings and what do u guys i think for me to get max motorsports lca's with derlin bushings instead of the spherical ones?the steeda adjustable rear sway bar is suposed to be and add on to my existing rear sway bar- how does that work? and if i get this do i have to get new front sway bar? acording to my sean hyland book high-performance mustang builder's guide 1994-2004 he sugests getting 35mm front sway bar and steeda adjustable for the rear? and he was saying that with steeda adjustable rear sway alows use of lower-rate spring because they increase roll stiffness when car is cornering. but he doesn't say which spring rate for front or rear to use for the street. most forums are saying to get spring rate 600/650 in front and 160/250 rear- waht do u guys think?

Urm.. pass? hahaha, honestly, I don't mess with spring rates too much, and suggest against mixing and matching suspension brands. Go with a matched system, or at the very least, call up the different companies, tell them what you're thinking, and ask if their parts will play nice together.

Originally Posted by simon94 and sean's book sugests lowering springs that say lower the car 1 1/4 inch front 1 inch rear, but if i do that my car will be sitting too low with the weld wheels i got on. also if i get lowering springs do have to get caster/camber plates, bumpsteer kit etc to fix suspension geometry? i thinking maybe instead of doing all this, just cutting my stock springs a little, where do i cut them and how much should i cut off?

I'm one of the few people who's NOT against cutting springs, but there's definitely a right and wrong way to do it. If you're worried about lowering the car too much, then don't lower it! Or, find springs that don't lower it so much - Ford Racing sells springs designed to only lower the car ~7/8ths of an inch. Also, if you get adjustable coilovers, you can adjust the ride height to fit your need.

Hope that helps!

[Jazzer The Cat]

Originally Posted by simon94 hey what u think about these UMI Performance lca's?

I like these, personally:


Truth be told, there is probably little difference between the two, just like UPR as a brand. I also notice that the spherical end is on the axle of the UMI set and guess this makes no difference, just mine and the UPR's are on the torqe-box side....humm

Anyway, you WILL get some NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) running this type of LCA, but will improve cornering as well as launching and reduce likelyhood of wheel hop.

Based on earlier statements of wanting a softer ride, I would recommend you stick with stock LCA's. Aftermarket ones are almost ALWAYS going to introduce NVH and will, to some degree, create WORSE cornering.

HTH

Jazzer

[simon94]

yes, not much" as in "1/8th to 1/4 throttle.
if i stick with stock LCA's, how do fix my fishtail ( oversteer) problem?
should just get poly-urethane bushings instead?

I'd rather get the Ford Racing springs and steeda adustable sway bar.
I should be able to ajust the rear ride height with the steeda ajustable sway bar right?
ford racing springs are referred to as c springs right which i think comes standard on the bullitt?

I forgot to mention my stang is in the shop right now getting front only energy suspension urethane bushings including off set rack bushings, lower contol arm bushing, sway bar etc but nothing for the rear so obviously to balance out, i'd have to do something fot the rear? waiting to get the car back for test drive then full lengh bare weld on sub's cause everyone is in agreement.

[simon94]

is there anyone that has 96 weld pro stars with same problem and did some supension upgrades to fix it and get better handling cornering as a daily driver? 97 stang gt 3.5f 15 by 10 back

[simon94]

the problem about calling up companies and asking advise is that they either try to push their product to try make u buy something u don't need, or they say if u buy or change this then u have to change that and so and so on, a shit load of dollars later plus shipping and fee's summit charges fee's for evrything, u got stuff that doesn't do anything, thats why so far i bought nothing, and confirm stuff with u guys,
... excuse my bitching like a school girl

[HBK_2007]

what do u guys think of
Maximum Motorsports :: The Leader In Mustang Performance Suspension

anything u would change there?

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by HBK_2007 what do u guys think of Maximum Motorsports :: The Leader In Mustang Performance Suspension anything u would change there?

That's a great kit, the *only* thing I don't like about MM's kits is that they use a panhard bar instead of a watt's link, so double check as to what modifications you'll have to do to the exhaust.

[Jazzer The Cat]

Originally Posted by simon94 "....if i stick with stock LCA's, how do fix my fishtail ( oversteer) problem? should just get poly-urethane bushings instead?.."

The poly bushings are, in large part, what create the less than wonderful handling in the aftermarket LCA's.

When you go around a corner you will get a certain amount of body roll, while the axle stays parallel to ground. So the axle needs to articulate in and out of the wheel wells at this point. The outside of car rolls down over one tire and the inside rolls up and away from opposite tire. The LCA's and UCA's must allow this motion and "twist" to accomodate. If you visualize how the axle moves, you will see without flex of LCA's, UCA's and thier bushings, you would get very little without resistance. This, in turn, creates bind and fights the body roll while it travels around the turn. There will be some uneven surfaces as you take this corner, so the binding action will upset the otherwise natural reaction of body roll and aid in the loss of traction.

I will not say that this is the ONLY thing causing your traction issues, but would be safe to say, it is contributing. I recommended the UPR LCA's as there is a spherical joint at one end. This joint will allow the body roll and not resist it. Now, short of going pan-hard bar OR Watts-Link with torque arm. You still have the UCA's in which to deal. They will bind worse than the LCA's and would recommend the following in ADDITION to the LCA's above:

I recommend you put a poly bushing on the open end of this UCA, as you already have a Heim-joint (spherical) end on the other.

Again, more NVH but much better control of axle. You want your car to handle better and control the rear axle better, you would need to give up some comfort.

Of course... the fishtailing could be as simple as a heavy foot

HTH

Jazzer

[Jazzer The Cat]

I must add it is soooooo nice to see others interested in suspension upgrades. I have been into it since the days of my '72 Vega in high school.

Keep it up, pepes

The Jazzer commends you all

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by Jazzer The Cat Based on earlier statements of wanting a softer ride, I would recommend you stick with stock LCA's. Aftermarket ones are almost ALWAYS going to introduce NVH and will, to some degree, create WORSE cornering.

You mean UCAs, right Jazzer?

I've never seen anyone, ever, complain about poly bushings in the LCAs, whereas I've seen countless warnings against it in the UCAs.

I mean, yes, if ride qualtiy is of the utmost importance, rubber bushings are where it's at, but certainly polys in the UCAs is *much* worse than polys in the LCAs.

[HBK_2007]

Originally Posted by Jazzer The Cat Again, more NVH but much better control of axle. You want your car to handle better and control the rear axle better, you would need to give up some comfort. Of course... the fishtailing could be as simple as a heavy foot HTH Jazzer

does anyone make LCA like what uve recommended that have a changable end link? so like i could have rubber bushings for normal street use but then if i wanna go to the track on a weekend (say one weekend a month), i could just change the ends of the control arms to hiem joints?

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by HBK_2007 does anyone make LCA like what uve recommended that have a changable end link? so like i could have rubber bushings for normal street use but then if i wanna go to the track on a weekend (say one weekend a month), i could just change the ends of the control arms to hiem joints?

You're telling us seriously that the difference in ride quality between the two is worth you reinstalling your LCAs twice a month?

[HBK_2007]

idk, u guys no more about it than me

[ReverendDexter]

Originally Posted by HBK_2007 idk, u guys no more about it than me

hahaha, honestly, rather than swapping heim joints and rubbers back and forth, I'd just go with a compromise and get something with poly bushings.

I haven't done 'em in the Cobra yet, but in my old Corolla, the primary difference was noise, not vibration or harshness. It certainly cleaned up the handling!

If you're really concerned about ride quality, I can't stress enough that your best option is coilovers. They're really not that much more expensive than any other modification that you're talking about, and they'll give you better body control with the same spring rates, or the same body control with softer springs.
It's a win/win for you: you get better handling, and you keep your nice plush ride.

Honestly, anything else is just gonna be a compromise.

[HBK_2007]

well i will be getting coil overs once i aquire the funds. before i changed my shocks&struts, driving on my road beat the hell out of me. the 3/4 of a mile still sux, just not as bad anymore