golferjoe11

Im new to Mustangs, just bought my 04' GT in july. Im happy with the cars power... for now... but the handling sux!!! Im only 19 and plan on having this car forever as a fun car to put money into. Im not really into drag racing and want to get into road racing. What can I do to make my car handle better? IRS sounds really good to me, but is it worth it? Can I make my car handle just as good with a solid axle? I want to leave no suspension part untouched (plan on doing- Tubular K-member, Control arms, coil-overs, brakes, Subframe connectors etc) but I also dont want to waste money.

Miliock

words of advice when it comes to things like tubular Ks and coil over setups. There are RACE products...the noises....the harseness of the suspension...etc will take away from your enjoyment of the car on the street. If that's what you want go for it.

And yes you can make your solid axle just a good for road racing, but it won't be as nice on the road.

mightyb28

Do a search on suspension in the forums. But a quick summery is as follows:

Drop/performance springs (1.5-2")
Shock and Strut upgrade
Wheels ( the smaller the wheel the faster you will get up to speed. The larger the wheel the better track/turn performace you will have)
Tires (better grip gets your power to the ground and your ride moving)
Control arms (keeps those wheels from hopping)

Those are the basics and you can go from there, but get the basics done if you want your pony to turn.

JimboGT01

what would cause more noise from tubular k members and coil overs?

RedAlertlb

ive never had coilovers on a stang but on other cars i have owned they popped and were kind of bouncy

Miliock

its a more direct contact with the road...therefore more noise. I had planned to do coil overs. Owner of the mustang shop near me let me drive his 01 GT with coil overs...handled amazing (he actually had an IRS rear with coil overs also) but the road noise was really loud so I decided to just do a complete spring, shock/strut handling package from tokico. Will be doing brakes, panhard bar, subframe, and strut tower brace over the winter in hopes of going to pocono raceway to run the spring open track event with him!

Miliock

as long as you have the correct spring rate they shouldn't be "bouncy"

oxfordgt

coilover spring rates:
250 street use
175 street and track
150 drag race

ben790450

Please for the love of god dont do IRS. Ill take away your mustang! Cobras suck at handling. Thats why every Dbag with a cobra thinking its a badd off track car goes down and tries to race scca and gets laughed at! Look you want a corvette killer do this:
-Front and rear coil overs
-Front tubular K member & A arms
-Weld in full length sub frame connectors
-Tubular upper and lower control arms
-Steeda sway bars
-Front and rear strut braces
-18" rims with Something hard (sidewalls) and sticky like a pirreli or a bfg gforce t/a
-If you really want to go ftw then get a 6 point roll bar.

Just remember you can never have to much bracing on the car. But remember the more mods you do the stiffer the ride is going to feel and the more you're gonna feel every bump. BUt its worth it if you live in the mountains like me

ben790450

..well IRS Is fine just so long as its not an IRS cobra swap. After market IRS is ok just the stock cobra's suck!