teej281

Would some people like to clue us into why the 03 Cobra IRS sucks so much? I have no idea what makes it worse, and all people say that is it sucks without much saying about the design differences. I know they shoehorned it into the Mustang, but nobody says what about the suspension setup actually sucks. Not trying to be smart, but I just hear everyone say it sucks compared to all these other IRS cars and I'd just like someone to give me an honest answer with background information to what they're talking about. People are always asking for experience or background as to the conclusions they post, so I'm just asking for the same.

I have a few things to say about this issue.

1. Its an import. Its lighter, lower center of gravity to start with(due to horizontally opposed 4 cylinder with a turbo), and quite possibly a better balance to begin with.

2. Driver mod is incredibly important in testing handling. You choose the wrong line in a turn and that can be the difference between going 60mph through it and 30mph through it. The stretch of road that I use to test the suspension components on my car out, I've gone many lines through. And if you do not hit the correct line, you feel like you are going to die if you go any faster.

But yes, tires will help a lot. But for our cars...I really think the body roll issue needs to be minimized in order to really handle a corner with confidence. You can do that a slew of different ways. Stiffer springs and decent dampers are a good direction to start in. Coilovers are the **** mcgee for suspension though. I'm running them front and rear with Bilsteins on my IRS and they are awesome. Handling is great.

Some other things to consider are changing out the lower control arms as well as(and I know Jazzer you think these are the last things you want to change...)sway bars. Those two things will benefit handling and are some things to consider if you were to go after improving the suspension.

Whats the overall setup on the subaru btw?

And an IRS can be had in the range of $400 to over a grand depending on the car it came from, the condition, the modifications, etc. Mine has the coilovers, full solid mount bushings and delrin UCA and LCA bushings with adjustable swaybar endlinks and complete toelinks/bumpsteer kit. So the rear is built about as much as one can. Just adjusting the settings of everything is all thats left to do. Need a brace/cover for it though. Thats about it.

Jazzer The Cat

Running a heavier sway bar will NOT automatically improve the cornering on any car and especially when we are talking about up front on an SN95

Sway bars are a tuning device. As such, they should be the absolute LAST thing to install/replace/upgrade on ones SN95 (leaving the S-197 out of this conversation). If one adds a heavier front sway bar to 95% of them out there, he/she will get gobs of understeer and will indeed reduce ones ability to handle better.

Jazzer

PushinTheLimit

I agree with you on that adding a front bar only will cause major understeer to an already front heavy car. Going with a bigger rear swaybar will certainly help the car corner better. Getting one with adjustability would be nice. My T1 bars have 3 adjustments on them, but I currently have them set on full stiff right now. The car turns great and just a slight bit on the loose side... but loose is fast.

Also something else for the mustang crew to consider is to have the car corner balanced. It will be a little more challenging, but pulling weight out of the car and re-distributing in places to balance the car will do wonders too.

Also, going to lightweight wheels (like CCW's) will help in reducing rotational mass on the car. This winter I'm upgrading to a Quartermaster 7.5" triple clutch which should be a 30lb decrease from the stock C5Z clutch. Any lightweight clutch will help aid corner balancing. Remember, weight is your enemy... but just taking it off without balancing isn't going to do you much good.

Jazzer The Cat

Hey.... both me AND my diet are balanced just fine



Jazzer The Fat

teej281

Jazzer...thats just wrong. lol

TRUEBLUE3934

Lightweight wheels will reduce unsprung weight, which helps the suspension respond and remain compliant to the undulating surface (plus reduce rotational mass improving braking and acceleration).