Harsh Ride Quality from a Near Stock Suspension September 19, 2016, 04:01:42 AM The ride quality on my near stock suspension 87 T-Bird Sport has turned so harsh it's like riding in a old wagon. The changes from stock are a complete rear set of the Energy Suspension bushings, Moog #8599 springs and KYB Excel-G struts and Gas-A-Just shocks all of which are several years old now. The cornering ability of the car is great. Can take X-way cloverleaf exit ramps at 55 mph but any dip or bump in the road is back/butt jarring. I don't remember the ride quality being so harsh when the car was new. When polyurethane bushings get old do they start seizing up or could something else be going wrong with the suspension? Quote Selected
Harsh Ride Quality from a Near Stock Suspension Reply #1 – September 19, 2016, 10:25:50 AM It has been well documented that you do not put urethane bushings at both ends of the rear control arms on the Fox cars (Mustangs, Capris, T-Bird, or Cougar) due to severe suspension binding. Over time this will get worse and cause the problems you are experiencing. Most street car control arms have some kind of hybrid bushing on one end like a spherical bushing and a high quality urethane three piece bushing on the other end. If the car will see hard launches then I would suggest that you go spherical bushings at both ends. Both will increase the noise transmitted from the road through the car (all be it not much) but that is the price paid for performance.CHE Performance utilizes and urethane/delrin combination bushings on their control arms and I would consider them a great performance replacement for the stock control arms. A lot of the folks here run these control arms and have very high praises for them. My personal preference and what I run is Maximum Motorsports as they are all out high quality but they are pricey. Quote Selected
Harsh Ride Quality from a Near Stock Suspension Reply #2 – September 19, 2016, 08:00:38 PM I've got these in my Thunderbird: http://www.maximummotorsports.com/Extreme-Duty-Adjustable-Rear-lower-Control-Arms-1983-1989-Thunderbird-P1444.aspxThe ride is like stock but much more controlled. The spherical bushings on both ends transmit some more road/differential noise but it's not bad. I turn the radio one notch higher and it drowns out the increase noise Quote Selected
Harsh Ride Quality from a Near Stock Suspension Reply #3 – September 19, 2016, 08:00:49 PM I've got these in my Thunderbird: http://www.maximummotorsports.com/Extreme-Duty-Adjustable-Rear-lower-Control-Arms-1983-1989-Thunderbird-P1444.aspxThe ride is like stock but much more controlled. The spherical bushings on both ends transmit some more road/differential noise but it's not bad. I turn the radio one notch higher and it drowns out the increase noise Quote Selected
Harsh Ride Quality from a Near Stock Suspension Reply #4 – October 21, 2016, 04:12:23 AM QuoteIt has been well documented that you do not put urethane bushings at both ends of the rear control arms on the Fox cars (Mustangs, Capris, T-Bird, or Cougar) due to severe suspension binding.Well this may be documented somewhere by somebody, but it is not the case on my car. It is the KYB KG5556 shocks.I spent the better part of a day disassembling the rear suspension checking all the components and found NO problem other than the KYB shocks are just to firm for my car. I was able to move the rear control arms up and down by hand with no binding what so ever. Then with everything regreased and reassembled other than the shocks I was able to bounce the rear of the car up and down with little effort. Once the shocks were connected I could not bounce the rear of the car. Also there was no change in the hard as rock ride from the rear suspension. Looks like I'll need to get some softer riding shocks for the rear. Quote Selected
Harsh Ride Quality from a Near Stock Suspension Reply #5 – October 21, 2016, 05:03:55 AM Sorry I did not clarify. The binding is when the suspension is loaded and typically in turns. You will notice it when exiting the turn and the suspension unloads as it will not unload linearly and thus be unpredictable. As for the car sitting still and you loading the suspension up and down I'm assuming you did it with the shocks disconnected and then with them connected to compare. If that is the case then the shocks may very well be bad. Quote Selected
Harsh Ride Quality from a Near Stock Suspension Reply #6 – October 21, 2016, 07:58:50 PM There is a reason the KYB's are called " Kill Your Back". They were pretty harsh in the 82 Mustang I had them in, handled great though..... Quote Selected
Harsh Ride Quality from a Near Stock Suspension Reply #7 – October 26, 2016, 03:33:05 PM I think the auto parts store KYB's I had on my car back in the day were pretty soft but I think Monroe shocks are junk. Quote Selected
Harsh Ride Quality from a Near Stock Suspension Reply #8 – October 26, 2016, 07:53:50 PM Quote from: mcb82gt;457498There is a reason the KYB's are called " Kill Your Back". They were pretty harsh in the 82 Mustang I had them in, handled great though.....The ones I installed on my Comet were defiantly KYB, despised them... Pulled them off and inst HD Monroe, so far so good... The KYB are great on the Cobra Jet, of course it weighs probably 800Lb more than Comet... Quote Selected
Harsh Ride Quality from a Near Stock Suspension Reply #9 – October 29, 2016, 02:12:10 AM I'm going to give the KYB 343162 Excel-G standard gas shocks a try. According to KYB these are more like an OEM feel. I hope so because it was getting painful with their more performance orientate shocks. Another reason is if the quality of these Excel-G shocks is as good well then they should last for many years. Quote Selected
Harsh Ride Quality from a Near Stock Suspension Reply #10 – December 20, 2016, 06:16:13 AM I also once had shocks by KYB installed, and I did not like the way they worked at all. Finally, after checking on forums and after a couple of conversations with technicians, I decided going with Sachs shocks, and they are totally different. Of course, I thought of different options, (https://www.carid.com/shock-absorbers/) including Monroe shocks, but these also seem to have lots of negative reviews. I really love the way my Mustang runs with Sachs installed.:D Quote Selected
Harsh Ride Quality from a Near Stock Suspension Reply #11 – February 01, 2017, 07:02:08 PM Quote from: TheDriver55;458572I also once had shocks by KYB installed, and I did not like the way they worked at all. Finally, after checking on forums and after a couple of conversations with technicians, I decided going with Sachs shocks, and they are totally different. Of course, I thought of different options, (https://www.carid.com/shock-absorbers/) including Monroe shocks, but these also seem to have lots of negative reviews. I really love the way my Mustang runs with Sachs installed.:DGlad to hear it, as I bought Sachs shocks for my car as well. I had one experience with KYB's on another car and it felt like I had a solid steel rod in place of the shock. Quote Selected
Topic: Harsh Ride Quality from a Near Stock Suspension (Read 2923 times)
previous topic - next topic
