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Mustang Rear Suspension and Snap Oversteer


Mike McMillin

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Is there any thing you can do to stop the rear upper control arms from binding and causing snap oversteer without removing them and using a torque arm and panhard bar, since torque arms aren't allowed on the Mustangs?

 

I lost it in the esses last time I was out at Sears doing an HPDE. The car usually pushes but going left under the bridge on turn 8 the rear end suddenly came around on me and I could not correct it. Any info or suggestions, would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Mike McMillin

CMC Enthusiast

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How much front camber are you running? Street setting? Race setting?

 

Street camber: Less than 1.5 neg. Stock spring rate. Remove the rear sway bar and find some 4 cylinder upper control arm bushings out of a pre-94 car (junkyard). Softer and less binding.

 

Race Camber and budjet: 3.5 neg. 900lbs front spring. 140lbs rear spring. Global West lower control arms. No sway bar. Stock upper control arms.

 

Either way should be better, but it is always lurking to bite you. I weekend at Bondurant would be a good investment, too.

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You answered your own question with the t/a panhard info. Obviously if you're in CMC you can't do that. Installing softer springs in the rear may or may not help. The suspension will still bind and probably more so cause the softer springs will allow the rear suspension to more easily go through a larger range of motion. I've actually had someone use an old set of 350lb rear springs I sold him on a stock type rear suspension and he liked it better than softer springs. He told me the rear was much more predictable. It was loose cause there was so much roll stiffness, but because the rear came loose early the snap didn't occur.

Or, you could just switch to a camaro for CMC.

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That's the correct answer to all your Mustang handling problems...buy a Camaro...and there happen to be a few for sale...you'll go faster and enjoy it more...you can still watch the Mustangs snap spin - in your rear view mirror.

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Here we go again. Can't we ever just agree that both cars suck. I guess even I could argue that the Ford sucks just a little bit more. We just need to get along. I can't stand all of the car bashing going on in this series. I love Fords! I love Chevy's! I love to beat Chevy's with my Ford!

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I have used Global West lowers, Steeda-modified stock uppers, soft springs, and no bar with no snap oversteer ever under acceleration.

 

Going too far with trail braking will cause the rear to come around in a hurry.

 

There's nothing scarier than being behind a panhard bar car with stock uppers. The bind causes them to really dance around, but it's a fast setup if you can hang on.

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I had snap oversteer problems early on & it was because I had hard poly bushings on both sides of the upper cntl arms (axel & chassis) - putting the softer bushings in made a HUGE difference - I of course was/am running the panhard setup - like Neil says, the panhard set up is a little squirrely, but fun & fast - I also found that as my driving skills improved, the "snap" oversteer has disappeared - so Jeff's suggestion about a good driver's school is something to think about!

 

Good luck

 

- Tim

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