[lifespeed]

Long story short here. I upgraded the suspension on my 2004 Mercury Marauder, then added some low profile 10" X 20" Pirelli P-Zero tires. The cornering forces improved dramatically (no G-meter numbers, just butt dyno). Sometimes I pushed it through long sweeping freeway on-ramps generating some pretty good G's.

I glanced at the oil gauge sometimes and didn't notice anything disturbing, but the factory gauge is not even a "real" oil gauge - more of an idiot light. One thing that was disturbing, was a different sound from the engine when accelerating out of the corner. Kind of a rattling noise like the hydraulic lash adjusters had bled down. Didn't happen too often.

Three months after the wheel/tire upgrade put the finishing touches on the suspension grip I spun a rod bearing. Knock knock knock. Is this a coincidence, or did I starve the oil pump with the stock pan? The factory 4.6L 4V motor had 138K miles and regular synthetic oil changes. It shouldn't have popped this early.

Do I need a dry sump when I build the new engine? Seems a bit extreme (and expensive) for a street car, but it does corner well. But spinning bearings in an engine is pretty darn expensive too, not to mention time consuming. I value reliability a lot.