How Much Better?

[headcase]

Hi,

The $8050 required for the RideTech Suspension parts... is that everything, 4 link rear, shocks, coils, the lot?

Also, how much better would the 69 Mustang Fastback go with just buying that and bolting it all in?

[MIKE@RIDETECH]

The kit you appear to be asking about is our level 3 Air kit. That kit replaces front upper & lower control arms, and the stock coils and shock are replaced with our TQ Shockwave. On the rear we replace your stock leaf springs and shocks with a complete 4 link and TQ Shockwaves. The TQ / Track Quality Shockwaves have 3 valing adjustments. Rebound, Low speed Compression and High Speed Compression. They were purely developed for the driver that's wanting to be #1 at the track. Are you building a street cruiser, Cruiser and maybe auto x once or twice a month, or full bred track prepped racer?

[Steve Chryssos]

t will feel like a completely different automobile. It'll ride better, handle better and because of it's pushbutton and knob turning adjustability, it's probably the most versatile system you can buy. It may not be the best handling system in the universe, but it is, in my opinion, the most versatile.

[DBasher]

Hey George, maybe I missed it....how is the fastback set up now?

No doubt the Ridetech stuff is top notch and will make an old car ride better. Are you out driving your current suspension or are you just looking for a smoother ride?


Dan

[bret]

Originally Posted by streetfytr68

t will feel like a completely different automobile. It'll ride better, handle better and because of it's pushbutton and knob turning adjustability, it's probably the most versatile system you can buy. It may not be the best handling system in the universe, but it is, in my opinion, the most versatile.

Could only be better with an automatic maybe?

To expand on Steves comments...It is a common perception that an air suspension car does not handle as well as a similarly set up coilspring car. This is possibly because MOST air suspension cars are not built with track duty as the primary criteria. [although we've built several]

Yes, I am the air suspension guy, but being in the unique position of having both air and coil cars that have been optimized for track duty, I can safely say that air suspension can be a serious tuning advantage [should you decide to take advantage of it].
Should you not decide to take advantage of it [and just drive the car around on the street] you can still enjoy GREAT handling performance AND adjustable ride height, AND superior ride quality.

If you ONLY want track performance, a coilover suspension will perform as well with less cost. Throw in the other performance aspects, then throw in a few extra dollars and step up to the air suspension.

The ShockWave and RideTech coilover ARE interchangeable BTW...so you can compare for yourself. The rest of the system...4 link, control arms, even the shock cartridges...are identical in every respect.

I would agree with Steve in the aspect that the "best handling system in the universe" is an ever moving target...and one that requires seat time and tuning to optimize no matter where it comes from. Buying good parts is a great initial step.

Good luck with your Mustang...LOVE those cars!

[headcase]

Thank you for the feedback.

I am still waiting for my car to arrive from the US. So as far as how I have used the car... no way.

How do I plan to use it, mainly a street car, however, I want it to be a street car like a Lambo is a street car. Firm, tight, handles if you wanted it to but probably lives majority of its life on the street.

I dont mind spending the extra $ to get few extra advantages.

Yes I agree the handling part will always get better and better and a good place to start is probably the best place to start until things develop further. I at moment feel RideTech have the ability to produce top performance. Which other company can do 'better'? I think its not a 'better' but another name that can perhaps achieve the same.

Just looking at what parts I can invest in that had the rest of the car that is not related to the suspension itself (torsional rigidity, chassis, light weight body parts [carbon fiber] and so forth) been modified, the parts themselves are good for lamborghini like handling, tightness, firmness.

I understand as a bolt in package its not going to stick to a lambos tail around a race track, or a Porches tail etc, but at least I know if i modify the chassis and so forth, the parts in my car can achieve me to stick to their tail. Thus the parts were not an initial waste of money when other modifications are called for to step the performance up as they were good for more but it was the body etc of the car that was not up to scratch.

Hope that makes sense.

Btw, I thought RideTechs parts were CoilOvers... air suspension? Is that using Air shocks to? I thought things like that was cheap trash compare to coils... I mean... far as I know, Aventador, Mclaren MP41C, Veyron, Koenigsegg etc all use Coil overs and they are the best handling 'street' cars in the world. Why dont they use something else...?

What has 'more' potential? Like factually rather than "well if u drive like this and that, and depending how u tune this and that". If all was optimum. Best Car Driver, Best tune up possible, (price irrelevant) what goes?

[bret]

After looking again at the OP...yep, no mention of air suspension. I think Mike was confused because the price you quoted was for the air suspension. The coilover version is a bit less expensive.

Anyway...all previous info is still true.

Why doesn't Ferrari, Porsche, Lambo, etc use air suspension? Well, not being employed in any capacity by any of those companies, I can only guess, but I would think its because they don't want to give their customer any opportunity to "mistune" the car. Or it could be that they have the same perception of air suspension that most others have. Or it could be debuting on the 2014 models...hard to tell

Unfortunately I have never had the opportunity to drive a Lamborghini to see how it handles. But I did outrun one in my 33 Ford about 2 weeks ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. [sorry man...just had to ring that bell one more time

[Steve Chryssos]

Originally Posted by bret

After looking again at the OP...yep, no mention of air suspension. I think Mike was confused because the price you quoted was for the air suspension. The coilover version is a bit less expensive.

My input assumed air also. As for Lamborghini comparisons, it seems like a slippery slope to keep comparing upgraded muscle cars to mid engined, low center of gravity, computerized-everything supercars.

Focus on building a truly amazing muscle car and you'll be much happier in the end. That's what you'll get. No more.

[hp2]

Originally Posted by -George-

Btw, I thought RideTechs parts were CoilOvers... air suspension? Is that using Air shocks to? I thought things like that was cheap trash compare to coils... I mean... far as I know, Aventador, Mclaren MP41C, Veyron, Koenigsegg etc all use Coil overs and they are the best handling 'street' cars in the world. Why dont they use something else...?

What has 'more' potential? Like factually rather than "well if u drive like this and that, and depending how u tune this and that". If all was optimum. Best Car Driver, Best tune up possible, (price irrelevant) what goes?

This actually is a very common mis-conception.

The old school Gabriel "Air-Jackers" were a band aid fix and an incorrect solution to a more complex problem. Yes, these were cheap trash in the way many of them were applied and used and that perception of air as a medium persists to this day.

Remember, a spring can be a leaf, coil, torsion, or air, but they all accomplish the same thing. The Shock wave air suspension system is just that, a system of integrated air springs and high end shock absorbers combined into a single unit that allows a wide range of adjustable spring rates that are accomplished via air pressures. They are air springs, not air shocks. They support the load rather than dampen it and that is a big difference from the early year air shock issues.

Why don't high end makes use them, I don't know other than it may be what Brett suggested, they don't want owners monkeying around with the tuned rates that come with the cars. Air springs have tended to be used in more heavy duty and luxury applications than performance, which hasn't helped their perception. It is only in the last decade that perfomance applications have begun to be extensively explored and talked about widely in the handling enthusiast world.

What has more potential? For your application, probably the Shockwaves because they can be tuned easily, from the driver's seat, using the supplied "brain box". I'm sure Brett can correct me if I'm wrong, but you can have several different pre-set performance parameters in the control box to select from, such as cruise with soft rates, race with higher rates, park with practically no rates to drop everything to the ground. You also can incrementally change individual corners to better dial in personal preference for over/understeer. You can grow the sophostication of the spring tune as your sophistication as a driver changes. If you are uncomfortable with that, you can simply use the provided pre-sets in the box.

[headcase]

Thanks for that.

I was meaning the "air ride" they offer, that is why I stated the 8050 price which used the ShockTower system. I just never understood why that when CoilOvers I always thought was the 'number 1' thing.

It seems however, if dialed in correctly etc, the ShockTower system will be equally (or perhaps) better than the CoilOver because it offers those nuances of differences that can be adjusted. Also makes for more practical in a street car at the push of a button.