Why are our cars so squirrely?

I swear the suspension is f'd up. Every single time that thing goes on the lift I beg them to look at the suspension and they tell me every single time that everything looks fine. I can't imagine they are right because the car wouldn't feel like this if it were fine.

The best way to explain it is if you drive a fwd car in snow you can at times feel the front end float from side to side...although this car is rwd, it is floating the same way and now is doing it at all speeds (although I live in Florida so snow isn't the problem ;) ). I let go of the wheel and it goes straight...but if I switch lanes that thing has MASSIVE body roll. Any lane switches or anything else feel like the back end is trying to kick out.

Jamie I definitely will take you up on your offer. I want to see how that beast runs!
 
I swapped out the crappy air ride for H&R lowering springs on my 96 and couldnt be happier it handles better than my 97 Tbird (warmed over Tbird guy here) that had all the Kenny Brown suspension peices and Eibach sport springs. Dont get me wrong mine will get sideways in a hurry thanks to the Trak-loc and 4:10s but it hooks good for street meats.:D
 
why dont you bring the car up to me and i will look at the front suspension parts for you, chances are you have worn parts. i just did Enskankers 98 base sunday, 63,000 miles and i replaced the entire front end. the parts wear out, and often, plus if you take a ride with me, i'll bet you go home and order a coil springs conversion, i have a supercoupe 2 inch lowered kit on my car i have yet to ride in another mark that handles like mine, like its on rails, the wide tires help too, and the KYB shocks. the car is tight like a virgin and stiff like morning wood. i was all against coils years ago, now i would ditch the air in any of my marks, both of mine are on lowered coils now. if you had money to play with, i'd take your car in, change the oil pan gasket, the motor mounts and :q:q:q:q, and slam that bitch on a lowered coil conversion, you would have a harn on for weeks when i was done!
 
i have strutmasters (1.5in lowerd) and also get a floating feeling when i push past 120. it is scary so i dont like to go must faster then that.
 
jamie97lsc said:
why dont you bring the car up to me and i will look at the front suspension parts for you, chances are you have worn parts. i just did Enskankers 98 base sunday, 63,000 miles and i replaced the entire front end. the parts wear out, and often, plus if you take a ride with me, i'll bet you go home and order a coil springs conversion, i have a supercoupe 2 inch lowered kit on my car i have yet to ride in another mark that handles like mine, like its on rails, the wide tires help too, and the KYB shocks. the car is tight like a virgin and stiff like morning wood. i was all against coils years ago, now i would ditch the air in any of my marks, both of mine are on lowered coils now. if you had money to play with, i'd take your car in, change the oil pan gasket, the motor mounts and :q:q:q:q, and slam that bitch on a lowered coil conversion, you would have a harn on for weeks when i was done!
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If you're free Saturday I'll come up there then. I'm not floating in cash because I'm in school and when I'm not in school I'm a stay at home dad...my wife brings home the bacon until I finish my degree.

I already have a coil over suspension but maybe it's faulty? It's a strutmasters kit.

Let me know what time you'll be up there on Saturday and I'll take a ride up there.
 
ripped camel said:
If you're free Saturday I'll come up there then. I'm not floating in cash because I'm in school and when I'm not in school I'm a stay at home dad...my wife brings home the bacon until I finish my degree.

I already have a coil over suspension but maybe it's faulty? It's a strutmasters kit.

Let me know what time you'll be up there on Saturday and I'll take a ride up there.
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Big difference between a Strutmasters kit and some KYBs with SCP springs which are Voglandt I think.
 
jamie97lsc said:
why dont you bring the car up to me and i will look at the front suspension parts for you, chances are you have worn parts. i just did Enskankers 98 base sunday, 63,000 miles and i replaced the entire front end. the parts wear out, and often, plus if you take a ride with me, i'll bet you go home and order a coil springs conversion, i have a supercoupe 2 inch lowered kit on my car i have yet to ride in another mark that handles like mine, like its on rails, the wide tires help too, and the KYB shocks. the car is tight like a virgin and stiff like morning wood. i was all against coils years ago, now i would ditch the air in any of my marks, both of mine are on lowered coils now. if you had money to play with, i'd take your car in, change the oil pan gasket, the motor mounts and :q:q:q:q, and slam that bitch on a lowered coil conversion, you would have a harn on for weeks when i was done!
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I getting boned up with just listening LOL:eek:
 
here is what i would do.
replace all old factory irs bushings and install a addco or s/c sway bar. bet that solves your problem. i have heard that the swap in spring kits are a bit soft.so it is allowing the rear of the car to twist (if you will) that will change the geometry betweene the left and right side. sometimes it will trasfer the energy left to right if its soft enough. if so you need a big sway bar or stiffer rear springs. try to tell if it is doing it because the rear suspension is shifting around under wot. is it during shift change? is the road surface your testing it on changing elevation. or does it do it at a certin rpm range (torque load) twieaking old bushings back there. is the tire breaking loose when it does it. that will make your car kinda jump or fall on its face and if you have some play back there it will unload (untwist) t/c will have the same effect. when the tire breaks loose and your car will lunge. because your rear end geometry is changing under load due to worn bushings. hope that made sense i tried to explain it 2 ways.

and jamie. i cant wait that is about the 3rd time i have heard you talk about 1-2 shifts. did you leave the lower spring out when you did your jmod i am trying to make that decision right now. and i am thinking 3.73's u running 4.10s?
 
jamie97lsc said:
why dont you bring the car up to me and i will look at the front suspension parts for you, chances are you have worn parts. i just did Enskankers 98 base sunday, 63,000 miles and i replaced the entire front end. the parts wear out, and often, plus if you take a ride with me, i'll bet you go home and order a coil springs conversion, i have a supercoupe 2 inch lowered kit on my car i have yet to ride in another mark that handles like mine, like its on rails, the wide tires help too, and the KYB shocks. the car is tight like a virgin and stiff like morning wood. i was all against coils years ago, now i would ditch the air in any of my marks, both of mine are on lowered coils now. if you had money to play with, i'd take your car in, change the oil pan gasket, the motor mounts and :q:q:q:q, and slam that bitch on a lowered coil conversion, you would have a harn on for weeks when i was done!
Click to expand...


amen. i just orderd a bunch of stuff to get mind down 2'' progresseve rate intrx sports and tokico blues i couldnt justify 550 on just the koni shocks as i have only driven this car like 2 mi.
 
zmt325 said:
amen. i just orderd a bunch of stuff to get mind down 2'' progresseve rate intrx sports and tokico blues i couldnt justify 550 on just the koni shocks as i have only driven this car like 2 mi.
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wear do u guys find all these high proformance springs and shocks? when i did my coil convertion i use strutmasters cuz they are the only ones i found and they are way to soft it blows :(...
 
96mark8 said:
wear do u guys find all these high proformance springs and shocks? when i did my coil convertion i use strutmasters cuz they are the only ones i found and they are way to soft it blows :(...
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I do not work or have kids so i have alot of free time on my hands right now so i researched for 2 solid weeks made friends and listened to there advice. i also have built a few kinda sick bmw's so i totally get their lingo to. and search. i am not shure i went the right way with my sus build as i dont really know these cars yet but i will get it. i promise


as i have said before these cars are apulsered like a bentley they have the body lines of a classic jag the suspension of a porsche and the heart of a cobra so what is there not to like?:D except that whole body flex and weight thing. but we can fix that:cool:

btw addco bars may help u to i would do that before i ditched the entire s/m set up. and did you change your rear shocks when you did it? second hand info but i read thoes 2 things will fix your problem. and cutting one coil off the spring but that only gets your center of gravity lower do the other 2 first
 
I'm just say'in IT'S A FUGGIN LINCOLN. Have you ever atoucrossed a Towncar? Smooth and luxurios is the name of the game. She builds more power the higher you take her. Therefore she gets a little looser the higher she goes. Think about it man. Sorry I felt Froggy.
 
1bad4.6l said:
I'm just say'in IT'S A FUGGIN LINCOLN. Have you ever atoucrossed a Towncar? Smooth and luxurios is the name of the game. She builds more power the higher you take her. Therefore she gets a little looser the higher she goes. Think about it man. Sorry I felt Froggy.
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Yeah my father in law has a town car and it feels 10x more stable at speed! So it has nothing to do with that....guess I squashed your froginess :p
 
1bad4.6l said:
I'm just say'in IT'S A FUGGIN LINCOLN. Have you ever atoucrossed a Towncar? Smooth and luxurios is the name of the game. She builds more power the higher you take her. Therefore she gets a little looser the higher she goes. Think about it man. Sorry I felt Froggy.
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nono i am down with this
its educational LOL
#1 a mark 8 aint no town car you get rid of the air springs do a few mods and voula instant sleeper;) thats why i fell in love with this car people like u they think its just a lincoln. and there cheaper than any other ind sus american car with class... or dohc ford v8 for that matter.
#2never seen a towncar but i have seen a p71 interceptor (same chassi line) tear it up.
#3 thats why i goy rid of my super clean 97 conti it was just a friggin lincoln
 
zmt325 said:
here is what i would do.
replace all old factory irs bushings and install a addco or s/c sway bar. bet that solves your problem. i have heard that the swap in spring kits are a bit soft.so it is allowing the rear of the car to twist (if you will) that will change the geometry betweene the left and right side. sometimes it will trasfer the energy left to right if its soft enough. if so you need a big sway bar or stiffer rear springs. try to tell if it is doing it because the rear suspension is shifting around under wot. is it during shift change? is the road surface your testing it on changing elevation. or does it do it at a certin rpm range (torque load) twieaking old bushings back there. is the tire breaking loose when it does it. that will make your car kinda jump or fall on its face and if you have some play back there it will unload (untwist) t/c will have the same effect. when the tire breaks loose and your car will lunge. because your rear end geometry is changing under load due to worn bushings. hope that made sense i tried to explain it 2 ways.

and jamie. i cant wait that is about the 3rd time i have heard you talk about 1-2 shifts. did you leave the lower spring out when you did your jmod i am trying to make that decision right now. and i am thinking 3.73's u running 4.10s?
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I'll have to pay attention tomorrow when I drive it and try to pinpoint exactly when it is doing it.
 
Duh,,, If you mod the F out of her. This isn't a towncar. I agree. But still it is a luxury 2 door.. I'm still froggy. Yeah, springs, mounts, and some more :q:q:q:q, and vwala! But at the end of the day you still bought a Lincoln that is smooth and lethal. And as the ol addage says, " you gotta pay to play". Yaeh she's a squirrel cause she's mean. Although it is one smooth squirell at 125.:cool::cool::cool::cool:
 
1bad4.6l said:
Duh,,, If you mod the F out of her. This isn't a towncar. I agree. But still it is a luxury 2 door.. I'm still froggy. Yeah, springs, mounts, and some more :q:q:q:q, and vwala! But at the end of the day you still bought a Lincoln that is smooth and lethal. And as the ol addage says, " you gotta pay to play". Yaeh she's a squirrel cause she's mean. Although it is one smooth squirell at 125.:cool::cool::cool::cool:
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i would classify it more as a grand touring or luxury sport coupe. and an m6 is a luxury sport coupe but that dosent keep them or the amg benz guys off the track or for that matter the ctsv guys.

this has become a low budget car heck i picked mine up for 450 bad bags and 105k grandma owned the lady got a new benz and wanted it gone
 
I have to agree with Jamie I have 2" lower coils and Tokico shocks, And there is now way I will go back to air. If I get another mark which I'm seriously thinking about I will pull my coils and put them on the new car. After I did the coils, I drove it with the old shocks and it rode Like crap. The tokicos made a huge difference.
 
Strut master way tooooo soft. I'm going to try and get some better strut n spring this summer.
 
zmt325 said:
amen. i just orderd a bunch of stuff to get mind down 2'' progresseve rate intrx sports and tokico blues i couldnt justify 550 on just the koni shocks as i have only driven this car like 2 mi.
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Intrax suck balls I had them on our fox body and they rode like crap. But thats my 2 cents worth.
 
bummer

playboy4aday said:
Intrax suck balls I had them on our fox body and they rode like crap. But thats my 2 cents worth.
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you bummed me out with that with that statement. are you saying thy were to stiff or soft. i am looking for stiff

i just spoke with the rnd guy at addco about some parts i need. and he said that he had a set on tbird or stang (cant remember) and loved them.
i knew they would be stiff and i am cool with that as long as it gives me the on rails feeling. back roads in TN can be tricky.

i want to not only avoid the above problem i want to destroy corners in my car. not looking for a soft ride at all.
 
I hear that! Another stay at home DAD. Good to know I am not alone. well gotta take the kids to the park in the Mark LOL.
 
zmt325 said:
you bummed me out with that with that statement. are you saying thy were to stiff or soft. i am looking for stiff

i just spoke with the rnd guy at addco about some parts i need. and he said that he had a set on tbird or stang (cant remember) and loved them.
i knew they would be stiff and i am cool with that as long as it gives me the on rails feeling. back roads in TN can be tricky.

i want to not only avoid the above problem i want to destroy corners in my car. not looking for a soft ride at all.
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I worked on the railroad and let me tell you it didnt ride anythin like that it road like a piece of chit and it constantly felt like ever bump bottomed out the car.:mad:
 
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