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So I have noticed that when I go over bumps, or (more likely here in Mi) pot holes, my car wants to hop sideways. I have newer (fewer than 30K miles) Monroe shocks on the rear. Which is what hops. The front end stays pretty well planted. Thoughts? Appreciate any help. Let’s just all pretend I don’t know anything, but try to be nice about it.
I have a sway bar in the rear that I have yanked on and it does slide in the bushings side-to-side a bit. Is some play normal? How much is too much? Any easy way to determine if that is the problem? I have access to basic tools, jackstands, and a garage jack.Thanks for reading and any help at all really!
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Since your mustang has a solid rear axle, alignment can’t be an issue. As long as you are certain nothing is bent in the rear suspension (no impacts, HUGE pot holes, curbs etc) then I would say maybe it is the result of those shocks just not being well matched to the spring rate in the rear of the car.
I owned a 2005 V6 and had the same experience from the day of purchase. The skip reduced if I put some weight over the rear axle to try and plant the rear end on the ground. Since the GT has a more stiff rear suspension than the V6 you might need to add more than I did to gain confidence it is not going to kick out on bumps. My magic weight was four (4) bags of Kittylitter but your mileage may vary since a GT rides a bit different.
If your round year daily driver the extra weight helps with traction in the winter months in the snow.
[quote=”BigDanIL279″ post=167272]I owned a 2005 V6 and had the same experience from the day of purchase. The skip reduced if I put some weight over the rear axle to try and plant the rear end on the ground. Since the GT has a more stiff rear suspension than the V6 you might need to add more than I did to gain confidence it is not going to kick out on bumps. My magic weight was four (4) bags of Kittylitter but your mileage may vary since a GT rides a bit different.
If your round year daily driver the extra weight helps with traction in the winter months in the snow.[/quote]I have the very same problem with my Ranger. It was worse when I first got it, but much better since replacing all the worn bushings and suspension parts front and back, but never went away. I won’t go over the speed limit on expressways because of it. At least the Mustangs have some weight in the back.
I just read an old Car and Driver review of your car. The writers were quite impressed by the car’s lack of the old live axle side step.
Something in your rear suspension isn’t up to par. The car’s handling characteristics were quite decent when new.
I appreciate the thoughts but don’t think it’s the shocks. It was hopping before i got them. Put them in hoping it would help the issue as the old OE shocks did need replacing. It has to be something worn because it didn’t have this issue when i purchased it three years ago. I’m just not very good at diagnosing this issue with my limited experience. Everything in the rear seems solid except as I said that rear sway bar having some side to side play. But that may be perfectly normal.
Those old live axle setups do that, it’s kind of inherent to the design. Unloaded rear axles will sidestep and hop. I don’t want to exactly say there is nothing you can do, but weight does help on my truck. Plus, if you have traction issues in 1st or 2nd gear a little weight might help your 0-60 times, if not your mileage.
Maybe I’m not being clear enough in my description. I didn’t expect many replies so thanks to you all who did.
To try to clarify though, this is a new issue. So saying I need to add some weight doesn’t really help. If I needed more weight then it would have always needed more weight. It’s not something that would just start happening. There is something broken that caused this issue. Its the thing that’s broken that I was hoping someone would be able to point me toward.Are you running stock sized rims and tires? Ultra low profile tires with anorexic sidewalls have less “spring” to them, causing the rest of the suspension to behave differently than the engineers intended.
Other than that, you can check inflation pressures to see if they’re correct, and check for worn bushings in the rear suspension system. I believe your car incorporates a Panhard rod. Those particular bushings might be worth looking at closely.
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