OK so essentially it will feel more "luxurious" in it's ride? Like going over bumps in the road with less "banging about"?

Stupid Explorer is supposed to be on / off road so why on earth would they put IRS in it? I need to ditch that thing and get a regular pickup truck again. I hate this box on wheels.

IRS can work off road but it's just not the best option. For it to handle the wear they really beef it up and put heavy linkages in it but it's expensive. Range rovers have IRS and take pride in the truck being able to go anywhere but it's part of its 80k price tag. My 2011 Cherokee before I got my pick up had IRS felt great on road, off road felt weird and I always felt like something about to break. According to dealer I traded it in to, they said there was excessive wear on the joints.It was a problem they were aware of and Chrysler acknowledged the issue. Whatever that means

Yeah, well I had to use the 4x4 on the explorer today - real early in the morning before it warmed up. Lots of "moaning" and 'grinding'. 4 Low doesn't even work at all. Piece of shit. It's got to go and soon.

There is no off road advantage for a solid axle. IRS is superior. It allows one wheel to move without influencing the other. In an off road situation this is far preferred, specially if any 'flex' is required or happening. With a solid rear axle, if you raise one tire in the rear, the other one will shift position. You will be riding on sidewall instead of the tread etc...

A solid axle has one benefit. It is cheaper to manufacture.

Can we go back to talking about the advantages / disadvantages of this on the Mustang?

I need someone to actually describe how it feels comparatively to the solid axle I am so very used to.

I don't "off road" - well at least not anymore so I don't care.

Thanks

With IRS it is quite a bit easier to control wheel hop. So in other words power generated is going to make you move forward, not hoping the wheel. Also unspung weight is lower with IRS than a live axle. Unsprung weight is a large demon in handling. The back end will have less of a tendency to kick out, specially when exiting a corner under throttle.

what are the colour options?

Not just red

Ford.com has all the info you need

(12-19-2013, 05:59 PM)Biker Dude Wrote: With IRS it is quite a bit easier to control wheel hop. So in other words power generated is going to make you move forward, not hoping the wheel. Also unspung weight is lower with IRS than a live axle. Unsprung weight is a large demon in handling. The back end will have less of a tendency to kick out, specially when exiting a corner under throttle.

Thanks. What about what I asked about a more "luxurious" ride? Will it feel much smoother or is that a shock absorber / spring type of issue?

(12-19-2013, 05:48 PM)Biker Dude Wrote: There is no off road advantage for a solid axle. IRS is superior. It allows one wheel to move without influencing the other. In an off road situation this is far preferred, specially if any 'flex' is required or happening. With a solid rear axle, if you raise one tire in the rear, the other one will shift position. You will be riding on sidewall instead of the tread etc...

A solid axle has one benefit. It is cheaper to manufacture.

Wrong, sorry to get off topic but IRS is limited on the level of travel it can have before the CV joints pop out of the shaft. If money was no object yes you could build IRS system with better metals to get more extreme angles but it still falls short of a solid axle. Also as mentioned in my other posts more exposed moving parts more chances for things to go wrong. IRS is only superior in sand/dune offroading but to really excel in both sand and dirt/mud the suspension system at that point would be almost financially unobtainable by 99% of the worlds population.


Back on topic, yes twitch the ride quality of a IRS is definitely smoother then a solid.