What do you think would be the better suspension for a street/strip car the total control rear coil-over or the independent rear suspension that reenmachine sells? Just tryin to get some ideas. Thanks.
You going to open track also, or just street and drag? IRS isnt very good with hard launches, especially under a car not designed around it. Even on a road course, the IRS doesnt usually have much advantage(in a Mustang anyway).
My final thought: IRS will be most comfortable for the street, stick axle better for most else.
Here's the generalization I use: If you're going to the strip a lot, IRS isn't the right tool for the job -- a good multi-link solid axle can't be beat for launches and you'll get wheel hop with an IRS. IRS can, however, provide superior ride and handling. So, it depends what your priorities are.
That being said, an IRS can be made to launch well at the expense of ride quality, and a solid axle can be made to ride well at the expense of the launch.
a well settup solid axle rear end is going to be very close performance wise to a well settup IRS. the biggest deficiency that the solid axle has is in rough road conditions, where the irs allows the tire to remain in better contact with the road surface. the other thing to remember is that in order to do better than the stock leaf spring rear suspension, you are going to have to redesign the rear suspension with performance in mind, and that takes time and money. a well thought out leaf spring suspension is hard to beat for the money.
once again... i think it all depends on what you plan on doing with the car. i am running irs in my "race rod" and cobra.....running a 2 link T.A. live axle in my mustang. each of my own projects has a different goal in mind and different reasoning for the chosen suspension design.
so when asking what is best for your car... we really need to know a lil more about the intended usage before we can give accurate recomendations.