# Given Modern (Smooth) Roads, Are Independent Suspensions Needed? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 19, 2015, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-modern-smooth-roads-are-independent-suspensions-needed/728263 "2015-08-19T14:20:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-modern-smooth-roads-are-independent-suspensions-needed/728263/21 "2015-08-21T19:25:06Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > A 2010 generation is “vintage”… just kill this old man now. I read it as “2010-or-so,” not “vintage” as in 1968. But yeah. Kids these days. The Mustang should have gotten an IRS decades ago. Ford already had the engineering in hand - wasn’t the early 2000s-vintage T-bird IRS? Not the butt-fugly sports car thing, the last big coupe model. If not, a couple of middling-small Lincolns had IRS available for the borrowing. I know one Cobra or R model had it. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-modern-smooth-roads-are-independent-suspensions-needed/728263/22 "2015-08-21T20:06:17Z")
The 95 Cobra Rs had IRS, but it never made it past the gate on the lower trim levels because we all know it can’t be a real muscle car without a live axle in the back and a V8 up front… I think everyone up post has pretty succinctly nailed why independent suspension is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-modern-smooth-roads-are-independent-suspensions-needed/728263/23 "2015-08-21T22:57:04Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I read it as “2010-or-so,” not “vintage” as in 1968. But yeah. Kids these days. > > The Mustang should have gotten an IRS decades ago. Ford already had the engineering in hand - wasn’t the early 2000s-vintage T-bird IRS? Not the butt-fugly sports car thing, the last big coupe model. If not, a couple of middling-small Lincolns had IRS available for the borrowing. I know one Cobra or R model had it. I’m in full agreement with you on the suspension… but he wrote: “I’ve driven my parents’ 2010ish **vintage** Mustang” (Bolding mine) Some whippersnapper thinks 2010 is old… feel free to leave that old jalopy on my lawn (leave the keys please) but you get off of my lawn you punk. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-modern-smooth-roads-are-independent-suspensions-needed/728263/24 "2015-08-21T23:08:16Z")
Fricken edit windows… I guess technically “vintage” just means “of the era.” I’ve always taken it to mean original or old. Regardless he can still leave that old heap on my lawn. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-modern-smooth-roads-are-independent-suspensions-needed/728263/25 "2015-08-22T00:45:37Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Most USA roads are very smooth, Someone’s never driven in Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-modern-smooth-roads-are-independent-suspensions-needed/728263/26 "2015-08-22T13:10:36Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > “I’ve driven my parents’ 2010ish **vintage** Mustang” Try: “I’ve driven my parents’ 2010ish- **vintage** Mustang” …and I think we have what the poster meant. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-modern-smooth-roads-are-independent-suspensions-needed/728263/27 "2015-08-22T13:19:22Z")
Spent a long time in the Northeast. “_We have four seasons here: Almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction._” ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-modern-smooth-roads-are-independent-suspensions-needed/728263/28 "2015-08-22T13:19:39Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > 2010ish vintage Mustang In what world does a 2010ish count as vintage? I have a 1968 and I’m very cautious on bumpy roads. ETA: Man, amazing how one hyphen brings out the old guys, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-modern-smooth-roads-are-independent-suspensions-needed/728263/29 "2015-08-22T13:27:53Z")
How about if he had written “vintage 2010”? Would y’all have got that he meant to merely identify period as opposed to the way car buffs use the word to mean classic? (or at least assumed irony?) ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-modern-smooth-roads-are-independent-suspensions-needed/728263/30 "2015-08-22T13:31:33Z")
Hah, yeah, I meant “2010 or so”, because my parents actually leased several Mustangs between 2008 and now, but I can’t be arsed to figure out the exact model years that I remember driving. But I’ll get off all y’alls lawn all the same. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-modern-smooth-roads-are-independent-suspensions-needed/728263/31 "2015-08-22T13:47:13Z")
And pull up those pants! No one wants to see that! ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-modern-smooth-roads-are-independent-suspensions-needed/728263/32 "2015-08-22T14:54:53Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > solid front axles are even more problematic as they can be prone to “death wobble.” That’s something that has to be experienced to be understood. You read about it. You see vids of it. But you really don’t grok it until you suddenly smack yourself in the face and find yourself unable to hang on to your steering wheel while the front end tries to shake the planet apart from underneath you. I love solid axles off-road because they allow for terrific articulation when crawling over or through obstacles in which one wheel will be significantly higher or lower than the other wheel, and because there are fewer parts to break, but aside from rock and ditch crawling, I’d rather have the better control and better ride of independent suspension. Yes, ralph, the performance difference is noticeable. With independent suspension, you’ll either bottom out or tip over earlier when compared with solid axles, but otherwise you’ll have better control when zipping along with independent suspension. Here are some handy rules of thumb. Off-road rock crawling = solid. Off-road racing = indepent. Heavy load hauling = solid. Medium load hauling = independent. Daily driving paved or gravel = independent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/given-modern-smooth-roads-are-independent-suspensions-needed/728263.md?page=1)