The only thing that got more gawks than the gals manning the booths was the front suspension on this WARN-equipped AEV Brute-conversioned Wrangler. And why shouldn't it? We hear the suspension's a multi-thousand-dollar kit from Portal-Tek. Don't worry, we'll grab some more pics later today.

ROUSH® STAGE 3™ SUSPENSION AVAILABLE TO ALL MUSTANG OWNERS WHO WANT TO PULL Gs

LIVONIA, Mich. (July 31, 2008) - One of the things that sets the ROUSH®
Stage 3™ Mustang apart from the competition is the road-hugging,
highly-tuned suspension package. Previously, this vaunted suspension
package was only available as part of a ROUSH Stage 3 vehicle build, but
now anyone with a 2005 to 2009 Ford Mustang can feel what a 1G lateral
skid pad rating can give you on the daily drive.

Developed by some of the top chassis engineers in the industry, the
ROUSH Stage 3 Suspension Package is the result of hundreds of hours of
testing and thousands of miles on both the street and racetracks across
the country. Tests, including slalom, lane change, skid pad, and were
performed on a wide variety of road surfaces to provide the best
combination of ride comfort and road handling. Data was captured and
evaluated using a DIVAS Data Acquisition System, the same equipment used
by the Ford vehicle engineers. Overall, it took more than six months of
non-stop research and development to create one of the finest
suspensions available today.

The complete kit includes springs, dampers, jounce bumpers and
anti-roll bars which work together in harmony and provide optimum
performance on the street or track. The suggested retail is $1,499.00
(part number 401761), and when installed will lower the car
approximately one inch for a more aggressive stance. All instructions
and necessary OEM-grade hardware is included.

The front anti-roll bar is more than 45 percent stiffer than the stock
unit and is a solid material, unlike most others on the market which are
hollow. This helps to significantly reduce body roll, and ROUSH takes
the additional step to forge and machine the bar ends so that all the
joints are parallel and surfaces match for joint integrity. The rear
anti-sway bar is also solid and is heavier to help balance the vehicle
and remove some of the understeer that is a characteristic of the
Mustang.

The twin-tube shocks have a unique valving and will keep the maximum
tire contact patch on the ground, even while driving over uneven
terrain. They were developed in part with an advanced 7-post shaker rig
like many of the NASCAR teams now utilize to hone their chassis setups.
Like all the metal components in the Stage 3 Suspension Package, the
shocks are powder coated for corrosion resistance. The springs
themselves are cold wound and made from high chrome silicone steel. They
are pre-set so they won't sag.

The ROUSH engineers paid particular attention to the bushings and
jounce bumpers, areas other companies tend to overlook. The bushings,
though stiffer than OEM, are a bit softer than other third-party pieces
which allows for more compliance over low speed bumps. There is a unique
spiral groove cut in the front and rear bushings which helps to keep the
grease in place and quiets the unit. The jounce bumpers were actually
designed to act as a spring assist, and are constructed from an
OEM-quality, micro-cellular material.

"ROUSH has always been known for being the best in powertrain
components, but we also have some of the most knowledgeable chassis
engineers in the auto industry on staff," said Jack Roush. "I
continually challenge them to design suspension pieces that offer
tremendous performance enhancements yet don't make sacrifices when it
comes to ride comfort. With the ROUSH Stage 3 Suspension Package they
have met this challenge, and even exceeded my expectations for what a
performance enthusiast would want on his Mustang."

The Stage 3 Suspension Kit works with any type of wheel combinations,
but for optimum performance it is suggested that the ROUSH RR03 forged
wheels (part number 402422) and ROUSHcharger™ be utilized as well. The
suspension was specifically designed with the weight of these components
in mind.

Stepping beneath the gaping roll-up door, we came face-to-face with a Mini set up for carving — its bulldog stance unmistakable. The Mini in question belonged to Hotchkis General Manager Henry Hancock. Chief Engineer Aaron Ogawa also has a Mini. When Ogawa's not clocking in at Hotchkis, he's out clocking the competition at AutoX events. He recently took home the trophy in SCCA AutoX STX class racing at California Speedway, putting all-wheel drive WRX's and everyone else back on the trailer. Also in-house was a Chevelle and a F-150 Lightning. The Chevelle was in for some suspension tuning, and the Lightning on the rack for a complete suspension upgrade. In another corner sat the bare shell of a '67 Camaro, surrounded by boxes and pallets of goods waiting to be installed.

The Hotchkis crew still gets an enormous amount of business from upgrading old Detroit iron. This for good reason. We were looking over some hiem joints and sway bars on display in the showroom when Hotchkis shared what we already knew but hated to admit, "Even the worst of today's rental cars handle better than sixties muscle." As the previous owner of a '67 Barracuda that came with five-inch wide pizza cutter wheels and drum brakes all around, I can attest to this.

For evidence old muscle takes well to suspension upgrades, we strapped ourselves into a Hotchkis-prepped version of a Jalopnik favorite. On the way over to the manufacturing facility, Hotchkis did his best Steve McQueen on the mean streets of Santa Fe Springs. Flicking the light end of the El Camino around corners here and there brought controlled drift action when summoned. It's important to remember older suspensions were designed for the bias-ply tires that came spooned around those stock, pizza cutter rims. Bolting up wide meats just taxes the original design even further.

Modern design and production has of course narrowed the room for suspension improvement over that of sixties iron, but has not eliminated it entirely. Hotchkis offers packages that improve even some of the best-handling modern cars. The ability to fine-tune suspension modifications for the street or track is another bonus. At lunch Hotchkis recalled shaving a half-second off short-track lap times at Buttonwillow in a Corvette Z06 equipped with a Hotchkis-designed adjustable sway bar. "It would get nervous. It would move around a little bit. You just couldn't apply the power. By stopping the rear roll you could just feel it on turn-in," Hotchkis said.

Hotchkis can also design suspensions from the ground up, and did so for the Foose Coupe when called upon by Chip Foose and George Gaffoglio from Metalcrafters. This year Hotchkis announced the same level of engineering is available even for less star-dappled rides at the Hotchkis Installation Center. "From Camaros and Bimmers to our Chief Engineer's Autocross Mini, we spend most of our off-hours at the racetrack using and proving our own hardware. With the recent addition of the Hotchkis Installation Center, we can now offer our customers the option of having their suspension dialed-in by the same team that designed and built it," Hotchkis said.

What else would you expect from a guy who's driven in the 24 Hours of Lemans and run a Porsche 917 around a racetrack?

Hotchkis Sport Suspension
12035 Burke Street Suite 13
Santa Fe Springs, Ca 90670
(877)-4-NOROLL
(877)-466-7655

VW's new tech: inside the secret laboratory [internal]

Related:
Previewing Volkswagen's Clean Diesel Jetta [internal]

It's been an obsession of Bose Corp's elderly leader, Amar Bose, since 1980 — conquering potholes. Apparently the head of that audio products company has been a suspension geek since the late 1950s, and has been working on a new system that detects obstacles and pulls a car's wheels up over them, which we reported on last December. According to the Associated Press, a new luxury car yet to be designed, will be fitted with the system, which uses sensors and four electromagnetic motors mounted at the wheel, in essence creating a really active suspension. [Thanks to Tony for the tip.]

Bose Tries to Shake up Auto Industry [internal]

Related:
Bose Creates Suspension System for Cars [internal]