Mach 1 "floaty" feeling

[Hack]

Hey all, I find that in general my Mach 1 has a "floaty" feeling especially at highway speed. I have a non-HP with about 6.5k miles, everything stock. Is that the nature of the car, would an alignment help? Does this car require wider wheels and tires to feel stable?

What was your previous less floaty car? I've noticed that smaller cars are less likely to float. Our Mustangs are fairly big and high off the ground, which makes it difficult to control the body motions without having fairly stiff suspension. My Fiesta ST is much better as far as a floaty feeling goes, but it has almost absurdly stiff suspension and still doesn't corner well. I also think the 2004 Z06 I previously owned and 1986 944 are much less floaty, and the Z06 had quite soft suspension. But those cars weigh so much less than a Mustang and have so much lower CoG that there's really no comparison in handling feel.

I have owned a few models and I think that in general Mustangs are very softly sprung and they do somewhat float, especially the front end. Only the harder core performance models have moderately stiff suspension and lowered ride height to go with it that makes the car feel "buttoned down".

My 2016 GT350 had a nice level of firmness for street driving that mostly didn't feel floaty at all, but it was a much stiffer ride than either my 2015 base model or 2017 PP1 had. The first time I really nailed it in the 2017 PP1 the front end got so light it scared the crap outta me. I ordered up stiffer suspension right away. The stock PP1 suspension made the 2017 feel more like a luxury vehicle than a performance car.

Now I have the FP track handling suspension on my current 2017 PP1 and it's similar in stiffness to the GT350 with that kit added. Possibly slightly stiffer. I actually prefer the FP shocks that come with this kit over the feel of the Magneride. To me the Magneride feels like it hammers the tires down into the pavement rather than reacting to the bumps as they come.

Anyway, I'm not surprised that you say your Mach 1 without handling pack floats a little. I think the answer is either live with it, or go to stiffer springs and shocks.

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[Roadway 5.0]

Also when do the spoiler/front lip from the HP start making a difference? Not sure if they would make a noticeable difference at highway speeds, but they would look cool.

Look cool — yes. Functional at highway speeds, no.

I added a Steeda front splitter extension to my PP GT while living in Germany; it was excellent over about 110mph and gave the steering a bit more confidence and heavy feel at speed.

— Mike

 

[sycd]

What was your previous less floaty car? I've noticed that smaller cars are less likely to float. Our Mustangs are fairly big and high off the ground, which makes it difficult to control the body motions without having fairly stiff suspension. My Fiesta ST is much better as far as a floaty feeling goes, but it has almost absurdly stiff suspension and still doesn't corner well. I also think the 2004 Z06 I previously owned and 1986 944 are much less floaty, and the Z06 had quite soft suspension. But those cars weigh so much less than a Mustang and have so much lower CoG that there's really no comparison in handling feel.

My last few cars were a few BMWs: E92 M3 Competition, F80 M3, X3M. The Mach1 has a softer suspension compared to all these. Reading your comment and others on this thread that's most likely what I'm experiencing. The Mach1 is softer to drive in town but has the effect of giving that floaty feeling. Given that it's touted as the track oriented Mustang I was expecting better, but I need to adjust my expectations.

I have the A10 so unfortunately the suspension can't be put in sport+ without also putting the transmission in sport+, which puts it in neck breaking bonkers shifting mode.

I'll have to think about my next steps. Spend cash to make it something it was not designed to be, or take a loss move on. Even a manual Mach1 would allow me to control the suspension independently which would already be a big improvement.

 

[NeverSatisfied]

My last few cars were a few BMWs: E92 M3 Competition, F80 M3, X3M. The Mach1 has a softer suspension compared to all these. Reading your comment and others on this thread that's most likely what I'm experiencing. The Mach1 is softer to drive in town but has the effect of giving that floaty feeling. Given that it's touted as the track oriented Mustang I was expecting better, but I need to adjust my expectations.

I have the A10 so unfortunately the suspension can't be put in sport+ without also putting the transmission in sport+, which puts it in neck breaking bonkers shifting mode.

I'll have to think about my next steps. Spend cash to make it something it was not designed to be, or take a loss move on. Even a manual Mach1 would allow me to control the suspension independently which would already be a big improvement.

Although still waiting on my Mach 1, speaking from my PP2 and experience in similar BMW's, I think you're feeling the initial progressive spring rate and the mag ride working as designed in "normal" mode.

If you want to eliminate the "float" feeling in normal mode, you might try going with a linear spring like the BMR GT350 spring

 

[Isj]

My last few cars were a few BMWs: E92 M3 Competition, F80 M3, X3M. The Mach1 has a softer suspension compared to all these. Reading your comment and others on this thread that's most likely what I'm experiencing. The Mach1 is softer to drive in town but has the effect of giving that floaty feeling. Given that it's touted as the track oriented Mustang I was expecting better, but I need to adjust my expectations.

I have the A10 so unfortunately the suspension can't be put in sport+ without also putting the transmission in sport+, which puts it in neck breaking bonkers shifting mode.

I'll have to think about my next steps. Spend cash to make it something it was not designed to be, or take a loss move on. Even a manual Mach1 would allow me to control the suspension independently which would already be a big improvement.

yeah as a former F80 M3 owner myself the Mach 1 won't feel as planted as the M3, but there are worse cars out there. I did not think it was too bad, plus it handles rougher roads better than my M3 comp did.

 

[Hack]

My last few cars were a few BMWs: E92 M3 Competition, F80 M3, X3M. The Mach1 has a softer suspension compared to all these. Reading your comment and others on this thread that's most likely what I'm experiencing. The Mach1 is softer to drive in town but has the effect of giving that floaty feeling. Given that it's touted as the track oriented Mustang I was expecting better, but I need to adjust my expectations.

I have the A10 so unfortunately the suspension can't be put in sport+ without also putting the transmission in sport+, which puts it in neck breaking bonkers shifting mode.

I'll have to think about my next steps. Spend cash to make it something it was not designed to be, or take a loss move on. Even a manual Mach1 would allow me to control the suspension independently which would already be a big improvement.

BMWs cost more, but from what I hear they have superior handling to the less performance oriented Mustangs. I don't think the non-handling pack Mach 1 is supposed to be track oriented, so to me it doesn't fit into the higher performance category.

If you like everything else about the Mustang, it might be worth it to try stiffer springs. Otherwise, if I were a BMW guy I'd be looking at an M2. It doesn't have the V8, but it should be pretty good in other ways.

 

[Dave2013M3]

I would consider the Ford Racing suspension for Magnaride.

 

[shogun32]

I have the A10 so unfortunately the suspension can't be put in sport+ without also putting the transmission in sport+, which puts it in neck breaking bonkers shifting mode.

yeah that engineer should be SHOT and hanged for that programming. Talk to eg. Unleashed Tuning and have them program that sh*t out of the trans controller with a tune.

 

[sycd]

yeah that engineer should be SHOT and hanged for that programming. Talk to eg. Unleashed Tuning and have them program that sh*t out of the trans controller with a tune.

That auto tuning is crap and the engineers who worked on it and QA and management who signed off on it should be be ashamed of themselves. I shouldn’t have to pay for a tune to fix it and void my warranty in the process.

 

[shogun32]

I shouldn’t have to pay for a tune to fix it and void my warranty in the process.

well, you can have the dealer check the fluid level (there was some trouble on that front) and you can make noise about how the driving mode is completely and utterly unacceptable and see if Ford dealer service/mech will do something about it but short of reflashing "stock" (crap) I doubt they can do anything about it.

Otherwise you may need to repent of not buying a 6MT to begin with. /snark

 

[Mikepol2]

Only posting this because OP mentioned that the car feels floaty compared to his previous M3:

I had a chance to drive a 2017 GT350 back to back with a 2017 911 Turbo. I know, different class of cars, but I had the same "uneasy" feeling driving the GT350 after driving the 911; like I was afraid to punch it going around corners because it felt like it was being lifted off the ground a little and the tires would break loose at any second. And it felt like this was due to the basic construction of the cars; the center of gravity and driver position with the GT350 was much higher relative to the wheels and road than the 911.

I had Ford Performance track suspension parts on the 2018 GT and never experienced that floaty feeling. I don't really get that feeling with the Mach in track mode, but do feel it a bit in normal sometimes. However, the overall ride of the Mach during the test drive (again back to back with the GT) is what sold me on trading in the GT on it.

 

[snake40]

Hey all, I find that in general my Mach 1 has a "floaty" feeling especially at highway speed. I have a non-HP with about 6.5k miles, everything stock. Is that the nature of the car, would an alignment help? Does this car require wider wheels and tires to feel stable?

I went from 2016 GT350 to Mach1 HP. The Mach had a very unsettled feeling that went away with front end alignment. Not sure what was off but had it adjusted to street settings and it's much like my 350 was now. It's worth having yours checked.

 

[BierGut]

OP:

I will add my .02 here. My GT350 in normal mode does indeed have a strange "floaty-wallowy" feel that I have come to accept due to the mageride dampers. My car has FP lowering springs and the recommended track alignment. (i.e. it is not related to the steering)

My personal opinion is the lack of a strong electromagnetic charge while in normal mode combined with undulating and uneven road surfaces creats that odd feel. I've had a lot of great sports cars and this feeling I got while test driving the GT350 almost made me pass on the car at first. In sport and track mode it's solid. It's also been great on track.

We have to remember that magneride is "trying" to be all things to all people. I just happen to hate the normal mode. Luckily, I can switch to track every time I get behind the wheel.

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