pykie

is it possible to do it on a cobalt?
or do they offer a kit?
i dont see why chev wouldnt do it to the cobalt so make better handeling.

alleycat58

I don't really understand why they didn't do it either, but oh well. The handling really isn't THAT bad for a torsion beam rear end. No kits are out and there aren't any comparable GM cars that could transplant an independent rear, I know some people who have looked into it before.

montecarloman

I have looked at building an independant rear suspention but after looking at the car and brainstorming the only thing I could come up with would involve basically back halfing the car. Just too much work, especially when the car handles fairly well already.

brandondrecksage

do you know why a irs would be better? is sounds like somebody told you it would handle better(or somebody with a irs was bragging about how much better their car handled than yours?) and you now thinks its a good idea. If your looking for better handling, get the best tires you can afford. It will be cheaper than spending serious cash doing a irs.

alleycat58

Actually, an IRS DOES handle better than most other suspension setups due to each rear wheel being able to interact with the road surface without being influenced by the vertical movement of the other wheel.

Daily driving, the difference is negligible and there's really no need for an IRS, especially since the torsion beam setup on the Cobalt is not too bad for a non-independent rear. NOW, for those of us that race our cars and push them to the limit of handling.............yeah, an IRS would be nice and would really benefit the car.

JERMzSS

Well the time attack Cobalt and the new turbo Cobalt seam to be able to handle well without it so I will stick with what i got.

brandondrecksage

please quote my response of where i said that irs doesn't handle better?

MY POINT(SINCE YOU MISSED IT) WAS THAT TRYING TO FAB UP A IRS FOR THE COBALT WOULD BE A WASTE, GO BUY THE BEST TIRES YOU CAN AFFORD.

Red2.4SS

I don't think its worth the money to change it. It would have to be custom fabricated at great expense!

06G5GT

I was ecstatic when GM decided to keep the torsion beam for the Cobalt. Anybody who works in a shop and sees what kind of problems develop after 60-80k on the IRS of a Focus will know what I'm talking about.

alleycat58

Your previous post gave the distinct impression by the way you came across (i.e. "somebody told you/someone was bragging, now you think it's a good idea) like you were implying that people say it's better than it is.

I don't need you to repeat your "point" nor act like I didn't comprehend anything you said. If you want people to get your meaning, try fully expressing yourself fully (i.e. "I'm sure someone's told you it handles better, which it does, but cost vs gain it's not worth it on the Cobalt - tires will compensate.")

Blue_Balt

iTrader: (1)

The torsion beam feels fine, nothing wrong with it at all IMO.

TVS_SS

i'd say there is just about a 0.2% chance that someone here could fabricate and properly design an independent rear suspension that would outperform our current setup..

Reason being, you need to know alot of information to decicde on the exact mounting points, what your camber curves should look like, roll center heights, etc.. There's alot more in suspension design than most think..

articzap

The problem with the rear suspesion in the Cobalts is if one tire is on a bump or going around a corner at speed, Camber is working against you. FWD's with good grip love pick up the back inside tire throwing a lot of weight on the outside front tire, which is good. If you really want to make your Cobalt handle a lot better, disconnecting the front sway bar at the track will probably help the most.

Z Speed

should look into it.... I know like 4 years ago it was unheard of for a cavalier to put IRS in it then one guy took IRS from a grand am and bolted it in. so im thinkin maybe the g6 stuff would work? IMO the twist beam is the better way to stay cause if it was good enough for the time attack cobalt its good enough for 99% of the people on here for what there gonna do with there balts

Blue_Balt

iTrader: (1)

x2 If they do fine with it racing, we could do real fine with just driving on public roads.

Edit: Why is this thread in drivetrain?