Harsh Road Surfaces

[Mr_Dennis_S]

So I have been enjoying my Ty ( Nicknamed OLd bOy) and it has been a blast. Believe it or not I only have one major gripe with it after driving it daily for over a month now. I had Sportmachines put in some KYB Monomax's on all four corners and opted not to lower it to preserve drive-ability but the front suspension still bangs pretty hard over potholes and even small bumps in the road. These roads in Massachusetts are as bad as it gets and as much as you try to avoid them just can't avoid it all. I have searched and read up about RPM and Turbotimes front coilover kits but I am very weary about coilovers because it seems like a stiffer suspension would make my issue worse. Any suggestions out there to help handle torn up roads. Thought about switching over to QA1 shocks but I am not entirely sure that will fix it. Anyone else encountered this issue and what did you do to fix it?

 

[BoostedSUV]

Re: Harsh Road Surfaces

Check your torsion bar mounts. I'm thinking that's where you will find your issue. It will feel like something banging under the floor over bumps. Just an idea.. I had that problem myself.

 

[Sportmachines]

Re: Harsh Road Surfaces

His torsion bar mount, ball joints and all that were well greased and in good shape when we looked them over. Coilovers with adjustable shocks will actually help as you can set the firmness to what you want. And by going with the coilovers you can eliminate the torsion bars and mounts, which are ususally the source of rattles and clunks. HTH

Glad to hear the OldBoy is doing well and getting driven!

 

[dgoodhue]

Re: Harsh Road Surfaces

My coilover suspension and tubular A-arms is softer than stock (JSM) with my QA1 set to 2, I am not sure if they all ride like that. It rides softer than my last 2 daily drivers.

 

[Mr_Dennis_S]

Re: Harsh Road Surfaces

My coilover suspension and tubular A-arms is softer than stock (JSM) with my QA1 set to 2, I am not sure if they all ride like that. It rides softer than my last 2 daily drivers.

You are in Mass too so you must know how bad these roads are... which coilover suspension did you go with? You give me some hope!!

 

[Mr_Dennis_S]

Re: Harsh Road Surfaces

Harsh ride is one of two things: The spring rate is too soft, and the suspension is bottoming out on the bump-stop, OR the spring and shock dampening rate is too stiff, which transmits energy into the frame, and into your butt, instead of it being absorbed in the spring and shock and dissipated as heat.

You say even "small bumps" are annoying. This could well be the MonoMax shocks. They have dampening valving that approaches the same effect as a solid-steel rod for a shock. They are extremely stiff. I have removed two sets from client's vehicles to address harsh ride complaints. I have a set on my DD Blazer, and I've hated the ride for the 120K miles they have been on there. Too stiff and "buzzy". The only vehicle I haven't bitched about the ride with MonoMax's is the SuperDuty Power Stroke F250 we have on the ranch in Colorado. But that thing weighs about 8,000 lbs.

If the suspension is bottoming, It can only be solved one of two ways: Increase the spring rate. Or increase the travel. Those are the only ways. If you attempt to band-aid lack of travel with a 'firm' jounce shock valving, this just transmits energy into the frame, and you feel it anyway.

Shocks are intended to control rebound. Not jounce. If you're bottoming, you need a firmer spring rate (torsion bar rate), not a stiffer shock. See if Tom will exchange your MonoMax's for something more suitable, like a Bilstin, and install a higher rate torsion bar from a Pick-up or 4-door. There are threads in here that have all the torsion bar info.

There's a lot more to ride quality than bolting a set of shocks in. Especially too-stiff ones.

I actually chose KYB's over Bilstiens because I heard Bilstiens were really stiff. A lot of members on the site have said all lot of good things about the KYBs seeing how they decrease body roll but are still liveable. It doesn't feel like the front shocks are bottoming out but more the dampening rate is too stiff so I will look into addressing that.

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Harsh Road Surfaces

Shocks are dampers, not rebound only. Stiff shocks make your car awful. 8 on QA1s (out of 16) was unbearable. 4 was nice, I'll try 2 or 3 in future.