Snow Handling

[ragingfish]

Well, the Vibe does seem to do a bit better in the snow this time around (30 inches!!!)...in comparison to the way I felt it did in my prior snow post (Handling, you say?)...but it was still slipping a lot. So what did I do? Bought 300 lbs of sand bags!!! I have 150 lbs in the hatch, 50 lbs each in the left and right rear seat wells, and 50 lbs in the front passenger seat. It's not perfect, doesn't do a huge benefit, but it does help weigh the car down overall. Anyone know the maximum weight capacity of the hatch area (I was driving with all 300 lbs back there for several days), and if it's bad to have a lot of weight (300#) on the rear suspension for seveal days to a week? I don't know if it can weaken the springs or anything...

[ragingfish]

Screw INTO them? That sounds difficult, and risky...or do you mean something that securely affixes to them, without actually doing anything to the springs? LOL!

[robdog]

I don't understand why with a front wheel drive would you put weight in the back. This just makes the car have to pull more weight and probaly make the tires spin more. Please correct me if I am wrong...

[Sub-Vibe-R]

quote:Screw INTO them? That sounds difficult, and risky...or do you mean something that securely affixes to them, without actually doing anything to the springs? LOL!I doubt is it screw. I bough some for my Cavalier (my subwoofer was dropping the rear of 2") You have to lift up the car, insert the rubber part between 2 turns of the coil and that all.

[Frosty]

quote:I don't understand why with a front wheel drive would you put weight in the back. This just makes the car have to pull more weight and probaly make the tires spin more. Please correct me if I am wrong...I am with you, unless you have awd. We FWD people need 4 snow or ice tires for maximum effect. Weight in the back will do little to help. In the front foot well is another matter. There is a safety issue though.... Is all that weight strapped down? In the event of an accident you could be crushed/whacked by your sandbags .

[ragingfish]

Yeah, the whole front wheel drive / sand in the back thing did occur to me. But I asked someone and they said it can help reduce skidding and fishtailing. Not that it happens a lot...but I do feel like there is a bit more stability...in regards to safety, I used the tire tie-down straps to keep the rear ones from flying forward, though since I didn't lower the rear seats, I'm not too concerned. In the back, I wedged a sandbag under each of the front seats...but again, they're very heavy, I'm not too worried about one flying up...and in the front, I moved the passenger seat forward to make it VERY hard to get the bag out...so overall, I think I have a system down...But you do raise an interesting point, perhaps I'll try putting 100 lbs each behind the two front seats, and 100 in the front well...I was hoping sand would resolve the problem, snow tires are very expensive, and it's a pain to have them put on and taken off.

[Lorin]

Ff = u Fn - That is, the Force of friction = the coefficient of friction X the normal force. The more weight, the more friction.BUT - don't forget about the pendulum affect! Adding all the weight increases the moment of inertia of the vehicle and reduces your ability to recover in the event you start to slide or spin. Plus, changing the weight distribution in the vehicle can have negative affects on handling.I had a 2WD S-10 (bad even on wet roads) - A small amount of tube sand over the drive axle, like 3 bags helped a little, but more than that and it went from oversteer to understeer. It was a case of SURPRISE!!! The moral of this story is a little extra weight may help but there is a limit where handling will get worse.

[ragingfish]

Does anyone know what these suspension "stiffners" run cost-wise? Can I leave them on all the time? Will they change the feel of the ride significantly?Is simply jacking each rear tire individually, as if to change it, enough to free the suspension to install the devices?Thanks all!

[ragingfish]

Is this what you're talking about? Click here

[ragingfish]

Do you know what it's actually called, the one you're talking about? Is it a stabalizer as well?

[ragingfish]

Thanks dude, you rock!

[ragingfish]

Ok. So I went to the auto store today. I picked up "rubber coil spring boosters." Two kinds: front and back. How interesting. This is what they look like:these are the "front" ones: these are the "back" ones: silver: first, are these what you're talking about?Second, ironically, the springs in the vibe are opposite: the front one has the larger gaps between spirals than the rear. Adn the rear ones are hard to get to!!! But that aside, they don't freakin fit! LOL! The springs are too compact, I couldn't even get the doohickies in. Has anyone by chance installed a set of these, and if so, where did you get ones that fit? Otherwise, any other thoughts where I can get spring boosters?

[MadBill]

I've always called these "spring rubbers". (The NASCAR guys call them that too.) They are usually designed for big American Iron, but with a sharp knife or a hacksaw, you could likely trim them down for the Vibe. A prybar or maybe a short bolt with a nut threaded on could perhaps be used to jack two coils apart to squeeze one in. (A spritz of WD40 wouldn't hurt either.) I have also seen metal spacers built like a short bolt with about 1/2 turn of "thread" that could be screwed in between coils. Lastly, there are those that feel this kind of spacer creates a high point load on the coil, leading to potential spring breakage.(Notwithstanding the above, I'm considering using them in the winter to cancel some of the drop when I get my 2" lowering TEIN S springs installed.)

[ragingfish]

I jacked it up as if I was going to change a tire...but I didn't try to force it in at all...didn't want to risk breaking anything. Let me ask you an interesting question. While searchin for "spring rubbers" (sounds dirty, yet fun! thanks for that one madbill )...I saw these things there...I can't find it on the web, but it was some sort of kit for rear suspension, it said it would keep the car level when towing or carrying significant weight in the rear...in the box was a whole bunch of hardware and two short, maybe 12", springs...does this sound like a replacement kit, or an add on? Would I be better off with stronger springs, or just the boosters? Thanks all! This is really helpful!silver -- your help is greatly appreciated, take all the time you need. i appreciate it dude!

[MadBill]

Maybe it's time to "fall back and regroup" here, ragingfish! Recalling that the original objective was snow traction, you're now about to embark on a complete suspension rework! (and going the wrong way to boot, namely UP, compared to most members looking to get a little slammed...)You might be better off to settle for whatever ballast you can safely/comfortably fit in the front passenger's footwell, leave the springs alone, and just go for more aggressive snow tires if that's not enough. Ballast at the back will hurt traction and just cancel out any extra rear braking grip it produces.

[Cubanpete]

You are correct with a Front Wheel drive car!

[ragingfish]

Well, yeah, as previously said, I really want to avoid the huge expense of snow tires if at all possible...so I am looking for an alternative for that....but I do often haul around significant weight in the back of my car (up to 500 lbs sometimes)...so I want to find a way to keep the car from getting weighed down so much I cna't use the rearview mirror when that happens.

[ragingfish]

Now to just find a way to squeeze them buggers in there...

[ragingfish]

Yeah, perhaps. Not sure how big they are. But I'll def take a look at them.But hey, if you remember what you're thinking of, do tell me!

[DABEAR95]

Just want to let you know that the spacers do work, however they do cause more stress on the spring in certain spots and will wear the spring out faster. How much faster I can not say.Just think about how a spring compresses and how it will compress with the spacer...Jason