ride quality

[VIBEPOWER]

Hi fellow vibers. I have owned my vibe for three years and I find the ride quality a little jittery. I realize small cars tend to ride a little harsher, but has anyone modified for ride quality? ie. different shocks, etc.

[lovemyraffe]

Welcome, I haven't done much to mine other than put a bigger than stock tire on. That seemed to help a little.

[BlueCrush]

If you think it is your shock that are degrading over time, you can get (better than) oem replacements here: http://www.racinglab.com/kyb-gr2-set-155.html

[VivaVibe]

Good question. I don't think I've seen any discussion about mods for a smoother ride. I do believe that ensuring proper size and type of tire and tire pressure are critical. Also, periodically have the tires rotated and balanced, and check the alignment. Taking care of these items should help.Some have said that using lowering springs and aftermarket sway bars improves the handling. But, I'm not sure if that also means a "smoother" ride.

[Mavrik]

I always thought my Vibe had a very smooth ride... but unlike you, that wasn't what I was going for so I modified my suspension big time.I'd suggest maybe switching to a 15" rim which would give you a larger sidewall to soften the ride.

[ramenboy...]

mav beat me to it. the vibe had a nice smooth ride with the stock 16s on them. when i upgraded to 17s, i noticed a harsher ride...less air for the car to float on. going 15" would definitely make for smoother ride, but i'm not sure how the car would look

[northvibe]

yeah when mine was "newer" it had a great ride....now..with the lowering springs hahha its stiff...to say the least i like the handling improvements more than the "stiff" ride....so i put up with it.

[lovemyraffe]

You can keep the 16" and get a larger tire. I put a 205/60 instead of the stock 205/55 and that made a huge difference. It doesn't mess with the speedo either.

[prathman]

Quote, originally posted by lovemyraffe »You can keep the 16" and get a larger tire. I put a 205/60 instead of the stock 205/55 and that made a huge difference. It doesn't mess with the speedo either.Well, it is a larger outside diameter, so it will make the speedometer read a few percent lower. But since the speedometer reads a few percent too high with the stock tire size this should make the readings more accurate.But I agree with previous posts that if you really want a smoother ride then switching to 15" rims and a higher profile ratio tire (larger sidewalls) will make for a big difference in the ride quality, albeit with a slight degradation of handling. Use one of the tire size calculators to choose a size that gives you an outside diameter of about 25" so you don't change the speedometer/odometer readings by too much (stock size is 24.9" outside diameter).

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by VIBEPOWER »Hi fellow vibers. I have owned my vibe for three years and I find the ride quality a little jittery. I realize small cars tend to ride a little harsher, but has anyone modified for ride quality? ie. different shocks, etc. First off, welcome..!! My mother has had struts SEIZE up on her Subaru Forester, it's possible something like that could be happening... Go to each corner and push down on the bumper, are you getting proper movement?? My moms car, you would push and it would sort of "pop" and then move, after I replcaed the strut, smooth again, and the old strut was definitly seized up compaired to the new one...