Some questions on suspension

Handling, suspension, and brake tuning discussions
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BustedVibe
Posts: 139
Joined: Sun May 22, 2016 6:27 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Some questions on suspension

Post by BustedVibe »

I've got ~260K miles on my Vibe now. I bought it at 167 (or 176 idk) and at least one of the front struts had been replaced by the dealership.. I don't have the paperwork handy at the moment.. but we'll assume they did both sides. I have no idea if the rears have ever been done.

The only work done to the front end in recent memory has been drivers side sway bar linkage, and few months later, drivers side inner tie rod.

My mechanic has inspected in fairly recent past and said everything appeared tight, etc. No problems. I assume I don't have any shock/struts leaking but I still feel like I want to improve the ride quality of the car.

I'm well aware this thing rides hard and is an economy car, but I'm still wondering if there can still be some degradation in ride quality even if nothing is really "failing" / leaking. I've seen some people say replacing bushings can help restore some ride quality, but then if we're getting into that territory it seems like with the labor involved you might as well replace the shocks and struts anyway ??

Some people have said monroe made no difference for them, others have said they were slightly softer than stock suspension... so I'm not really sure what to think there.

The car doesn't have bounce problems that I can tell, although it does seem easier to push the back down than the front. Maybe that's by design, I don't really know (would make sense for the fronts to be a little stiffer with the weight up there). Sometimes I feel like the left front compresses more but I can't be 100% sure. I only really notice it when at funny grades/angles or really really hard bumps. And it could just be the fact I am on that side of the car..

I've also seen people comment you really feel the fronts in the drivers seat more than the rears. I've ridden in other vibes which seemed a little better also but then I was also in the passenger seat those times..

Also, does anyone know if MacPhearson is just "a name" now ? I can't really find any info but he can get a full set from one shop with a limited lifetime warranty, or we can go his usual nappa route, which is only a 3 year warranty but I'm pretty sure those are rebadged monroes

Mechanic has kind of approached it from the standpoint of "is it leaking? are they bad? why bother, but I'll do it if you want peace of mind". I'm wondering if I shouldn't just start with the front end first and do a complete steering/suspension rebuild if I can allocate the funds (unfortunately need to go through nappa because I don't have time to work on a car and I need it warrantied by mechanic)

I plan to drive this car into the ground / until the transmission dies (hopefully not soon. I had it flushed when I bought it but I'm paranoid of having it done again) so I don't mind spending the money to keep the car in nice shape, even though the value was completely wrecked by a deer years back.. but anyway. It's the only car I got and I just wanna take care of it. I need it for work and drive a not insignificant amount of miles each year.
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zbyers
Posts: 1767
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:12 pm
Location: Sheffield, Pennsylvania

Re: Some questions on suspension

Post by zbyers »

If you truly want to improve the ride, replacing struts, ball joints, tie rod ends, control arms, and tires would take care of most of it.

If your suspension is up to snuff per the mechanic, perhaps it's the tires you're running that are making the ride poor? Most people don't realize how drastically tires can change the way a car rides.

According to Consumer Reports, General Altimax RT43 tires are the best all-season tire for passenger tire. Lemme see if it'll attach the screenshot.

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And for fun, here are winter tires.

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And because times are tough, treat yoself!

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BustedVibe
Posts: 139
Joined: Sun May 22, 2016 6:27 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: Some questions on suspension

Post by BustedVibe »

My tires are a whole different mixed bag. I had another thread about that in the appropriate subforum. I suspect I have at least 1 bad tire, but due to mitigating circumstances and then the whole coronavirus situation unfolding, I never had the time to go back and insist they swap my tires out as defective. I'm past their sale warranty period now and the last thing I want is the headache of dealing with the manufacturer.. I think its a single tire and if I can determine that I'll just replace it and keep the defective one as a full size spare. I don't have any visible deformations (doesn't appear out of round), and the tire shop couldn't find anything visually wrong at the time either... mechanics assistant posited that it could possibly be a snapped metal band within the tire or something.

in either case the impact that has on the ride quality I feel is minimal. I've had the tires rotated once, and now that its warmed up a bit, running them at 32psi gives a fairly decent ride as far as the bad tire vibrations go. I have some shaking in the seat and sometimes through the wheel. Depends on the speed.

I will note however, that it was a lot, a LOT worse prior to me having that tie rod end replaced. They initially moved the tire to the rear of the car, which did improve it, but after I had the tie rod end done I noticed even more improvement. I assumed the tie rod was just amplying the problem and was a symptom not a cause. (the problem never surfaced until new wheels + tires)

However that issue is completely separate from ride quality. These are the second set of Cooper CS5 Ultra's I've owned and I went with them again because they are fairly quiet for road noise, and also they are decently soft in the ride department and have decent snow performance for a touring tire.

I've heard of people going with thicker sidewalls but I'm unsure I really want to do something like that.
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