Hi,

I don't know much about suspensions but need to find an answer to some questions. What in our car makes the ride more "rougher" and you feel the road very well? My mom has a Toyota Solara Covertible and I have very little road feel which obviously feels better. Is this the shocks or the springs or something else that determines the road feel? Can I upgrade or adjust something to get a better feeling and I guess more isolated ride? Any drawbacks? In my car, I feel every little road imperfection!

 

Since no one else has posted...

The CL type S is fitted w/ a sport tuned suspension. The S stands for sport. From the acura.com webpage:

The CL Type-S suspension was stiffened to be more responsive and to give the driver a more immediate sense of the road surface. In front and rear, the Type-S uses stiffer springs, higher damper compression and rebound damping. In a CL Type-S with 6-speed manual transmission, the weight savings allow for shorter front springs, which help to lower the front profile slightly. A larger-diameter rear stabilizer bar helps reduce body roll during cornering, and longer bumper stops give the CL Type-S a sportier feel.

These are some of the reasons why I bought a CLS instead of a regular CL

Hope this helps,

 

Shocks, springs, tires, sway bars will all impact the "feel" of the car over broken pavement and small irregularities.

Also, the "springing"/"foam"/construction in the seat itself can impact how a car will feel (at least through your butt).

And, the make and model of car can alter the type of rubber and/or bushing materials to add additional compliance that makes a difference over the "small stuff" (in the road) at the expense (in some cases) of reduced cornering potential.

There is also the issue of body flex and rigidity and some cars have subframe / subcarriers that isolate road vibrations..

If you want less road feel (meaning a more floating and comfortable ride), you might consider turning to the parts used on a CLP (as opposed to the CLS) to reduce the shock dampening and spring stiffness.

You might also want to check your tire pressure when they are dead cold (car should not move and you should have a good tire gauge in hand). They sell very accurate digital gauges at Radio Shack (and other locations). The factory cold pressure should be set to 32PSI. Someone else complained about the harshness of their CLS ride one day, and their tires were set way to high (I'm not saying that's what is going on ... but, you might want to check that).

The drawback to making the ride softer (without some elaborate electronic systems that are not available for our car) is – you will have more body roll and will trade cornering performance and handling for a “softer ride” (You will also get more brake dive and so on…)

 

OK, thanks for the responses! I assumed there is a tradeoff if I had a suspension soft like my mom's car. I actually like my suspension a lot, its just my mom's complains that she can't easily talk to me! Screw her! I'll check on my tire pressure soon to make sure.

 

Eric, probably dumb question, but here it goes:

Is it true that cars with very stiff suspention get more damaged by bad roads ( having big holes ). vs. cars that have very soft suspentions ( the ones they put in cadilacs or other very luxary cars). Every big bump or hole I drive through on my CLS, my hart bleeds when I hear/feel this horrible impact. On the other hand, soft suspensions ( not sport) will give you less horrible sound and softer feeling.... is this only psycological effect, or softer suspensions indeed give you better protection from big bumps/holes.

 

Basically, my man, if you want it even softer than stock, you shoulda got a CL-P or Accord EX V6.

Btw, DC has some of the worst roads ever.

 

Yea, I was just in DC tonite (saw Jay Leno @ G.W. University!) and man those roads suck. But once I my hit tax-hungry MD home, those roads smooth out!

 

Its funny that you say this because I actually did somthing about it. I put on cl-p shocks and took off the sway bars. I also put 16" rims on with highly recommended tires. All of this helped a little but not worth the time and effort. Currently since I have extra shocks, I'm going to see what I can do about modifying the absorbtion rate. I am currently trying to find out what type of fluid is inside the shocks. Also if I can modify the ram inside the shock. Anyway if anyone reads this please let me know if this can or cannot be done. Thanks

 

It's not a good idea to put on the CL-P shocks without putting on the springs as well. The harshness of the ride comes from the springs. The springs and shocks are tuned together so the shocks dampen out the bounce from the spring. With CL-P shocks and CL-S springs, you're going to find the car bounces more over bumps.

You actually took off the sways, and never put anything back on?!?! Wow! That must be a suicide ride now! You have to have some sort of sway to stop the side to side rocking. Hit a corner without sways, and you get enough body roll to pull the inside tires off the ground!

Shocks are PRESSURIZED. Not a good idea to go messing around with them.

The 16" tires will give you a softer ride (less sidewall).

:o

 

Softer when combined with a longer spring travel, can help to “cushion” and reduce the peak “G” loading on the various parts. It also will reduce the twisting/bending force on the chassis – a source of squeaks and metal fatigue.

However, just putting a soft suspension on a car can have disastrous results if the suspension bottoms out.

And, depending on how the “soft” riding characteristic is obtained, might have a large influence on just how much damage is done to the suspension, I could think of a suspension that was made with very light and resilient materials that could be “harder”, but hold-up longer to a given road (and driving style). OTOH, given equal materials and a soft suspension with long travel to compensate for the lower spring rate and damping, it should cause less damage and wear to the bushings, struts, chassis, control arms, and so on…