VX's BUMPY RIDE?!?!

[Raque Thomas]

One other thing - I don't know if you are running stock tires/wheels - but I noticed a MAJOR change in the ride quality (much rougher) when I mounted Pirelli 285/55/18 Scorpions on my stock rims. Not sure if the tires are just that much stiffer or what, but I definitely feel EVERY imperfection in the road now. My passenger seat has developed a very annoying rattle over bumps as it shakes back and forth.

[jimbo]

Is not part of the reason for the bumpy ride the short wheelbase? I've noticed in certain big empty parking lots, that must subtly dip and rise as I cut across, my VX gets rocking so bad I think I have a flat or something.

Some roads around here are like that too (not as bad though). When I'm on a road like that and reach up to adjust my radio volume I often accidentally turn it off (it just takes a slight push on the volume knob of course) because the "rocking horse effect" as a previous poster called it, causes my fingers to plunge into the volume knob

[scarpezio]

I know exactly what you mean. Now, whenever I go to adjust the volume, I first brace my middle finger on the dash and then adjust the knob with thumb and index finger.

[jimbo]

I know exactly what you mean. Now, whenever I go to adjust the volume, I first brace my middle finger on the dash and then adjust the knob with thumb and index finger.

Great tip, I'm gonna try that.

[Offroad vx]

The cure for speed bumps is to go faster. Really.
I'm sure it is tougher on the suspension, but it can really smooth out the jaring effect of the bump. This goes for most any car too, not just the VX.

I'm a true believer in "when in doubt -GAS IT!" but unfortunatley these aren't regular speed bumps they're table tops and hitting them hard is not the solution. Although I wish it was since I have 6 between home and work eachway!

[CIATexan]

Whats this about the BIlstiens? any one tried them, or compared ride between the rancho's and the billstein?

[OZ VX]

Green Dragon, you talked about cutting the rear bumper stops. How much space should there be, I have around 10mm or less and it doesn't seem to anywhere near enough. Also, does anyone know if the standard springs are red in colour for Jap model VX.

Not going to really help CIAtexan, but I have Bilstiens in my Supra and they offer a really nice ride with good performance for me.

[VehiGAZ]

Texan,

If you search the forums for "shocks" you will see what everyone has to say about the different models. If I'm not mistaken, I think Hotsauce is the only one who has tried both the Bilsteins and the Racnhos. Many people have posted rave reviews of the Rancho 9000s (the 5000s seem to be too soft), but a couple of posters have noted that they are not as stiff as the originals even at the highest setting, and that the adjustment is only for the bump stiffness, not the rebound, which is the real key to an "athletic" ride. The few who have tried the Bilsteins (B46-1738-H1 or -H2 front and B46-1739-H1 rear) all posted favorable reviews of them. Those are the ones I've decided to go with in my VX, which had KYB Gas-A-Just shocks on it when I bought it. While I've never experienced the stock ride, I know that the wild pitching and rebounding I experience sometimes ain't right at all.

Good luck!

[peewog]

GAZ,

Are you installing the shocks yourself or taking them to a shop? I have my VX up for sale because the ride is killing my back. I'd be real interested to know the outcome of your mod. Keep us posted.

P

[VehiGAZ]

Peewog, we're neighbors! PM me if you want to get together to compare rides. In fact, I REALLY want to if you still have the stock shocks, because I have not driven a stock-suspension VX yet, so I have no idea what the ride is supposed to be like.

I haven't decided if I will try to install myself yet, but I am leaning toward DIY'ing it. Hell, if you want a soft ride, you can I'll give you the KYB Gas-A-Justs that are in my VX now. You're back will be fine, but you'll turn into a bobble-head from all the bouncing around you'll be doing.

And yes, I will post my observations on the new ride as soon as I get the Bilsteins in.

VehiGAZ

[davidashaw]

Hi
I have a US 2000 VX which had stock shocks when it arrived last year, (67000 miles) 2 shocks were shot, also had 255-55-18 tires, Very rough ride, compared to my Jap VX. Changed tires to Scorpion Zero 285-60-18 @ 40psi. and fitted Ranchero shocks, have experimented with settings and about 7 gives a great ride, not too much float and corners well, lower settings are very smothe but can bounce and roll a bit when thrown into a corner, for what its worth!.

[VehiGAZ]

Well, it's done. I installed my Bilsteins this weekend. The verdict: WOW! What a difference! Seems to be a very good balance between control and comfort.

I have yet to drive a stock suspension (I'll get back to you this week, Peewog!), so I can't compare the ride to that yet. But the Bilsteins reduced my suspension movements by about 50% compared to the KYBs. Much better ride, much better body control, and no penalty in harshness. But I think I would have liked to reduced my body motions by about 75%, I think. I will confirm this after Peewog and I swap rides to compare suspensions. I'll post more then.

Just to recap, I had KYB Gas-A-Just shocks in my VX when I bought it - likely a previous owner's attempt to soften the jarring ride for life in Queens. They gave a very uncontrolled, bouncy, excessive-body-roll-and-braking-dive kind of ride. I researched this site thoroughly, and decided to go with the Bilsteins (always pronounced BEEL-shteins by my father-in-law): B46-1738-H1 in front and B46-1739-H1 in back. I got them at Shox.com for about $255 delivered (such a deal!).

Anyway, The whole job took 5 hours by start-to-finish, working all by myself, without ever having even jacked up my VX before. With the couple of tricks and techniques I figured out, it could take as little as 3 or 3 1/2 hours, I think. I'll try to post my tips and observations this week. Most others posters complained about getting the upper bolts loose on the rears, but I had the most difficulty with the fronts because of the upper post-type mount. But more on this later...

[VehiGAZ]

FOLLOW-UP POST: Peewog and I drove each other's VXs last night - hers with OEM shocks and mine with the the new Bilsteins - and I can report that the Bilsteins provide about 97% of the damping that the OEM shocks do. No joke - I've been paying attention. Bump, rebound, and body motions were nearly identical between the two VXs. I thought mine transmitted road surface imperfections a bit more than hers, but I'm chalking that up to different tires rather than the shocks. Her tires were probably just a little softer than mine, so I got more vibrations from the road surface. But as for bump and rebound, the bigger jolts, dips, and heaves had about the exact same effect with either shock.

[VXcaver]

I did the Bilstein thing a few weeks ago and love 'em.

VehiGAZ - how did you get them compressed? I tried everything (sitting on them, putting them under a bench and stacking weights...) and finally took them to a mechanic to install. Were they supposed to be wired in a retracted position when the arrived?

[VehiGAZ]

Well, compressing the new shocks so I could mount them was the #1 trick to figure out (they arrived uncompressed). I compressed each a couple of times against the pavement to try to loosen them up (mostly in my mind, I suppose) because I noticed a high initial resistance before they started compressing. That was about all the prep work I did though.

For the rears, it wasn't a problem at all, because the uncompressed shock fit almost perfectly when the lower control arm was hanging down loose. I put the whole rear end of the VX up on 2 stands, and I used the jack to lift and drop the control arm as necessary to get the shock to slide into place. Piece of cake.

For the fronts, I again put the whole front up on the stands to work on it. I mounted the lower end of the shock first (finger-tight). Next, I put the lower half of the upper bushing on the upper post mount and leaned it up against the upper shock mount.

I first used a crowbar against the top of the post to begin compressing the shock. I compressed it enough to wedge the bushing plate under the edge of the shock mount and released the crowbar. Then I used a hefty flat-head screwdriver to compress the shock a little more by prying the bushing and then the plate against the underside of the mount until I could get the top of the bushing wedged under the edge of the shock mount. I was able to release the shock again at this point. Then I got a second big flat-head screwdriver, and used each in turn to compress the shock some more with one, then to keep it from extending again with the other.

There are two holes in the wheel well under the shock mount which I stuck the tip of each screwdriver into as a leverage point. When I got the shock compressed to where the top of the post was about about an inch or more lower then the shock mount, I quickly sort of pried the shock into place under the mount and let it expand right up into the post hole, or tried to get in back of it (i.e., deeper in) if I missed. Keep yoru fingers clear when doing this!! It doesn't expand terribly quickly, but you don't want to get caught in the way. If the post got caught near the edge of the mount hole, I used a mallet to knock it into place and let it expand. I then installed the upper half of the bushing and plate, and that was it.

By the way, I used about the same technique to remove the old front shocks. Just make sure you loosen the lower front bolts first, then remove the the top post from the upper mount, THEN pull the lower mount bolt and remove the shock! Otherwise, the lower mount will wedge itself against the control arm in one of several awkward spots (like against the brake line!) - I speak from experience.

And while I'm at it, I removed the old rear shocks by dropping the control arm, then using the jack to adjust the height of the control arm so that the shock was as close to its "neutral" position as possible (i.e., not being compressed and not being stretched). This is of course not a concern if the old shock is completely dead - it won't want to return to a neautral position. When it's close to the neutral position, remove the upper bolt most of the way, and use that as an indicator of where the exact neutral spot of the shock is. If the bolt is pointing up, the shock is being stretched and is pulling down, so you need to raise the control arm. If the bolt is pointing down, the shock is compressed and is pushing on the bolt, so lower the control arm a little to find the sweet spot. When it's in its neutral position, it should be fairly easy to remove. Again, remove the upper bolt first, then the lower one.

A note on torquing the bolts - Each mount has its own torque specs (see one of the VX service manuals), and the service manual says to put the bolts in finger-tight, then torque each to spec with the suspension loaded (i.e., on the ground), but that was just about impossible to do without it being on a full lift. I don't know about you guys, but my torque wrench is about two feet long (heh-heh), and there is NO WAY it's going to fit under the VX when it is on the ground. I was actually able to tighten the post mount nuts with the torque wrench (although I had to use channel-lock pliers to hold the shock shaft while I tightened the nut with torque wrench). But I just tightened everything else to hand-wrench-tight, which is how tight it was when I removed the old shocks.

I hope that description of the procedure makes sense. I guess I explained the steps backwards, but close enough to git 'er done. If anyone has any questions, PM me or post here.

I wish I had taken a couple of pics or a video of the screwdriver-prying technique to share with the board, but I wouldn't have wanted to even look at our digi-cam with my filthy hands. I could have gotten the wife to handle the camera, but she was inside the house cleaning, and you know you don't want to disturb that!