stiff suspension/ springs = bad for your tire?

finch13 · Feb 16, 2009

On another note, I'm gonna have 18" wheels soon and will be dropping my Koni's down to all the way soft. After blowing out the rim on a 14" steel wheel hitting a pothole, I can only imagine it will get worse.

Stiff suspension isn't always for the best on regular roads, many times I will be making a turn at speed and the front wheels will actually lift off the pavement and lose grip because of the bumps and ruts I'm driving across.

talontsiawd · Feb 16, 2009

This is my actual experience with my 5th gen. Tire wear became a problem but not due purely to being low and stiff. The bushings wear more easily. Eventually the tire rods and ball joints wore out. So, after every alignment, it would just get off. It was a bitch to problem solve, it became my brothers car and he eventually just replaced everything as it was too costly to do one thing and find it had no effect on tire wear.

So yeah, i wouldn't be concerned specifically about the tires. I just ended up with other issues because of other components failing causing camber to fluctuate enough to have bad tire wear. This was over about 80,000 miles, nothing i would think that would happen earlier.

pointblank · Feb 17, 2009

thats pretty cool.. i never thought about that... man.. i love this forum..

eDub · Feb 17, 2009

man this thread got me think twice about coilovers. im saving to buy f2's type 1 and that model doesn't have the adjustable damper. would i run into the same issues cause i dont wanna get them and be creating another bill :thinking:

mista jc · Feb 17, 2009

F2s are not stiff at all. They're pretty sporty and comfortable IMO.

SykVSyx · Feb 17, 2009

finch13 said:
Stiff suspension isn't always for the best on regular roads, many times I will be making a turn at speed and the front wheels will actually lift off the pavement and lose grip because of the bumps and ruts I'm driving across.

I would suggest slowing down then. It's happened to me as well. I have my Yellows on med. stiff front/rear and they will cause the tires to bounce because of that.

Unless your local streets are 'track' smooth it doesn't make sense to have your suspension on the stiffest setting. A good cause for picking up suspension with adjustable damping/stiffness! :coffee:

finch13 · Feb 17, 2009

Yeah, I'm stepping it down to fully soft here pretty quick. I'm sick of friends complaining.

SykVSyx · Feb 17, 2009

I had my fiancee's mom in the car with us over the weekend, I felt bad, she was sitting in the back seat talking, and I could hear it in her voice everytime I went over bumps.

finch13 · Feb 17, 2009

SykVSyx said:
I had my fiancee's mom in the car with us over the weekend, I felt bad, she was sitting in the back seat talking, and I could hear it in her voice everytime I went over bumps.

I had my buddy's GF back there the day after Valentines and could see her head shaking in the rear-view. She wasn't happy.

I've also had to pullover when sober cabbing and let drunk people vomit because the ride was so harsh.

SykVSyx · Feb 17, 2009

finch13 said:
I had my buddy's GF back there the day after Valentines and could see her head shaking in the rear-view. She wasn't happy.

hahahaha, yeah, I noticed that too! My fiancee is used to it though, but it was SO much worse when I had the ebay coilover's on the stock shocks! :eusa_doh: