I am quickly finding out that the stock suspension of my car and the roads that I drive 60 miles per day are not mixing well. I drive simply awful highways. The type with missing cement, speedbumps in the middle of the lane, potholes everywhere, bridges with awful trenches of expansion joints. You name the enemy of the car, and I face it on my daily commute.
First it was a couple of rattles in the brackets of the rear seats. What actually fixed that was sticking a couple of athletic socks under the seats so that they no longer moved. Next it was a couple of pieces of the door trim that were rattling. I pulled the screws out, and reattached everything, and it seemed to help.
Still everytime I go over one of these large bumps I can see the entire dash moving and flexing. It's simply awful and really getting on my nerves. The ride is extremely harsh for my environment, and I am really thinking of trying to change the suspension and tire setup, but I know that this can become a neverending "princess and the pea" scenario. I cannot tell you how many suspension setups I went through with my old VW GTI, never being happy till the day the car got tboned. I have taken road trips in this car here and there and have driven on civilized roads. I find that the suspension really works well on nicer surfaces, but sadly I seem to live in a mad max type of environment.
So here I am with the dash now making a sqeaking sound. I have found that if I take my fist and hit the top of the dash directly above the SID, I will hear the squeak, so it is somewhere in this area. But I guess in reality I want to take a weekend and really secure things down everywhere.
Does anyone have any advice, or a link to a good DIY tutorial on pulling apart the dash of one of these cars and securing everything with additional foam, etc..?
Thanks,
Doug
First it was a couple of rattles in the brackets of the rear seats. What actually fixed that was sticking a couple of athletic socks under the seats so that they no longer moved. Next it was a couple of pieces of the door trim that were rattling. I pulled the screws out, and reattached everything, and it seemed to help.
Still everytime I go over one of these large bumps I can see the entire dash moving and flexing. It's simply awful and really getting on my nerves. The ride is extremely harsh for my environment, and I am really thinking of trying to change the suspension and tire setup, but I know that this can become a neverending "princess and the pea" scenario. I cannot tell you how many suspension setups I went through with my old VW GTI, never being happy till the day the car got tboned. I have taken road trips in this car here and there and have driven on civilized roads. I find that the suspension really works well on nicer surfaces, but sadly I seem to live in a mad max type of environment.
So here I am with the dash now making a sqeaking sound. I have found that if I take my fist and hit the top of the dash directly above the SID, I will hear the squeak, so it is somewhere in this area. But I guess in reality I want to take a weekend and really secure things down everywhere.
Does anyone have any advice, or a link to a good DIY tutorial on pulling apart the dash of one of these cars and securing everything with additional foam, etc..?
Thanks,
Doug