GR86 Might be a bit too stiff!

BOOSTFAN

BOOSTFAN

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Only had the car a couple of weeks but finding the suspension on the rubbish West Yorkshire roads a bit too stiff. Its interesting to compare with my FK8 which is in Sport mode on start up & is definitely more compliant on rough roads & I could go to Comfort which is even better. I wish the 86 had a Comfort mode.
Cleary showing my age now!!
 
Interesting that the Civic feels better - I've not driven one but I can't imagine it's a softie. I find the GR reasonably hard, but better controlled than the GT86 so it's an improvement for me.
 
FRAJ said:
Interesting that the Civic feels better - I've not driven one but I can't imagine it's a softie. I find the GR reasonably hard, but better controlled than the GT86 so it's an improvement for me.
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Same here. Had a pre-facelift GT86, I think the GR86 feels about the same in terms of ride and travel, but as you say, better controlled.
 
BOOSTFAN said:
Only had the car a couple of weeks but finding the suspension on the rubbish West Yorkshire roads a bit too stiff. Its interesting to compare with my FK8 which is in Sport mode on start up & is definitely more compliant on rough roads & I could go to Comfort which is even better. I wish the 86 had a Comfort mode.
Cleary showing my age now!!
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18s won’t help with the ride quality , 17s of a similar wight (or lighter , not hard to do) and tyres with more sidewall compliance may / should make a difference, the ride quality will be the deciding factor for me in the car is staying 🤔
 
Do kind of wish they'd stayed with 17" wheels. The new design is better, but a slightly bigger sidewall seems more practical (I'm **** scared of kerbing them for a start) and I'm not sure if it makes a huge improvement in handling. Also, exacerbates the small brake calipers :D
 
Conscript said:
Do kind of wish they'd stayed with 17" wheels. The new design is better, but a slightly bigger sidewall seems more practical (I'm **** scared of kerbing them for a start) and I'm not sure if it makes a huge improvement in handling. Also, exacerbates the small brake calipers :D
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Problem is the OEMs all appear fixated on bigger diameter wheels , for various reasons) 18s are pretty small by current standards 🤷‍♂️
 
AndyRC said:
18s won’t help with the ride quality , 17s of a similar wight (or lighter , not hard to do) and tyres with more sidewall compliance may / should make a difference, the ride quality will be the deciding factor for me in the car is staying 🤔
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Probably why my FK8 rides a bit better is the fact I swapped out the OE 20" wheels & 30 series tyres to 18" wheels & 40 series Michelins from new.
 
I have to admit the ride is quite firm and has made my Farmer Giles play up again, an inflatable Polo type thingy has cured this and I can enjoy the near flat cornering now :ROFLMAO:
 
ZN8 said:
Having bounced between 17s and 18s on my GT86, the difference it made to ride quality was negligible.
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I’d be interested to see / feel the differences with a set of these in 17inch and a different tyre ? A loss of 4 kg a corner of unsprung wight should be noticeable and experience with my Golf R lighter wheels and different tyres had a noticeable effect on ride quality.

GR86 - GR86 Wheel Library including OEM

This thread is a quick reference to the wheels which are a confirmed fitment for the GR86. There is a separate thread for each wheel which is open for comments and discussion. The U.K. Standard fit 10 spoke black alloys have the following specification so any wheel which matches this should...
www.gr-zoo.com www.gr-zoo.com
 
ZN8 said:
Having bounced between 17s and 18s on my GT86, the difference it made to ride quality was negligible.
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I agree. I've swapped wheels on a few cars in the past including from 18" to 16" on my 993.

A car with stiff suspension remains stiff with smaller and lighter wheels. The improvement in primary ride is marginal.

More sidewall does help secondary ride ie. the ability to deal with smaller road imperfections.

If you want a make a stiff car ride better then change the suspension. The current Subaru BRZ is meant to be a better ride than the GR86.
 
I wondered if the 18s gave better brake cooling? The thin spokes with large air gaps might let more air pass across the discs.

I'm lining up some 16s to go on mine, but haven't had a chance to get some new tyres yet. They are 16x7, and the tyre will be 205 wide, so although the wheel will be much more snug around the disc and caliper, the airstream will be very slightly closer to the brakes 🤔
 
leosayer said:
A car with stiff suspension remains stiff with smaller and lighter wheels. The improvement in primary ride is marginal.

If you want a make a stiff car ride better then change the suspension.
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Agreed...

As @AndyRC stated in an early post 18" wheels aren't large by today's standard anyway, changing wheels to 17" won't make much difference to ride quality.
 
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While there could be a weight saving going to 17's, there's too many negatives. Being 18's allows more clearance for bigger brake setups should you want it, plus being 18's there's normally far more tyre choices and at reasonable prices.

Suspension wise I'm finding it fine. It's local roads which are the issue. Like driving on the moon
 
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