What are the real variables that control and influence ride quality?
- Thread starter Irun
- Start date
One of these days you are going to find something you like well enough to keep it, right now all we know is that isn't females or Jeeps. Maybe time to explore alternatives, like maybe Kias and boys.A wife cancels out all those other "assaults on our senses". I just took a 2 hour road trip with my Jeep and wife. She didn't stop talking the entire time. I was actually thinking of leaving her at the gas station when I filled up.
Not really, I am one of the few that can dial the extraneous distractions out and focus on what I am evaluating. And in this case, both were on the same very quiet interior red TJ Unlimited.
Sorry that I misinterpreted .. re-reading your original comment, I now see what you meant. What you are saying has more to do with tire compound and the tire compliance rather than the noise aspect of it, correct? Even though I try not to let this happen too often, my own biases and conclusions color my perception of what I read and hear. I need to pay more attention.
It's easy to turn on and off. Feeling conversational? Take the surface highways and keep it under 65. Want some time to think? Get on the interstate.
I would agree with you. I would also add that you could have a perfectly functioning and attached exhaust system that could negatively impact ride quality, if the particular noise and tone of said exhaust didn't agree with your sensibilities.
Here is something to consider: seats… my ride quality is extremely better with my new PRP suspension seats compared to my 20 year old stock seats.
The factory seats are shit. It was evident when I drove LJ2 17 hours home, I missed my Mastercrafts badly and so did my ass and back.
Yeah it’s pretty remarkable how much a good seat makes a difference. I drive to most of the parks I wheel at usually about 2 hours, so 8-10 hours in the saddle makes for a long day, but my new seats make it a lot more enjoyable.
After wheeling 7 days straight in Moab, not once did I complain about being sore because of the seat. Before I got seats it was an issue.
OP
I had to think about this one a little. Perhaps, tires are a bigger factor than we think. Let's ask a simpler question. What are M/T tires designed and built for? Hint, it's not ideal road conditions. They are purpose built, i.e. to excel off-road. As such, there are compromises for using them in typical road conditions. Can they be daily driven? Sure, but both the quality and comfort level with them isn't going to be the same as a tire built for typical road/highway use.
Thus far, this thread has me thinking about the vehicles ride from two perspectives:
1. com·fort [ˈkəmfərt]
NOUN
a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint:
"room for four people to travel in comfort"
2. qual·i·ty [ˈkwälədē]
NOUN
the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something:
"an improvement in product quality" ·
For the purposes of this thread, the latter is closer to what I was thinking about originally. Specifically, the "standard" that should be measured against is a new (let's say broken in) stock Jeep. With that in mind, anything we do to them should at least maintain the stock level of ride "quality" or, preferably, improve it. To be clear, I'm not saying the factory ride was ideal, but that a reference is needed.
I've never driven a Jeep built by Blaine, so I couldn't even begin to speak to what that is like. There are a couple here that can though. However, I have driven dozens of Jeeps over the last 20 years. Out of those, maybe three or four modified versions barely met stock ride quality. Only a couple were better than stock. What that tells me is that we've learned to accept the crappy vendor marketing as fact, and, as a consequence, mediocre rides. It's my hope for this thread that we can more easily consolidate some of the larger "smartness" into the original post. That way getting the key points won't require a significant amount of detective work. I can't say if it will be successful, but we should give it a shot!
OP
Good point here. The appropriate word should be "effect".
ef·fect
/əˈfekt/
noun: effect; plural noun: effects
a change which is a result or consequence of an action or other cause.
"the lethal effects of hard drugs"
OP
My experience would tell you shocks made a huge difference, from stock to Fox, then shocks win again, from the outboard that was done by @mrblaine and the Fox shocks that were tuned and installed (huge difference), lastly, I swapped out the front AntiRock to the Sway Loc and that made a massive difference as well...I can't emphasize enough how much fun my TJ is to drive. I run Cooper STT Pro's and I could give two shits if they are loud or not, the doors and top are normally off and I enjoy the noise!
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OP
With the stock ride quality as a baseline, I'm going to put seats in the category of #1
1. com·fort [ˈkəmfərt]
NOUN
a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint:
"room for four people to travel in comfort"
2. qual·i·ty [ˈkwälədē]
NOUN
the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something:
"an improvement in product quality" ·
If you want the extreme when it comes to tires, I switched from 33x12.5 TSLs on steel wheels to 35x12.5 KM3s on AR61 aluminum wheels and the difference is night and day. Bias to Radial and while the KM3s are a touch taller I lost almost 25 pounds per corner. And I only ever run 20 psi in the TSLs on the street and 25 in the KM3s.
There are no seats, exhaust, tires, suspension, rims, or axles that I would trade for a set of properly tuned reasonably biased, and reasonable travel shocks.
I have been able to build mine within the ballpark of a Blaine build and I still have some upcoming work to do that will bring it closer. While I have long forgotten what the stock ride was from 8-9 years ago, I do know that the near sports car like ride and handling I have now is unlike any previous iteration of my build. It is absolutely delightful. This didn't start to take shape until the shocks and the SwayLoc. The recent low mileage steering box only helped make things more great. I will also go out on a limb and say that the MTRs are high on the list of well-behaving tires on the street I have had. (As long as you keep them frequently balanced and rotated!)
Careful there. In your original post, you use the word as a verb. The verb you're looking for is affect.
And again, how about a paragraph below each item, explaining why it appears in that list instead of the other?