Thus far, I must say that I have been driving the Forte rather enthusiastically at times (perhaps I thought that since it looks this good, it could perform equivalent to my previous RM180k Coop) and if you factor in the overall package, it has performed well beyond every reasonable doubts and continuously strengthened my confidence towards this lil' marvel of a ride. I mean, for its asking price of RM82k, you're simply hard-pressed to get another C-segment car that performs as well (until the Inspira comes along next month, that is- since it has been well-received by many car journalists and is said to be miles better than the Lancer GT's rather nervous ride at higher speeds).
I lamented about the bounciness, and asked the sifus if they could play around with the settings for a more comfortable ride without invalidating the factory warranty. Below are some of the trials and errors that went towards the tweaking of the Forte in our pursuit for comfort :
1) Changing the standard springs to Eibach improved the cornering and handling capabilities even further, but also contributed to the harshness of the ride. A subsequent change to H&R provided a smoother and softer ride, but not necessarily too significant compared to the standard ones so it may not be worth the monies to be spent.
Verdict : Reverted to the original setup so that the optimum height was maintained.
2) Changing the tyres and rims from 17" to 15" immediately brought severe improvements to the harshness of the ride; but it was generally felt that the car was more nervous at high speeds and cornering thereafter (could be due to reverse psychology?). In any case, it was agreed that the 17" sports rims was more suitable for the Forte's C-segment size and simply looked better.
Verdict : Reverted to the original 17" sports rims. Sucker maybe?
3) The sifus believed that changing the provided Kumhos to other brands, albeit the models that promote comfort and quietness eg Goodyear F1 Asy or Michelin PS3, would improve the comfort of the ride tremendously. However, as the suggested tyres are new and can't be tested just for the fun of our lil' experiment, and my Kumhos still have 90% thread left, they decided to lower the tyre pressure from the initial 34 psi to 32 psi- and voila, the ride was immediately improved upon and was more comparable to the benchmark set as my friend's Altis 1.8.
Verdict : Looks like 32 psi is going to be the new setting adopted until the F1 Asy or PS3 becomes the Forte's new shoes in future.
With the new comfort level, the passengers are more agreeable with the choice of using the Forte SX for our city runabouts instead of the other rides. Funny how much benefits could be derived from 2 packets of tea tarik, 3 hours of experiment and a bunch of motor-heads.
Hi, I got my new Forte 2 weeks ago. I keep telling people the tyre is too hard and driving it in KL is just too bouncing! It bothers me a lot, and I could find people talking about it any where...until I found this blog post!
ReplyDeleteIt's a savior to the situation. I tried it today to lower my tyre pressure to 32 psi. Phew...it's a totally different experience at all! Thanks a lot for the tips!
One thing that puzzle me, when I checked on the label stick along driver seat. The 17" tyre supposedly to have normal and max load at 32 psi. But when I lower it down, it seem to be at 36-40 psi level. How could that be? What did they take that default for a new car, I couldn't understand.
As to speak, I am overall satisfied with all the other aspects of the car. :)