Suspension, Sunday Drive & New Swift Sport

After countless attempts to rectify the suspension problem, I decided to fix the best suspension in the world for the Swift Sport;  it is called stock suspension. Made up of Monroe shocks and black-colored springs, they proved to be the best suspension for all weather, terrain and value for money. Sure, the car sits a bit higher and does not look so cool without that low-down stance but you will appreciate it when you take off from bridges like what happen during the Sunday drive we had today. I do not want to rattle on about how good the stock suspension is but take my word for it, you want a cheap and efficient system, put back the stock suspension. Once again, I say this: a bunch of Suzuki engineers cannot be wrong.

We had a blast during today's Sunday drive. It was a recce trip to see what the west coast had to offer. The roads were nothing to shout about but the scenery was truly beautiful. We also had a taste of what WRC drivers go through because some of the road were really narrow, muddy and bumpy. The cars came back all caked up with mud but more importantly, nothing broke. That is the beauty of a Swift Sport; it has the right amount of power, handling and strength to do almost anything and if anything breaks, it is not expensive to fixed. Here are pictures of where we were today.

Which brings me to the 2011 Swift Sport that will be launched later this year. I hope the design turns out based on the concept car.

Melted Rear Diffuser

How hot is exhaust gas? Very Hot. So hot, it melted the rear diffuser! But of course, if you set up your exhaust system properly, you would not have such a problem. The Supertrapp end caps directs the hot exhaust gas around the disc compared to the conventional straight through system of normal exhaust system. I had wanted to buy a Supertrapp heat shield to shield the plastic diffuser from the hot air emitting from the end caps but never got round to ordering it. The price I paid is a fairly expensive one but luckily, someone was kind enough to let me have his rear diffuser for the time being. Anyway, I have been thinking about going loud. Those single exit exhaust like Sunline 60SS are really loud and light. The lesser weight on the rear might help to solve the rubbing problem that is really annoying. While the situation has somewhat improved after inserting rubber bump stops on the springs, that is probably not the safest method and certainly, not professional. This problem should be solved once I buy over my friend's Tanabe Sustec Pro.

Nickie 2 Suspension 0

Nickie scored another win today in the suspension department. The Monroe shocks which are supposedly indestructible are broken. I realized this during the drive today. The car was tram-lining and steering was wooly ie. I could be turning the steering wheel but the response seems delayed. On top of that, the car was bottoming out rather easily. Initially, I thought it was the 38mm offset on the Buddy Club wheel that was creating the problem. But, it could not be so because when I ran the Rays rims (offset 42),  I also had 3mm spacers on them giving a final offset of 39mm. Anyway, the bottoming out was so bad, the side walls of the tyres were slightly cut.

This is the second set of suspension after the Tanabe GF coilovers gave way not too long ago. Not surprisingly, when we hit the B roads, the suspension takes a real beating with the kind of speed we are traveling at. So, it is back to the drawing board to find a set of suspension that can withstand the beating of our Sunday drives.

Buddy Club P1 Racing II Wheels

The wheel fetish is incurable. These are the latest wheels that I bought. They are original Made in Japan Buddy Club P1 Racing II wheels with an offset of 38. One more mm and those wheels are going to rub the fenders! Nothing more to say except that these wheels are gorgeous! I hope they are the antidote to this dreadful disease. If you are observant enough, you would also notice the top grill is different. It does not have the S insignia but the meshing is the same as the stock grill. I have been searching for this grill for a long time because I wanted it to match the bottom piece. Enjoy the pictures.