I'm trying to soften the ride of my Toyota Solaris. Any way outside of buying a new car I can do something??

Just purchased 4 new Goodyear Assurance tires because they supposedly have a great ride to them. Didn't seem to help one bit on the ride as it's stiff as before...

Is it possible to put softer struts on a car?? If so what do you tell the salesmen to put on??

Thanks in advance......

it is possible to put softer struts on a car, if some are available. but that is not very likely to help much. different shocks may make a small difference. have you considered aftermarket seats?

Not struts - but often times different springs will help - you want the struts to keep the same dampening effect. I would look to see if variable rate springs can be put in your car - at the same time new strus should be installed.

One of the best things I have done to my truck and my wifes 2007 Camry is to put the Edelbrock I.A.S. Shocks on them man what a difference and worth every penny IMHO! And I have been building .racing and doing hotrods for over 35yrs.

Thanks. I'll check into the Edelbrock Shocks... I think the Camry and Solara are basically the same car.

Excellent suggestions. You could also choose softer springs, just make sure you change the front and rear the same (or nearly the same) percentage.

Tires have a 'range' that they can be filled (PSI) and still be safe. Try having the tires PSI on the lower side of SAFE PSI fill. DO NOT GO TOO LOW HERE!!!!!!!

All the springs I see for sale are lowering springs to make the car sit lower. Not sure if I want to go that route... I've tried looking for different springs but it keeps bringing up the same ones over and over again...

Not struts - but often times different springs will help - you want the struts to keep the same dampening effect. I would look to see if variable rate springs can be put in your car - at the same time new strus should be installed.

Ditto

put a block of wood at the level you want your car to sit heat them with a torch and let them slow cool.They will ride softer but your car will sit a little lower as a result too.

What are the sizes of tires and wheels that the Solara came with originally, what are any OE optional sizes (usually +1), and what were on your car and what sizes did the Goodyears you put on come to?

Many people go to a plus 1 application (larger diameter wheel with shorter sidewall - these usually hike up the performance of the tire/wheel combo - more responsive and quicker turn in, at the expense, usually, of ride quality.

I'm not familiar with the Assurance but you sometime can find softer touring type tires.

Has your speedo felt off (too fast?)

Bart

The car came with Bridgestones and the Goodyears are the same size.

205/65/15

The speedo seems the same.

Could I go with a 215 tire? That would be a little taller and have more rubber to it.

Heating springs takes out the temper, absolutely the wrong way to do it.

IMO, sell the car. You won't increase ride quality (read floatiness) without sacrificing handling... and to me a car that handles worse than stock is a safety hazard. It won't ever feel like a Buick. Don't get lowering springs!!

How old is the car? Everything I saw via google praised the ride quality.

Evan

BTW; You may consider seeing if you can get a 14" wheel/tire combo for your car. That will give you a taller sidewall without the disadvantage of an improper tire height.

My brother works for Toyota and mentioned the Solara is basically a 2-door variant of the Camry. It probably is just a tad lighter. He said they were not marketed as being significantly stiffer or more sporty than the Camry, although he does think there may have been 1 such variant marketed.

Give us a few other stats on your car - year, miles on chassis and shocks, obviously you have new tires.

Have the shocks ever been changed and do you know if they are gas charged OEM or something else? Softer shocks may be out there and in my experience can change the damping and ride if they were too aggressive before. However, very hard to determine that beforehand unless you get to drive another one so equipped.

You may need to check with the dealer to see if the springs are the same as in the Camry or some type of different spec. But finding compatible new springs with same ride height and softer progressive feel may be hard since the aftermarket for tweaking Solara/Camry/Lexus ES300 may be low. And most of those spring/shocks may be more performance oriented.

I agree with 240sxU that the easiest may be changing the tires - I use America's Tires Yokohama YK520 (420?) which is sorta equivalent to a touring tire and its fairly soft on my 97 Lexus ES300 I use for a commuter car (the Lexus is sorta soft too!) Howeer, I actually set the tires to 36 psi instead of the 26 OEM recommendation to stiffen them up some. They might work well for you and they are the same size.

If you can find 14 inch wheels in the same or slightly wider rim width, you could go with a 205 to 225/70 -14 and have a taller sidewall which usually gives a softer ride. (sort of a -1 application).

If you have to go with 15's, a wider tire will give a softer ride due to slightly higher sidewall - so 205 goes to 215 or 225/65 (same aspect ratio). You should call TireRack.com and discuss with them their recommendations - they have a ton of experience and can suggest maybe some options from the tire/wheel point of view.

Bart

Heating springs takes out the temper, absolutely the wrong way to do it.

IMO, sell the car. You won't increase ride quality (read floatiness) without sacrificing handling... and to me a car that handles worse than stock is a safety hazard. It won't ever feel like a Buick. Don't get lowering springs!!

How old is the car? Everything I saw via google praised the ride quality.

Evan

BTW; You may consider seeing if you can get a 14" wheel/tire combo for your car. That will give you a taller sidewall without the disadvantage of an improper tire height.

I have done it with great results.heating one coil can make a big change in both ride and lowering.It is a old trick that go's back to early hot rodding.
If you can't find the springs you need it just might do the trick.

The car came with Bridgestones and the Goodyears are the same size.

205/65/15

The speedo seems the same.

Could I go with a 215 tire? That would be a little taller and have more rubber to it.

215 would be wider not taller. The second number (aspect ratio) refers to height.

If you bought a high millage tire they are hard rubber. Try a softer performance tire and see if that helps. As far as springs go, your right lowering is really your only option. This will make for a rougher ride yet.

I have done it with great results.heating one coil can make a big change in both ride and lowering.It is a old trick that go's back to early hot rodding.
If you can't find the springs you need it just might do the trick.

http://winfield.50megs.com/Edwards/Corrigan_Lutkie_2.jpg

I second the new car route. Evidently this car feels pretty stiff to you. It was built to be that way.. you want a caddy ride, buy a caddy..

You don't have any sort of "sport package" on that car do ya? Might explain it too. Broken down seat foam from high mileage? I know I am stretching here.

Heating coils is very similar in theory to using progressive rate springs. Still not a good way to go with so many aftermarket options available now.

Evan

DO NOT ALTER YOUR SPRINGS!!!!!!!!!:nono::nono::nono:

215 would be wider not taller. The second number (aspect ratio) refers to height.


The wider the tire, the taller the sidewall will get if the aspect ratio is maintained. So for a 205mm tire at 65% aspect ratio, the tire will be 133mm tall sidewall (rim to sidewall top). A tire 215mm wide (about 0.6 inch more) at 65% aspect ratio will be about 140mm tall. (about 26.1 to 25.5 inches total overall diameter)

While it doesn't seem like much, adding 7 mm can affect the ride and alter the speedometer as the slightly larger diameter tire rolls over more ground with each revolution. So it will make your car be faster than the speedometer indicates, by about 815/796 revs/min = 1.02 or about 2% faster.

You can see that in the accompanying chart from the YK520 webpage that shows the nominal specs for each tire size.

http://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/yk520.aspx

If you have an America's Tire, you could test fit the wider 215/65-15 tire and see how it rides. On the same 6 inch wheel, it might even be a little taller.

It is a little softer than usual tires due to the way Yokohama builds it. High performance tires, even with softer faster wearing tread materials, typically have stiffer and/or shorter sidewalls (lower aspect ratios) and will be harder riding but more responsive in handling characteristics. For the exact same size (and harder to find in the 65% aspect ratio that Japanese maker Toyota likes to use), the stiffer sidewalls will harden up the ride.

TireRack can probably give you good choices, especially considering the climate you live in during the winter.

Regards,

Bart

Thanks to all the responses.... I will probably wind up buying a different car...

The car has over 200,000 miles on it and I purchased aftermarket Monroe Sensa-trak struts for it that didn't help either...

The car is a stock 4 cylinder Toyota with no performance package or anything similar.

What makes Yokohama tires so smooth??

are your tires over inflated? The fastest way to screw up a smooth ride is over inflation of radial tires.
a well secured 50 pound weight in the trunk Bags of lead shot or bolted down peice of concreate right over the rear wheels can do wonders to help cornering and smooth the ride.Used by TR6's and Sunbeam Tgers. Try a large bag of sand just for kicks,It's cheap and will not shift to easy,if you like it then bolt down something permanet.Do NOT exceed 50lbs. this small amount of load over the rear has little efect on MPG.It will sometimes aid in breaking but in the proper place a little go's a long way.And you don't want 50lbs moveing around unsecured as shifting weight can cause horrable handleing problems and saftey issues.

The car is a stock 4 cylinder Toyota with no performance package or anything similar.

What makes Yokohama tires so smooth??

Well, certain versions of Yokohama tires are softer or smoother for the particular application. If you go to the Yokohama Tire website, you'll find a bunch of different tires for sport, Ultra High performance, High performance, Touring, Long wearing, etc. Typically, the High performance and up have stiffer sidewall construction as well as shorter (lower aspect ratio) sidewalls which have to be stiff to stay up. Literally, some HP tires look almost [ ] rectangular due to the short stiff sidewall which gives sharp turn-in and crisp handling but usually at the expense of ride quality. However, good suspension design with slightly softer springs and shocks can provide a decent ride with great handling (Porsches do it this way).

Regular passenger car tires have gotten a bit more sporty with lower sidewall ratios than before (used to be 83-73-70-65 and 60 series aspect ratios but usually also have softer sidewall construction (softer or less stiff fibers and radial construction) coupled with somewhat lower inflation. The ride can be more cush but handling in the corners tends to suffer. But for long distance driving and less demanding city driving, that can be a decent compromise.

Also, some of the higher mileage tires are now a bit harder to wear longer, but usually this gives a harder ride and less grip. Some of the newest tires from Euro and Japanese makers have advanced compounds which retain better handling with supposedly longer wear. If you drive flatlands, this will be apparent, but if you live in hilly areas, your wear will be worse.

Soft tires can be performance compensated by increasing the inflation pressure to 4-8 pounds over normal but you must watch for wear in the center over time. This will harden the ride somewhat so experimentation is needed. Never overinflate though over the sidewall max pressure.

Bart

I think I'll try the weight in the trunk first. Then maybe some different tires.

The tires are not overinflated. I keep them at 30 pounds religously....

Whenever I get my oil changed they jack up the pressure to 35 and I have to let air out....