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SUVs Buick Rendezvous Rendezvous Suspension Upgrades
132 messages, Last post on Jan 06, 2008 at 7:26 PM
You are in the Buick Rendezvous Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & tidester
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Recently, the rendezvous won the most dangerous vehicle award, i think in part due to probablity of rollovers. See : http://www.forbes.com/2007/07/26/car...?partner=msnbc After reading the above article, I wonder if anyone else has successfully done anything to upgrade the supsension on this car to make it more rollover proof. I would like to consider changing to sport shocks, upgrading sway bars and bushings if possible, as well as perhaps maybe wider tires and stiffer/lower springs. The problem is, after searching the internet high and low, I don't think anyone makes any suspension upgrades for our cars. I did a search and the best I can find is KYB GR-2 (factory stiffness) struts for the front and KYB Gas-adjust (sport/firm shock) for the rear. I was hoping to find a matching set of sport shocks, but even unable to do that. I am also unable to find any upgrades for sway bars, bushings or springs. This is very frustrating because after having worked on a project sports car, I found that sporty options such as shocks/struts and swaybars were plentiful for that car. Even for a "volvo" therre is a company called IPD that sells performance suspension components such as beefier sway bars, springs and struts/shocks... Anyone have any suggestions or ideas where I might be able to find these items?? It seems they are hard, if not impossible to find.
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Replying to: hawaiianguy (Sep 25, 2007 11:19 pm) |
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. Upgrading this, upgrading that, sure seems like a lot of work and expense - to create a tighter suspension on the RDV factory suspension. Is the factory suspension "too soft" (which creates greater risk of roll-overs)? If so, might want to install some air bags. With air bags, you load them up between 5 to 40 lbs - for your wanted ride comfort. If Air bags aren't for you... Might want to investigate the Timbren SES product. It's like an air bag without inner air. Some view them as a rubber stopper. If wondering, I have Timbrens on the rear of my 2001 AWD Safari Van (which is also a heavy hauler & Tow Vehicle). Best rear suspension product I've every used. Timbrens is an "install it and leave it" product and removes suspension depth. Great for front mounted Snow Plows or for trailer's with more then 300 lbs of tonque weight. Or, if you load down the rear cargo area of your vehicle (and don't pull a trailer at all). For more info on Timbrens (which are rubber inserts inside the factory coil springs on the RDV factory rear suspension parts), surf: (for FWD RDV models) http://www.timbren.com/timbren-application-guides/application-pdfs/GMRAZT.pdf & (for AWD RDV models) http://www.timbren.com/timbren-application-guides/application-pdfs/GMRREN.pdf For suspension improvement on the front, install HD shocks. I hear Monroe makes great HD front shocks. Thus, keeping the front suspension "same depth" but increasing "its time to reach its full depth". Thus, dramatic reduction of the risk of roll-overs (regardless of vehicle model). Always remember that roll-overs are from 3 conditions. Suspension depth, time to reach that depth and depth re-bound (on its opposite high side). Timbrens are rubber and have very little "rebound" recovery reaction - unlike steel based HD coil spring replacements. Remove depth on its outer corner side, reduce time to reach full depth on its outer corner and reduce upward rebound on its opposite inner corner side, and the risk of roll-over is dramtically reduced. Same holds true for a fast boat on the water doing a tight sharp corner. Remove depth, remove time to reach full depth and remove opposite side "kick ups". Same holds true for a vehicle performing sharp corners on dry land. Hope this helps as well... .
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spike99, thanks for the info! I think when you refer to monroe HD shocks you are referring to the "reflex" shocks that lockout? I didn't know they existed until you mentioned them. My plan was to go with a sportier shock. I'm not sure if they make these for my vehicle. Thanks for the info. I will try some kind of bump stop for the rear and see if it helps as well as try to find some lockout shocks for the front. I wonder why if it was so simple as using a different type of strut, why the mfg didn't do so in the first place??
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Just checked their online catalog, Monroe only makes a sensatrac monotube shock, no HD or reflex shock. Looks like I am out of luck for the fronts. Can anyone suggest an alternate mfg that makes HD struts? Unfortunately I don't think I will be able to find any. Do I have any other options for the front suspension to help decrease roll over risk? |
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Replying to: hawaiianguy (Sep 26, 2007 6:56 pm) When the shocks on my Tow Vehicle 2001 AWD Safari Van goes, I'm going to replace with Blistien shocks. These HD shocks are made for towing (for weight support) and they have "reduced" time to full depth valving. I've been told the Blistien shocks are few notches above Monroe's best HD shocks. Many Towing / Heavy cargo folks are installing the BILSTEIN brand shocks. For more details, surf: http://www.bilstein.com/tech.php If they make Bilstein shocks for your RDV year and model, might want to investigate this HD shock as well. As a side note... The RDV model is made as the "average" cross-over vehicle. A combination of a car and a van. Thus, 4 doors with lots of inner cargo, and FWD for better rain / snow road conditions. To me, the RDV isn't made as a Tow Vehicle or Heavy Hauler Vehicle - on a consistant basis. And it wasn't made to drive like a "zip zip" Sports car either. With this in mind, do drive the RDV for what it was made for. A "put / put" smooth riding family style mini-SUV (cross over vehicle). If you want a zip / zip mini-SUV with lower "roll over" risk ratings, there are other mini-SUVs that are better built. Better built for folks with "zip zip" driving style. If you want to improve the RDV's factory suspension, Timbren add-on and HD shock replacements are a good upgrade. Well worth doing - to make its factory suspension of the RDV even better. But if you want more of a "zip zip" mini-SUV with much tighter suspension (with lower risk of roll over ratings), you might want to investigate other brands of mini-SUVs. Something that can take much more road abuse / aggresive driving style. Something to think about... Hope this helps as well... . |
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| Hey spike99, again, helps a lot. I'm used to driving agressively so I don't see any harm in having an SUV that can handle agressive driving. Besides, even if you drive passively, my concern is that some idiot who is driving along side you on the freeway may try to swerve into you or maybe someone who didn't tie down their load may throw a ladder on the road in front of you when you are going 50mph. The faster you travel in the RDV the more the rollover risk is multiplied! So if you had to suddenly swerve to avoid another vehicle or object on the freeway, you might be setting you up yourself for a rollover. My logic is that even if you don't drive "zip-zip" as you put it, some emergency may necessitate a very controlled manuver, and w/ the soft rdv suspension, that may end up in a rollover in that case. I see a sporty suspension equivalent to more safety in an emergency manuver. So yes, although i do realize it was made like a minivan with 4 doors, I think I would like to add better handling to it to improve it's capability to respond in the event of a high speed emergency manuver. Not that I would want to necessarily drive agressively, but if worse came to worse and I had to to avoid a danger, I wouldn't want to be a rollover casualty because my suspension was too soft... | |
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i would like to point out that i think at this point in time no one makes hd shocks for rdz. i have bilstiens on my 84 porsche carrera, and yes they are nice shocks. because of that i already tried to look up a listing for the bilstiens on the rdz, no luck, none made. again, if anyone knows of any other options and/or stiffer, safer replacements for the front struts, please let me know!!
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Replying to: hawaiianguy (Sep 26, 2007 7:27 pm) If you are serious about finding a better front shock, I would email the folks at Monroe, Blistien and other well known shocks designers. Ask what they recommend as a HD shock replacement for your RDV. I would even send an email inquire to Timbren Corporation - asking if they have Timbren SES for the front on the RDV as well. Timbrens do remove suspension depth - which also reduces risk of roll-overs. Like many companies, these suspension improvement companies don't always list their every product and certainly don't list their "in beta testing" products. Send each of them an email and who knows, they might come back with... "oh ya - we do have something for you... Here's the details.." reply. Or if enough RVD owners send emails to each company, their R&D teams will start working on RDV improvement products. Hope this helps as well... As a side note... I don't put too much faith in roll-over ratings on some vehicles. Yes, the RDV can flip over. So can a Sunfire and so can my Safari van. Every vehicle has a roll-over rating. Like many, I don't aggressively look for RDV suspension improvements. My limited dollars going into keeping our RDV "on the road" - due to its lack of reliability technical design. Anyway... A few years ago, I do remember the "big fuss" about roll-over ratings on 15 passenger vans. The videos were so powerfull, DOT / DMV were going to remove all 15 passenger extended vans off the road. Some "average guy" installed HD shocks and other low cost "off the shelf" suspension improvements (to remove factory depth, time to full suspension depth on the sharp corners and to remove opposite side "kick back" behavior) and the 15 passenger van suddenly had a better rating then a normal F-150 Pickup. All because a low cost / off the shelf suspension improvements was used. Something that 15 seat passenger van designers missed themselves. So yes. I see your point about looking for low cost "off the shelf" suspension improvement products for the RDV. Something that is also worth doing (on any brand of vehicle).... .
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Replying to: spike99 (Sep 26, 2007 6:34 pm) I thought the point of air bag suspensions was to soften the ride. Can you pressure them up enough to get the stiffness you want? tidester, host SUVs and Smart Shopper |
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