Hi all, I have a question for you Fiat people, my Dad bought a new Qubo two months ago, my parents like it very much except for one issue, the ride is very jarring and bumpy over our fine potholed roads in the UK.

Now this would not be a problem for most of us, but my Mum has a very bad spinal condition and can have episodes of pain lasting weeks caused by her spinal condition. She has found the Qubo's ride exacerbates her pain with its hard ride.

My question is, can I do anything to soften the ride so that it does not jar over bumps, I can not find any after-market adjustable shocks for the Qubo which is a complete pain as this would allow me to adjust for a softer rebound rate.

Their Qubo is the 1.4 petrol version with the alloy wheels fitted. I wondered if going to the standard small diameter steel wheels with tyres with a higher side wall might soften the ride compared to the alloys and lower profile tyres that are fitted as standard.

If anyone has any advice, I would love to hear please. My Dad was talking of selling it! It only has a 1000 miles on it and they have only had it two months. I thought it was a shame to sell it due to just one issue.

Just to prove I am a Fiat nut, here are the cars I have owned:
Fiat 127 many and all sold on.
Fiat 127 GT sold on and then burnt out by arson attack.
Fiat 127 Sport sold on.
Fiat 128 3p crashed backwards into a post by my friend.
Fiat Uno Turbo rusted to its death.
Fiat Uno 45 hit head on by a large Volvo estate driving on wrong side of the road (confused Dutch lady driver!)
Fiat Punto diesel sold on.
Fiat Punto Petrol part ex for the new Panda.
Fiat Panda my current car!

Best regards, Paul.

Hi, whilst I can't really offer much specific advice to soften the ride of the Qubo, I can concur re the quality of the ride. My Qbo 1.3Mjet rides on the standard 16" alloys with 195/55 tyres.

I formerly had a Peugeot Bipper, 1.4HDi- so essentially the same car. It rode on 15" steel wheels,with 185/65 tyres.

The ride in the Bipper was much less firm and twitchy than the Qubo. It has surprised me how noticeable is the difference. Whether there were any other suspension differences I'm not sure,but would doubt?They are all off the same Turkish assembly line as far as I'm aware......

Perhaps a test drive in a Bipper might be an idea,to see if it feels sufficiently better?- then the steel wheels often come up on ebay, I got a spare steelie (my Qubo came with no spare,just a gunk pump) with 185/65r15 for £50 delivered.

The tyres on my nemo have make huge massive changes to the ride. The standard 185/64x15 gave a much softer ride than the 215/45x17's that I changed to. Now it's on 205/40x18 with updated suspension and the ride is very firm!!

I also noticed that the more weight you put in the back the nicer the ride. Empty and the van bounces around a lot, but with 200kgs in the back it floats more over bumps. Not ideal to run around with that much weight I know...

Different dampers will not soften the ride, only make it more or less bouncy. Softer springs would be needed, but only way for that would be a one-off specialist manufacture, which might take several attempts. Then you've changed the loading and may need new type approval. A non-starter.

The larger profile tyre will certainly help. As suggested, find another owner and ask if your parents can have a short ride in it. With luck, you may find an owner willing to just swap wheels and tyres.

Otherwise, they probably need a Renault, traditionally soft and bouncy cars.

Wasn't there a chance that vauxhall corsa 4 and punto grande springs will fit as its the same front set up?
LUIGI

Mine is a 4 seat van so not far off a Qubo. I test drove a qubo with alloys and found it vary hard. I then drove what was to be my van which is an Adventure with raised suspension with different steel wheels and tyres to the standard van and was pleasantly surprised, as the dealer told me to expect it to be harder. I recently drove a standard van for a day and it felt between the two

Guess it's down to finding out the springs fitted, tyre sizes and of course tyre pressures....

2668GRIFFIN said:

Wasn't there a chance that vauxhall corsa 4 and punto grande springs will fit as its the same front set up?
LUIGI

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Corsa D coilovers definitely fit. So I would presume that just springs would fit too. It's the rear that is a problem. Corsa springs are nothing like fiorino/qubo (well, the kit i bought didn't anyway)

Not sure what advantage you'd get doing this regarding ride comfort though??

Many thanks for all of the replies, I phoned my Dad to say I will be around to swap the 15" steel wheels fitted to his Fiat Stilo to the Qubo and take it out for a run to see how it feels on the steel rims with the higher side wall tyres, it will be interesting to see if it improves the jarring ride over the small bumps in the road. If it works out well, we will leave the Qubo's alloy wheels on the Stilo!
Many thanks and best regards, Paul.

PaulIron said:

Hi all, I have a question for you Fiat people, my Dad bought a new Qubo two months ago, my parents like it very much except for one issue, the ride is very jarring and bumpy over our fine potholed roads in the UK.

Now this would not be a problem for most of us, but my Mum has a very bad spinal condition and can have episodes of pain lasting weeks caused by her spinal condition. She has found the Qubo's ride exacerbates her pain with its hard ride.

My question is, can I do anything to soften the ride so that it does not jar over bumps, I can not find any after-market adjustable shocks for the Qubo which is a complete pain as this would allow me to adjust for a softer rebound rate.

Their Qubo is the 1.4 petrol version with the alloy wheels fitted. I wondered if going to the standard small diameter steel wheels with tyres with a higher side wall might soften the ride compared to the alloys and lower profile tyres that are fitted as standard.

If anyone has any advice, I would love to hear please. My Dad was talking of selling it! It only has a 1000 miles on it and they have only had it two months. I thought it was a shame to sell it due to just one issue.

Best regards, Paul.

Click to expand...

Hi
Don't know if it is to late, but I changed the rear shock absorbers on my qubo with Fiat Stilo multiwagon 1,9 diesel, shock absobers/dampers. They fit right on, and make a significant softer ride.