General Grande Ride Quality

[Liam1804]

Every time I drive the Mrs Punto I always comment to her how hard the ride quality is, Is this how the Grande suspension is? I don’t no if it’s because I drive a Vectra and it’s longer but the grande is terrible, it’s like you feel every single bump in the road,

I personally think the car sits to high, would this indicate bad shocks? Because the space between the wheel and arch just looks to high all round this is as well,

I always thought when shocks fail the suspension would be lower though not higher, am I wrong?
The cars a 2006 1.2 75k miles,

 

[Eklipze3k]

Drive my MiTo (same platform as the Grande) with its sports suspension and 18" tyres with no give, and then tell me that the Grande is uncomfortable

Sitting too high may indicate wrong shocks, at 13 years old it wouldn't surprise me if they'd been changed at some point. Maybe someone ordered the wrong ones, or even fitted them incorrectly, and just didn't bother to correct it.

 

[torniojaws]

It's rough on mine, with 11-year-old shocks and springs

But. It has *nothing* on my wife's 2-year-old Honda Jazz (Fit). That thing is what in Finnish we would call a "pothole radar".

 

[Liam1804]

Drive my MiTo (same platform as the Grande) with its sports suspension and 18" tyres with no give, and then tell me that the Grande is uncomfortable

Sitting too high may indicate wrong shocks, at 13 years old it wouldn't surprise me if they'd been changed at some point. Maybe someone ordered the wrong ones, or even fitted them incorrectly, and just didn't bother to correct it.

The rear shocks look all corroded and really old, I No this don’t mean anything but I checked all the previous MOT’s and there’s no mention regarding shock absorbers so it’s a good possibility there still factory, I did notice the previous owner had a front spring changed in December 2018, And it looks like They only had the 1 changed then P/X the vehicle, that’s when I was the next owner,

I’ve been looking at other grandes with the same engine and year on autotrader and mine defo looks slightly high, Will the factory shocks have FIat stamped on them?

 

[varesecrazy]

Ive got a 2012 twinair.

Tall and badly suspended from new ..

My tired old 2007 mj is a smoother drive

 

[Eklipze3k]

Any mechanic worthy of the name would know to replace both springs, if only one had been changed you'd definitely notice as it would sit lop-sided and would handle like a 3-legged dog.
Can you upload a picture or 2? Also, what size wheels and tyres are on there?

 

[levemircento]

I moved from an MG ZR which was very firm to the GP and I would say the GP is just as firm as the ZR was, perhaps slightly less so over fine bumps as the ZR had 17" wheels with 45 profile tyres, the GP is 15" on 65 profile, so at the wheel it will be a smoother ride

its just right for me, I was pleasantly surprised that the GP ride wasnt really soft.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

The GP isn’t normally renowned for having firm suspension, usually they wane and wallow about and they are usually high on their wheels. The early sporting models look a bit like an suv when you look at the wheel arch gap.

My Evo model does have a very hard ride with a 120bhp engine sporting spec and 17 inch low profile tyres. Yet it’s still a lot softer than some the prime example being out owned from new Mini Cooper circa 2012 which rode on rocks.

I think there must be something very wrong with a grande if your describe it as hard