ZX Volcane hard ride?

Post by **Peter.N.** » 03 Apr 2006, 10:45

My son has just bought a '93 td Volcane, with which he is very pleased apart from the ride, which he says is hard and jittery. My wife has a td estate which he says rides much better than his. Is this a peculiarity of the Volcane or is there something he can do about it.

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 03 Apr 2006, 11:21

From what I can remember of the brochures and specs, the Volcane has much stiffer "sportier" suspension tuning (springing, damping and rollbars) than the standard models, so I guess a hard and jittery ride would be par for the course ?

Regards,
Simon

8304 · Post by **8304** » 03 Apr 2006, 11:55

i agree

when i uprated my turbo d from a 1.8 rear axle to a volcane one with discs the size of the dampers and roll bars was much larger. the ride is much stiffer....

AlWilliams · Post by **AlWilliams** » 03 Apr 2006, 12:57

The suspension of a ZX Volcane is also set lower

Sl4yer · Post by **Sl4yer** » 03 Apr 2006, 14:49

I wouldn't say the Volcane is hard and jittery. It handles speed bumps very well.

Maybe this one has been modified at some point?

James

Post by **Peter.N.** » 03 Apr 2006, 22:59

Thanks for all your comments and observations folks.

I drove it this evening and it does feel rather unsettled although the handling is terrific. The ride on my wifes estate is much more comfortable and my XM in a different league. My next question is : Is there anything practical he can do to improve it? I would think that swapping the front struts wouldn't be to difficult but the rear suspension looks a bit complicated. Any suggestions?

Mandrake · Post by **Mandrake** » 03 Apr 2006, 23:07

Whatever you change, I wouldn't recommend changing it at only the front or only the rear.

You're bound to upset the handling balance, for example if you make only the front softer it will tend more toward oversteer, while if you make only the rear softer it will tend more toward understeer...

Regards,
Simon

Post by **Peter.N.** » 03 Apr 2006, 23:13

Thanks Simon, yes I appreciate that, but swapping the whole lot will lose the rear discs...I think. Dont know much about the cars, XMs are my speciality.

Post by **RichardW** » 04 Apr 2006, 13:05

There's plenty of things that can go wrong that will 'unsettle' the ride. The bushes split in the front wishbones making them wander about all over the place - they won't necessarily knock - on ours it just used to graunch on full lock in carparks, but the rear bush was totally debonded! Bottom ball joints can fail - either the joint, or the hole in the hub goes oval - these will usually knock though. Probably the worst offenders for upsetting the handling though is the rear subframe mounts - this can make the rear end wag and squirm all over the place, especially if you hit a bump mid corner. Usually they are knocking, but I guess it's possible they have gone soft, but not enough to knock yet. Transformed the handling on our ZX, but they were clonking away merrily. They're relatively inexpensive (£50 a set) and easy (4 hours or so) to change if you can't find anything obvious at the front end.

robsons · Post by **robsons** » 11 Apr 2006, 11:30

Yes it is firm. Much firmer than a std ZX. The Volcane is lower with stiffer dampers and much stiffer torsion bars. It should never be unsettled - more like glued to the road.

I have one too!

Note that the bushes really do get a hard time in the volcane and it will transform the handling if you do get them done. I need mine done too now.

It will always be quite hard though. Tell him to sell it and get an Aura or soemthing if he wants it softer. There'll be plenty of buyers

Stoo