I just came back yesterday from a long roadtrip (6000 km's) on a variety of surfaces in SE Australia (NSW, Tas, VIC, SA and back) and I have the following suspension related mods:
- Eibach springs (- 20mm from standard )
- Rear Swaybar
- Michelin Pilot 4s on the 20" Suzuka wheels
On tarmac roads it was great, on bumpy roads comfort became overly bouncy, ended up in sports mode most of the time. Ended up playing dodge the dips and potholes to avoid crashing.
Handling is definitely improved though i've come to realise during this trip the front end steering feel is not near something like the WRX's etc (maybe due to the drive by wire?) ... but it's an SUV so I guess it's to be expected.
On dirt roads ... it depends ... if it's smoothish gravel it was fine, I could get it to 90km/h in off road mode not much drama.
On corrogated roads ... well I drove an off road section in the Arthur-Pieman Conservation Area in TAS (100 kms) which ended up taking over 2 and half hours. It was basically rattle and shake central. I couldn't get much faster than 40 km/h while the Ford Ranger types were handling it at least 80 km/h no problem. The wife wasn't too happy with that particular route but it had amazing views so at least I got to appreciate them a bit more at the slower speeds!
So yeah I reckon the tyres I have probably didn't help given how low profile they were. If I had the space, maybe i'd have a set of 18" wheels with larger side walls so this wouldn't be as painful but don't have the space for them right now.
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