Improving Rider Comfort

[Dovin]

I'm buying a Petra tomorrow. My main reason for choosing Petra was the ride quality (for the price) since the car is going to be used mostly by my wife who will be commuting about 100 kms per day ateast 2-3 days in a week in mumbai. We have a driver. I want to know how I can improve the passenger comfort in the car, to make it ride softer, cut down road noice etc.. some advice from you guys will be much apprecisted.. some of the ideas i have are..

- Go in for wider/better quality tyres - can anyone suggest what would be the most comfy tires available for a Petra ?

- Cover up the seats in another couple of inches of sponge/leather

- Dark film over glass (In mumbai it can't get too dark though)\

- Would it be possible to improve upon the original suspension ?? (gas shock abs ??)

Any ideas on reducing road/wind noise ? add insulation to door edges ?? anything else ?

[Dovin]

The manufacturer specs for tyres is 175/65 R14

What tyres would give a more comfortable/soft ride ?

[GTO]

Hey Dovin, Congrats on choosing the Petra. Its a Team-BHP favorite. Make sure you share some photographs with us

I wouldnt recommend altering the suspension in any way. Its amazing in the Petra and you could lose your warranty (a big no no with Fiat).

I would suggest going in for Michelin Certis tyres, probably upgrade to 185...or stick to the standard 175. These tyres are built more around comfort than sharp handling and are known to improve the ride quality.

And yes, dont add extra padding to your seats. It will severely limit your legroom.


GTO

[normally_crazy]

yeah u can go for wider tyres...and tubeless ones.. they give better and softer ride than the tube types.

my frind has booked the petra today too...black in color. i suggested the same to him too.

cheers and congrats on a gr8 decision

[Rehaan]

Hey Dovin,

Congrats on the Petra!
If you dont mind me asking... your wife travels 100km per day within bombay??? were running costs of nearly as high priority as ride ?

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]- Go in for wider/better quality tyres - can anyone suggest what would be the most comfy tires available for a Petra ?

Well, wider does not mean more "comfortable" actually.
The fact that the tire has a larger width means that it hits more discrepancies in the road and picks up slightly more ups and downs on eneven surfaces.
Also, wider tires tend to have more aquatreading..which causes more rolling noise.
As GTO said... michelin certis would be the tires i would reccomend as well..... in either 175 or 185.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]- Cover up the seats in another couple of inches of sponge/leather

Seats that are too soft can be more uncomfortable than seats that are too hard!
Good quality, soft upholstery should do the trick.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]- Dark film over glass (In mumbai it can't get too dark though)\

Definitely. Get it on all 4 windows + rear glass. (I am not a fan of getting it done on the front glass as night driving gets dangerous.). Go for the darkest black that is RTO approved... it definitely works good enough.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]- Would it be possible to improve upon the original suspension ?? (gas shock abs ??)

Not worth it...and i really dont see the need.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Any ideas on reducing road/wind noise ? add insulation to door edges ?? anything else ?

Get some heavier floormats, maybe that will help insulate roadnoise a bit more.


Also, i stongly suggest u run your 1.6 on the high octane fuel only.... premium 91 or speed/power 93 (not the same as plan power/speed).
It will give u a much smoother engine as well as i feel that it should improve your average on the fiat 1.6.

goodluck!
keep us informed as to how things go..... hope u are asking for a big discount etc etc!
cya
R

[Sahil]

I think u r best bet would be 185/65 or maybe even 60.. or if u really want to go a bit overboard with the handling u can go upto 195/60 but this would screw up with the ride quality. No matter what size you choose u should get tubeless tyres for sure.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Rehaan @ Sep. 28 2004,05:54)]

Get some heavier floormats, maybe that will help insulate roadnoise a bit more.

Go for under body rubber coating. 3M and others offer this. Apart from preventing corrosion (which you need in Bombay anyway), it helps to cut noise. At least that's the claim.

[gkrishn]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Rudra Sen @ Sep. 28 2004,08:15)]
Go for under body rubber coating. 3M and others offer this. Apart from preventing corrosion (which you need in Bombay anyway), it helps to cut noise. At least that's the claim.

Hey rudra,

So u did that too... seems like sundaram never fails to sell this product when u take the car for serivce to them. I did that too. Didnt see any change in car behaviour. I mean the car was pretty quite even before the coat. One main reason why i allowed him to do that was, to avoid rusting. Have to see how it stands up to on long term.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (gkrishn @ Sep. 28 2004,09:37)]So u did that too... seems like sundaram never fails to sell this product when u take the car for serivce to them. I did that too. Didnt see any change in car behaviour. I mean the car was pretty quite even before the coat. One main reason why i allowed him to do that was, to avoid rusting. Have to see how it stands up to on long term.

Sundaram never pushed me though. I also did it to avoid rust.

[amit]

I agree with what most here have said. Tubeless tyres are a definate must have today.
Don't make any changes to the suspension. The Fiat range of cars have fantastic suspensions and you really don't need to tinker around with them. Also, you will lose your warranty.
Congrats on the Petra. And welcome to the fiat family. I also own a Palio S10 and since you have the same engine I really would suggest you to use Speed 93. Do share some pics of your car with us and i hope you are buying the black colour. Petra looks awesome in Black. Do share your expereinces with us.
Lucky driver of yours by the way!! Dunno if ur gonna drive it much but i would suggest you to get behind the wheel of the Petra and expereince the 1.6 Torque powerplant. Sheer motoring nirvana!

[anshu12420]

Note from the Admin: Post deleted. Please avoid using excessive caps/slang language and support us in maintaining the uniformity on Team-BHP

GTO

[Dovin]

Thanks guys for all the suggestions!

Rehaan, my wife commutes from NRI complex in Nerul Navi Mumbai to Juhu area, drives around a bit and back, but only 2-3 days in a week. That easily comes to 100+ kms.

I made the booking for a Silver Frost Petra today. Black is the best color, i saw one that was quite sexy, but I won't be able to maintain it spotlessly clean and I don't have covered parking at home (in sun), so I opted for silver. The total tab (without accessories) came to 4.85 Lac (No loan). I'm putting in only a few add-ons for now, Michelin Tubeless (steel rims now, i'll move to alloys after 1/2 service) quoted at approx 10,000, probably around 12,000, after trade-in of stock bridgestone tubed tyres. i'm trying to get certis at the same cost but dealer hasn't agreed yet. One quote for Michelin Certis (185/60-14, original tyres are 175/65-14) i got from Punjab Tyres in Vashi was for 34000 for set of 5 !!!. Not going back there for sure!
Plus the standard dark shades on glasses and an extra floor mat.

The idea is to get a feel for the stock car and then decide what I need. The roll of the body while conering is quite high in the demo car. I'm hoping the move to 185/60 tubeless will help somewhat.

[normally_crazy]

Dovin,

pal better not go back to punjab tyre sole...i just changed my tyres to goodyear. was considering the certis too..got a quote of 3100 / tyre for the certis.

and pal we guys meet up outside nri complex quite often these days...have i seen u arnd ?? maybe we cud meet up there too ...and talk cars !!

yup and shifting to 185/60 will help .

cheers

[GTO]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ] Michelin Tubeless (steel rims now, i'll move to alloys after 1/2 service) quoted at approx 10,000, probably around 12,000, after trade-in of stock bridgestone tubed tyres. i'm trying to get certis at the same cost but dealer hasn't agreed yet.

Thats a rip-off!! New Certis rubber should not be more than 3000 odd a piece. And you must expect atleast 1800 - 2000 for your old rubber. Bottom line? Rs. 6000 in the exchange at the most.

Shop around...it always helps

GTO