Making the 86 more of a touring car?
 

I'm trying to run through my mind some things that could be relatively easily done to make the 86 into a more comfortable touring car.

I'm in my early 60's and my wife is in her late 50's and the goal would be to make the car something that she would be more comfortable for things like extended weekend getaways or up to maybe a week or so.

This year was the first since 2016 that I haven't tracked a car and to be honest I really didn't miss it. So I don't mind they idea of softening up the car a little, maybe closer to the ride of an ND Miata.

My first thought would be simply get a set of 16" wheels/tires and maybe look at ways to make the seat more comfortable/padded for her. I don't really care about reducing NVH, the focus would really be on a more comfortable ride.

Most of the suspension changes out there are focused on lowering and tightening up the car. Is anyone aware of any that would offer a more comfortable ride?

i don't know how much you can really soften up the ride given how close it's running to the bump stops in stock form already.

i've got a set of 16" snow tires.

imo, 16's don't really make the car feel any more compliant, it just makes for a slightly mushier/slower turn-in.

Off the top of my head, the only suspension I've heard that makes the car ride better is the TRD rally suspension if you don't mind a small increase in ride height. Discussed here:

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134504


Otherwise, switching to 16" wheels/tires is a good start (I've got 16" setups for summer and winter).


For the wife's seat, maybe a universal seat cushion? Should be available at your local auto parts store or Amazon.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/00...g?v=1620880442

I don’t think you’ll be able to make any big differences, the car is just designed/built a certain way. If your priorities are comfort I’d seriously look int getting something else.

How many miles are on the original dampers?
I wonder what the rally people use for suspension. Maybe RCE can help with that.

To say that they car isn't even broken in yet would be an understatement. The car is 1.5 years old and I only just hit 3K miles.

Suspension and ride aside there are a couple of other things that can be done to at least change her perspective. My wife completely hates and refuses to ride in my car. One of her chief complaints is that she thinks I am always going "way too fast". She is used to big quiet SUVs (currently an Ascent) so being that close to the ground and hearing the exhaust and road noise makes her think we are doing 80 when only going half that speed. Of course you can't jack it up to SUV height but you can deal with the noise part.
First off, if you haven't already, plug the sound generator tube. https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30659 Since it is right at the passengers feet it is even louder than the driver ever hears and that fake racecar sound makes you seem to be ripping around all the time.
The other is to add soundproofing. This can be taken as far as you like but even just a few sheets of Dynomat in the truck can make a difference. Of course the more you do the quieter the car gets and the less impact that noise has on the perception of speed. https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145429 https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53511

Of course these do not address the ride quality but do go a long way toward making the car seem more "comfortable" to the average person.

Just keep it over a hundred. Smooths out the bumps.

^^^but seriously, this^^^

RCE can help you with taller, more compliant springs. They must be mated to the proper dampers to bring the whole system back to critical damping. Add that acoustical tape (also damping) everywhere to make the car heavier and you'll have a nice, plush, quiet ride that will feel like an underpowered pig.

Most people can't tell or have a hard time pointing to what exactly is making the ride uncomfortable for them.

If ride quality is a huge concern, it might be better to consider another car (i.e. BMW 3-series, Jetta GLI, Civic Si).

If you're going to stick with the 86, then I'd consider the Perrin inlet tube. It'll give you a couple hp while improving NVH since the stock inlet tube pumps noisy intake sounds directly into the cabin.

Honestly, if the car has that little use, I can't imagine making a huge difference in ride quality. Incremental improvements are available, but you're not going to transform the car. Far from it. I added sound deadening to mine and it helped. As did new and better dampers. But from the perspective of a non-car person, the difference is probably insignificant.

Toyota tried it with the Scion RS2.0 and aesthetically it LOOKED more upscale, but performance wise it didnt change anything.

I think you're just better off getting an actual grand touring type car. The stuff you'd need to do to this car to make it more grand tourey (change suspension to make it softer, bigger tire sidewalls, add sound proofing, etc) really probably only gets you to a level of "top spec economy car"

The Lexus RC is probably the most similar looking car to the twins if you want to stick with something 86ish (GR86 looks like a shrunken RC-F) but its bigger more powerful, quieter, comfy and still handles well...plus way obviously more luxurious compared to a twin.

I'd actually just continue to use the Honda Pilot for this.

Really it is the harshness of the ride on our pothole laden Colorado roads that is probably the driving factor (my wife has issues from an old car accident that this irritates). The Pilot frankly bumps more on the big stuff, but in a much softer fashion.

I am most definitely not going to buy another car for quite some time. Both of us like the idea of trying to use the 86 for these kind of trips, so I might just add a set of 16" wheels to my collection (17" summer/winters) and give that a try. I expect the change would be similar to what going from runflats to normal tires was on my BMW. She hated riding in the BMW before the change, and was quite happy afterwards. So I do have hope that this could be all that is needed.

Otherwise it just may not be worth worrying about. Frankly the Pilot is much more convienent for this use, it is just a bore to drive :)

I'm really surprised she noticed that much of a difference going from run flat tire to non run flats in the same size. If that's the case I suspect going with a 16" setup with soft sidewalls will get the job done.