Hi all,

I've looked through existing posts a little and I don't think I've seen a request quite like this one. Bear with me...

I have a 2000 Protege ES. It handles really well. Given that I don't race or show or anything it's turned out that it handles a little better than I need. The tradeoff with this extra handling is lots of road noise and somewhat stiff suspection. Fellow ES owners will probably nod in agreement there... That was fine in the south but now I live in Cleveland, and the roads aren't so hot here, what with the cold weather and extra moisture from the lake. But then, highway drives are kinda noisy too. It's hard to get comfey when you can't hear the radio well over the road noise.

So here's what I want to know. Are there any simple and affordable mods I can make on this car to make the ride a little softer and smoother, and possibly quieter? I've got more handling than I need so I don't mind losing a little, as long as it's just a little.

Anyway, if anyone has any advice it'll be much appreciated.

 

First thing, I have never heard that a car handles TOO well, And I've never heard any requests to "mush up" the suspension. As far as the road noise, the only thing I can think of is to remove the carpeting and install something like Dynomat for instance. Usually you must gut the interior to bare metal to install a better sound barrier. These cars like most in their category of all makes do have more road noise than their bigger counterparts like a Mercury Grand Marquis or a Cadillac.

 

Well, the other side of this is that the ride is a little rough. Because the suspension is a tight everything hits a little harder. If I lived outside of snow and crappy-road country I wouldn't want to make any changes, but now my choice of car is biting me a little in the rear. I love this car and rather than get rid of it I wonder if I can make it a little calmer.

I know this is a really non-standard plan, but I'll take any good ideas for consideration.

And I had thought of Dynamat, only I'm worried about the cost of the stuff, both materially and for installation. I know it's not cheap.

 

If you have the lower profile tires that I believe came standard on the ES try exchanging for a set of regular tires such as a 185/65. The extra cushion from the larger tires should make quite a difference.

 

The ES has lower profile tires because the alloy wheels are larger than the stock rims. Do you think I would have to get smaller wheels or raise the suspension a little to accomodate?

 

You would need to get the smaller rims and higher profile tires. For example, on my 323 it had 175/70/13 tires and 13" rims, I went to 16" rims and 205/40/16 tires. These tires are very close in height overall and rolling circumfrence. I'm sure in your owners manual or the placard in the door area it will say the different size tires that came with your car depending on trim level. The higher profile tire you go with, the more cushion you will have. The base model Protege most likely came with larger profile tires and smaller diameter rims. If you go this route, you will not have to modify the suspension at all, and might have a quieter ride.

 

That's certainly one option. I was kinda hoping there were maybe some nice progressive springs I could replace the stock springs with that might do the job. Anyone know of any?

 

Try this link to Eibach springs. www.eibach.com. They are the experts in springs and shock technology and I am sure would be able to set you up with something to help soften the ride.

 

what kind of tread you sporting on your protege? you don't need to change the rim just the tread

 

I'm using Kumho tires at the moment. Those were an improvement in bad weather over the Potenza's the car originally came with. The tires are in good shape and only a year and a half to 2 years old with decent tread remaining. They're rated for rain and snow. But man, these Cleveland roads are in such bad shape, it's awful.
Eibach springs look interesting, but they're performance-geared rather than, necessarily, comfort-geared.