Yeah, I’m in CA too but I live in a gated community so we pay taxes to the county to not maintain the roads outside our gates and then we pay HOA fees to maintain the ones inside. Right out our gate is a 45MPH road so I can only use my car inside the gates or to cross that road to go to the store. Works for me because I rarely leave and when I do, I’m heading up the highway. Our HOA has a very rigorous road maintenance program fortunately.
I ordered a used set of Goldwing shocks and was going to mount them up but that’s going to be a project. I think that air is the only way to go because when my car is fully loaded, it probably doubles in weight. No coil springs are going to work over that range. Its on the list for maybe someday.
For some reason I thought you were east coast. My apologies…
I’m East Coast born and raised but I’m not sure that comes through in my posts unless yous piss me off ;). LOL Certainly no apologies needed!
Matt , looks good . What size tires are those 17s ?
My first Gem was a 2002 , wife hated driving it . Steering too hard and ride was rough . So i buy her a 2006 and she likes it a lot more until i do a lithium conversion then she thinks it rides too hard again , ugh . So then i ride in a 2014 and cant believe how nice it rides , Cadillac . So i buy one of those , completely customize it and now I wont let her drive it !
I’m with you guys on the taller side walls . I loved G’s white 17s but wanted a little more rubber so went with the 16’s and a bigger tire . 205 50/16 It has a 24.1" diameter and took a few tries to get it to work . Can you say SAWZALL ? Don’t think they would work if the Gem still had lead batteries . Run them @35psi
Might have been cheaper to load 100# of iron into the battery trays on the 2006…
My new rim/tires ride better than my old ones. It’s still not a smooth ride but it’s much better.
I really need to put the beer down and pickup an air gauge but whos got time for that?
I went down the rabbit hole of reading all the old suspension threads last night. The struggle is real. Addressing the suspension is slowly moving up my todo list as I check things off. I was thinking I’d get new tires and wheels first but I’m not sure how much my ride height will change with a proper suspension.
My E6 with factory wheels currently has 195/60R14 tires on the front and 185/60R14 on the rear (not my doing). Maybe my car is just riding really high after converting to lithium but it seems like I could run a much larger setup without having to cut up the car.
E6 maybe different . On an E4 the inside of the front tire will rub the fender when the wheel is turned and in reverse . This is with a 1.5" spacer up front ( 1" in rear) . I think the wheels are 35mm offset . I haven’t tried a 2" spacer yet , that might do it . The inner front fender is easy to trim .