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Air Suspension
Despite giving the impression that air suspension equipped Soarers (ie UZZ31's) would handle like a boat, they in fact don't. Like any car suspension that's 14-odd years old the shocks wouldn't be in tip top shape which would explain any sloppy handling experienced. Owners of newer Soarers and those who have installed new airbag struts can enjoy great comfort and handling. There are many benefits of the airbag suspension in UZZ31's which need to be weighed up before making a switch to coilovers as many have done, including myself. These are:
Add a suspension computer and you can have more control over front & rear height and some will give you the hard damper rate at the push of a button. For these reasons, if my car was a daily driver and I wasn't doing track days I would have replaced the airbag struts with new items when the originals reached the end of their life. Here is some feedback from someone I know who replaced the airbags with new items:
"The new airbags totally transform the
car. It has that new ‘car tight’ feel again now.
With UZZ31's and UZZ32's the suspension height can be adjusted with zero $$ by adjusting the height sensor rods connected to each lower control arm. This can be a tedious job but the idea is to fool the suspension computer into thinking the car is slightly higher than it is, thus lowering it to bring it back to what it thinks is normal. There are a couple of important points to note about adjusting the height in this manner which will probably save your sanity.
So, enough of the classroom, how is it done? This is what I found to be the easiest method: 1.Park the car on a flat even surface with the suspension on High and the steering wheel on full-lock to 1 side. We'll do the fronts first as they control the evenness left-right.
2. With a permanent marker, put a line on the adjusting rod to keep track of the starting point. 3. With 2 x 10mm spanners (or a 10mm spanner + a shifter), hold one on the rod to brace it and use the other to loosen the top and bottom lock nuts and wind them in a bit to leave a gap between them and the rod-ends. Note which way you had to turn the nuts as we'll turn the rod in the opposite direction next. 4. Turn the rod the opposite way to how you loosened the nuts so the threads on the rod wind into the rod-ends to shorten the over-all length. Start with 1 full turn so your marking on the rod ends up in the same place. 5. Leave the lock-nuts loose and we'll adjust the other side. Start the car and turn the steering wheel full-lock the other way and follow the same procedure. 6. Once you have adjusted both sides start the car, flick the suspension to Normal and drive forward and back to settle the suspension. If both sides are the height you want and are even, tighten the lock nuts. If one side is a little higher or lower, adjust the rods to even them up by winding the rods 1/4 of a turn at a time between checking the height. Remember:
7. When you are happy with the front move to the rear. With the suspension on High, shimmy under the rear of the car on your back and follow the same method marking each rod and turning it 1 turn. Note. Because the back gets adjusted as one, nothing you do at the back will affect the left-right lean of the car. If it's got a lean drive it around the block and see if it settles otherwise adjust the front to even it out. While it may look fat to have the rims buried up in the guards you're advised not to for a couple of reasons. It may damage old worn airbags even more, the handling will suck on anything but a billiard table smooth road and you run the very real risk of rubbing through the wiring loom conduit above each front wheel thus creating a real mess. This has happened to a number of guys on Soarer Central.
Here's the result of having my suspension a bit low after driving on some average roads and it didn't even look that low at the time. The top arrow shows where the lining has worn through and started scrubbing the wiring harness conduit. The lower arrow shows a metal protrusion which is normally behind the liner. There are a number of ways to improve the handling of a UZZ30 or UZZ31. The UZZ32 with its Active Suspension needs no help at all. 1. Track day setting This is really a diagnostic mode which makes the dampers as stiff as possible to quickly check that the function is operating. The difference between the "Sport" & "Normal" switch is only subtle but putting it into diagnostic mode makes an obvious difference to the damper rate. This also works with UZZ30's fitted with TEMS suspension (TEMS is the adjustable shocks, not the airbags!) Under the bonnet is a diagnostics connector located here:
With the ignition off, flip open the cap and under the lid you'll see a diagram showing pin-outs for the connector. Take a straightened paperclip and bend it into a "U" shape then push one end into Ts and the other into E1 - you do have to push firmly. Here's an image from Soarer Central showing the connector and pin labels.
When you turn the ignition on you'll notice the "TEMS Sport" light flashing and a square in the display to the right of the clock. It isn't possible to switch this mode while the car is running as it has been tested and the computer only checks the state of the diagnostic mode when the car starts. Just as in the Sport mode, the power steering assistance decreases making the steering heavier which makes it feel more direct.
2. Swaybars A set of Adjustable Whiteline Swaybars do an awesome job of reducing body roll and improving handling without adversely affecting comfort or road noise. I bought mine from Neil at Rush Imports and had them delivered. These things are beefy and with a heavy car like a Soarer they'd need to be. They are adjustable (3 positions front, 2 positions rear) but I found the best setting for me was to have front and rear on the softest setting which are the holes at the ends of the bar. If the front is too stiff it will understeer more when pushed and if the rear is too stiff it'll get too tail happy, but if you want to have a crack at drifting this would help.
3. Lower Control Arm Bushes The rear lower control arm bushes on the front suspension wear the quickest as they take a lot of the load. When they wear out the movement in the front suspension components can make it difficult to get a decent wheel alignment and can contribute to tramlining (the front wheels following grooves in the road).
If yours are worn out (and most are) then replacing them gives noticeably improved steering response because the suspension geometry is working as it was designed to instead of wiggling around. For more info see the full review on Planet Soarer.
4. Steering rack bushes Worn steering rack bushes make the steering feel vague and disconnected, particularly around centre. Replacing these made a huge difference for me and is definitely recommended to be done along with the lower control arm bushes. When you think about how much effort a power steering rack must exert on the steering arm to turn some wide rubber in a carpark, it's no wonder these wear out. Mine were so worn that successive alignments over the years had shifted the rack to one side. When the new bushes went on and the rack was repositioned to where it was meant to be, my steering wheel was off center by about 30 degrees. Apparently this is common as most Soarer's steering rack bushes are shot. Much tighter and direct steering were immediately obvious as soon as I drove out of the driveway. Both sets of bushes can be purchased from Andrew Vlamos at VFT Bushes.
Having a computer control the suspension settings is a wonderful thing as it opens the door to more tinkering. There a number on the market ranging from basic units to adjust height to models than change height according to speed and some have the "TEMS Hard" function which is like turning on the diagnostic mode on the go. The most common brand is R-Spec which is made by Data Systems and these usually come with a plug-in loom to make installation easy. These can range from $300-$900 depending on if they're second hand or new.
Neil sells a basic controller made locally which lets you set the height for Normal using a trimpot instead of dicking about under the car, and it also has a 3rd height setting for Sport. This one needs to be wired into the loom by hand but the instructions are clear and anyone handy with a soldering iron could do it without any trouble.
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