Hi there I'm looking at adding about 500lbs of weight in the back area of my 09 fit. I know I need to upgrade the suspension, however I can't find anything that's says it will hold more weight. Does anyone here know what I could use even from another car?? Please and thank you for your help!

 

I think the max weight a Fit can carry is 800 lbs (passengers and cargo). With 500 lbs in the trunk, you won't be able to carry not much!

Hope you are thin and lightweight!

 

yeah, the weight limit on these cars are low. i wouldn't suggest adding this much weight as an ongoing loadout. maybe try going to home depot and filing the back with mulch; at 40lbs a bag you probably won't like how the car drives with 12 bags in it ..

 

Wait why are you looking to add 20% to the weight of the vehicle?

 

Assuming you're not a sumo wrestler or won't have a full load of passengers in the car, 500 lbs of cargo shouldn't be a problem as the rated load is 850 lbs. Just make sure your tires are properly inflated and take it easy at first to get a feel for how the car handles with a large concentrated weight in the trunk (i.e., you'll probably have a bit of squat in the rear).

But... if your typical passenger + cargo weight is near or above the rated capacity you might be better served by a larger vehicle. The Fit does a lot, and can "fit" way more than people realize until they experience it themselves, but it's not designed to be a small truck.

As far as upgrading the suspension, there are a few folks here who have done it with different springs and/or air bags. My general sense is that modifying the suspension is more about getting a level ride with a heavily loaded car rather than increasing the load capacity of the car. Hopefully someone with direct experience with respond.

 

ok so I would like to do the solo nonstop cannonball run. It's a 2900 mile trip from New york to California. I'll need around 85 gallons of fuel. I have an 80 gal tank so that will give me 92ish gallons total. So the weight will decrease overtime. I'll take out all seats except the driver.

 

ok so I would like to do the solo nonstop cannonball run. It's a 2900 mile trip from New york to California. I'll need around 85 gallons of fuel. I have an 80 gal tank so that will give me 92ish gallons total. So the weight will decrease overtime. I'll take out all seats except the driver. with that o would have to go with leveling the weight instead of adding to its capacity.

 

Ambitious plan.

I would be beyond nervous having 80 gallons of super explosive juice so near to me. Hope the container is engineered safely in case of a crash.
But if you choose to embark; Godspeed man.

 

OK. I can see the benefit of extra fuel for your unique situation. However, I'm going to propose that the fuel economy hit you'll take from (presumably) high average speed plus the additional weight of trying to carry all your fuel for the entire trip will outweigh the time penalty you would incur from a couple fuel stops if you carried 20 or 30 gallons of fuel.

Based on the info you provided (2900 miles, 92 gallons fuel) it seems like you're predicting 31.5 mpg. My 2010 averages 40-43 mpg on long highway drives, but I max out at 60-65 mph and I'm strictly a right-lane driver (i.e., no accelerating/weaving through slower traffic). Maybe you'll get your target mpg, but plenty of lead-footed and high-speed drivers around here do worse.

Finally, just my opinion, but I wouldn't pick a Fit for this sort of adventure. I'm sure you know that most (publicized) Cannonballers choose larger and more comfortable vehicles (lots of BMWs, Mercedes, etc). I suspect they do so for comfort, but obviously everyone can't buy/build a car for recreational purposes. I love my Fit (and have added a bunch of sound-deadening material to make it more comfortable), but it's not a good long-distance cruiser. I've driven 1250 miles over two days (and then 1250 mile return a week later) a couple times, and I've driven it 850 miles in a single day a few times. You must be way tougher than me, because those are my absolute limits in the Fit and as I get older I don't even want to do those anymore.

Be safe and don't hurt yourself or anyone else.

 

Kind of a kooky solution to the problem but I have seen people deflate a American football and slip it inside the coil and re-inflate once inside the coil to add a "overload" to stiffen up the rear suspension.

 

Two questions. How are you going to vent the barrel? Inside the car or out. How are you going to connect the barrel with the gas to your existing gas tank so you don't have to stop the car to transfer fuel to your gas tank- which in itself defeats the Cannonball Run scenario?
If you're not careful you might be reliving another movie....."Blazing Saddles" or a new movie...."Fireball Run".!

 

... interesting. please tell us this is just for your personal fun and not in pursuit of a time record?

because adding 500lbs of fuel to the back seat of a Honda Fit and then driving it at 100mph on a public road sounds like all kinds of bad idea lol.

just on the off chance you're still listening, I'll expound on why:
this car has a bouncy ride and is not super stable at even normal highway speeds
it isn't remotely crashworthy by modern standards
it doesn't get that great fuel economy because of the high gearing
it is fatiguing to drive because of noise, so you're going to get tired fast
and all of that is just going to get worse above your normal highway speed

i wouldn't advise putting 500lbs of mulch and driving 90mph, much less 500lbs of liquid that explodes. you don't even have a trunk to put it in, itll be in the cabin with you.

you absolutely need a better car for this. the reason german cars are popular is they're often stable at high speeds. the Fit is the opposite... it's a minimal box designed to transport indonesians short distances ...

 

Well the biggest reason for the honda is... it was a free car to me... and I'm going to be getting something bigger... I really loved driving the honda and have always wanted to do that run... I also have an 80 reserve fuel tank that was being used when I received it I figured I have just about everything to make the trip possible with a very low cost. I don't expect to beat any records (to high of an average speed needed) but I would.like to see how fast i can actually do it in.

 

Well, this seems like a much safer proposition. You can still choose to drive in a, say, "determined" manner, but adjust appropriately to the relative safety of the situation instead of making bad decisions under time pressure. Consistency and planning the route is going to be more important than speed.

i would maybe advise putting the weight into the car, seeing what it drives like, and going from there. I can't decide if i would suggest good tires, stiffer suspension (which unfortunately tends to lower the car too), or taller suspension.

there have been one or two people who have raised the rear with, I believe, insight springs. if you then added weight if would probably compress close to the original height. changing the rear springs is actually extremely easy, i believe. raising the front is harder but i don't think you need that.

 

I admire the ambition. I love racing, and the Cannonball is historic. However, like some of the posters in this thread, I question the wisdom of loading the car with 80 gallons of gasoline in the passenger compartment. The health concerns of breathing fuel vapor for 2.5 days, as well as the risk of explosion (by random ignition or in a crash) would take some of the fun out of the trip. Also, your suspension will be overloaded, so you will have compromised the handling of the car. If you have to swerve to avoid something in the road, you could find yourself going into the Armco or off the road with a 500 pound Napalm bomb at your back. If were you, I would take my racing strategy in the other direction. Strip the car of all unnecessary weight. You will increase your power-to-weight ratio, take the load off your tires and suspension and improve your fuel efficiency. But it's your race. You should run it your way. Good luck and let us know how it went. Or where to send flowers.

 

maybe we should turn the question the other way around.

can we come up with any cars of a similar age that would be WORSE for a cannonball run....?

 

Before we got our 2010 Fit Sport A/T in 2021 we had a 2007 Toyota Yaris M/T 2-door hatchback for several years. Anyone who complains that the Fit is (only) a city car or is too loud inside should drive an older Yaris for a while. It worked for our needs at the time, and it got excellent mileage (45+ mpg on highway trips) but anything longer than a few hours would be classified as cruel and unusual punishment in civilized societies.

 

Some of my fellow 'Freakers complain about noise and (dis)comfort in the Fit. No me. I never expected the car to ride like a Lexus, and I'm used to low end cars (e.g., '93 Tercel) and sports cars. My only complaint is the poor quality of the seats.

As for the Cannonball, any car would work. It just depends on what kind of race you want to run.

I was driving my Fit yesterday, working it through the gears and blasting along in VTEC. It's a great car and a great driving experience.

 

Ive driven 1400 miles "nonstop" (stopped for fuel) quite a few times in the fit. Usually taking me around 20-22hrs averaging around 80mph. Best i got was around 40mpg even with tires at 40psi and that was with feathering the throttle quite a bit.

As others have stated the carry limit is 800lbs. This includes the weight of driver/passenger.

With the added weight of fuel 80gal (500lbs) + you (150-200lbs) youd probably near the limit and reducing your economy to something like 34-38mpg. Even less if youre going to be doing over 80.

Asking AI>If you’re averaging between 34 and 40 mpg, you would need to make between 7 and 8 gas stops on the 2,800-mile trip from New York City to Los Angeles with a 10.5-gallon tank.

• At 34 mpg, you’d need about 8 stops.
• At 40 mpg, you’d need about 7 stops.

Each stop would be an average of 2-3mins to fill a 10.5 gallon tank. Gasbuddy calculates this trip at 15 stops with 95g of fuel. But only filling about 7 gallons avg on fill ups. So on a stock tank youd be adding like what 30mins on your cannonball run for fill ups?

Youd be better off Gutting every unnecessary little thing you can to save weight rather than endangering yourself with a sketch setup carrying 80 gals of fuel.

30 mins more or napalm death

 

Why not just stop for gas 7-8 times like suggested above? You'll need to stop to go the the restroom anyway, no? Or you'll wear a diaper so you don't even need to stop for that?

I can't understand why not stop for a total of like 20 minutes for gas on a 40 hours trip...