Interesting. I think I agree that the Fit is a mini-SUV, a city car by design, for crowded areas where speed and cornering are not prime.
I don't believe the Fit requires much attention to alignment as once set it appears to hold its alignment well. Tires are another matter. I'm predjudiced from decades of unsatisfactory experience with Dunslop SP31's and derivatives but that tire seems to be the primary source of uncertainty with Fit precision handling (and many other cars as well). In every instance weaning any car from the SP31's seems to resolve the issue. I attribute the problem to extreme flexibile sidewalls which let the tire grooves follow any road imperfection regardless of the correct path needed. And higher pressures are only a small improvement.
Switching to good tires, the higher performance the better, the lesser weight and shorter sidewall, has always cured the wandering and switchiness no matter what the car was. I believe the SP31 is designed for soft ride rather than good handling and because that is a less costly tire it appeals to marketing and accounting staffs. My Fit immediately went from twitchy to precision with only a change in tires from SP31's to performance tires (and I've used two brands).
One thing that helps too is to disconnect the front antisway bar on 08's to definitely reduce the Fit's terminal understeer. That tendency to run 'wide' on corners contributes to the wandering nature of the stock GD8 Fit and that is why Honda added the rear bar on the 09Sports models. We found the 09 stock handles better thasn the 08 stock. Again, being predijiced by stopwatch the 08 without front bar out handles the 09 Sport both with good tires. So I think Honda can do more.
The Fit is the best handling city car out here and you won't go wrong by buying one. It is a city car that can handle interstate trips as well and that's why they sell so well.
Cheers.

 

Does the squirlyness go away if you put on, say, 16X7's?

 

definitely some suspension upgrades are in order. stiffen up the ride and highway speeds will be a lot more stable.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to bash. In my brief test drive, the Fit is the most enjoyable Honda I've driven since the 88-91 Civic/CRX (ITR excluded). I love it to death & can't wait until I'm ready to buy in 2-3 wks. If I find it to be a good hwy car, its a done deal. But that means no twitchiness, no major tramlining & ability to stay stable over expansion joints. I'll be using this for work (50/50 city & hwy) & the interior is perfection except having no powerplug in the trunk area (which can be remedied). The only other car I'm considering is a base Mini.

curiously, what tire are you riding?

 

We didn't take your comments as bashing; just accurate description of your observations.
Since I have connections with the new owner of my shop I've tried Hankook, Nexen, Continental, and Pirelli on my Fit in 14", 15", and 17" sizes with 175/65, 205, and 195 sections, plus a bunch of customer cars mostly with 205/50x15, including Hoosiers. Once the Dunslops were discarded the handling was the best you can get in the econobox category (Yaris, Versa and Fit). We've deactivated so many antisway bars we have a standard contraption for tying up the bar ends on both sides of the suspension. Tossing a Fit into a corner and have it take a neutral attitude instead of nose out is a joy. (OK, maybe toss isn't the right word. Plunge, as somebody suggests?)
PS the base Mini is not an econobox. And yes it out handles a fit handily but costs $10,000 more so its not in the running. Reliability doesn't appear as good either tho mpg is. Nor is usefulness. Having raced a real Mini in the good old days I have a certain fondness for the Mini and the BMW one is a big improvement. I bought the Fit in opreference. And absolutely no regrets.

 

It goes away if you put virtually anything else on it, particularly 205/45x16's in an acknowledged performance tire even if the wear rating is 400.

 

thanks 4 the 411. I also think the Fit is by far the best econobox, nothing comes close. When you mention disconnecting the sway bay (front?), do you mean removing? I'm lost when you mentioned the standard contraption for the ends. Regardless, I don't think this applys to my needs as I'm not concerned w/ understeer, or am I missing your point? Does removing the sways help it stability-wise? During all the tire changes, did you change any springs or struts along w/ disconnecting the sways? As a commuter car, I can handle a stiffer ride but not a lower ride I'd get from aftermarket suspension.

 

My $.02 worth at this point, and clearly a great value. The '09 model represents a significant design change. On the road experience is currently limited. Several months from now, with more people posting, and experimenting with tire swaps, I will bet that improvements over OEM will be found. I sincerely believe that tire upgrades are the path to follow, rather than messing around with stabilizer bars. Let us all be patient. Tire upgrades are both inexpensive and unintrusive.

 

I read somewhere that it as 2.5 lock to lock steering ratio so it might be a bit touchy at high speed.

 

Good cause I'm on steelies and the stock tires. They are HORRIBLE!

 

Is it possible that the smaller steering wheel on the '09s contributes to this issue?

I have owned an '08 Base AT for several months before it was totaled and replaced with a '08 Sport. With the only difference being the alloy wheels and wider tires, I noticed a very substantial improvement in squirreliness. It would not surprise me if different tires helps the '09s.

Also, my tires are low rolling resistance so they have a little channel cut out of the tread. Feels like that part is always snagging on some jagged piece of asphalt on the freeway and jerking me around. That can't help, either, if any of you guys have the same kind.

 

I still think a lot of it has to do with the stock tyres you get. I have had no major stability issues on stock steel wheels with 175/60x15 tyres, but they are Dunlop GT3. Has anyone else tried these on the stock wheels?

Cross winds will always be a bit of an issue because of the tall body shape. Adding sports type body kits adds side area and makes it worse.

 

Wind really whips the car around! There were 25mph winds the other day here and I could really feel it push the car.

 

Is there any difference between removing the front bar and "deactivating" it - do you just unbolt it from the endlinks?

 

Oh, indeed. Removing the front antisway bar is a first rate pain and cost. We just remove both links to the shock and tie the ends of th bar up to the inner fender wall out of the way with rigid links rather than flexible units to keep rattling down.
Besides you may want to put them back on, as when you sell it. And that applies to the 08 and 07.
We have not tried the 09 Sport as Honda added a rear bar to the Sport to offset the terrible understeer.. We have deactivated an 09 Base as that is the same ass 08 and it seems to also work as well.
On the 09's I think we'll have to reduce the equivalent front bar size from 22 to probably 15 mm; that requires some measurements on car and experiments with replacement bars off car.
Then grinding the bar on the car to reduced spring load. I estimate that may be a 12 to 15 mm bar equivalent. We have also used links with springs to reduce the anti-roll but thats etty much macj=hine shop work.
This is a busy season for us and we just haven't had a chance to do it.
Or it may be the thing to deactivate both front and rear bars; that is the first thing we'kll try for certain.

 

I'm intrigued...when you affix the bar to the inner fender does this seem to leave some roll stability as opposed to having removed it altogether? I would think deactiving the front bar would make for some uncomfortable roll upfront.

Any experience doing this with stock vs firmer spring/strut/coilover situations?

I don't suppose you have any pictures?

 

Changed my tires out last week to a set of 205/45/16 goodyears drives a lot better on the highway lost a little in gas mileage. Get rid of the factory dunlops they are the worst I have ever had for the highway. Tire rack has the goodyears on closeout for $49 each.

 

You want the best tire for your own specific situation. Swapping out tires may help one thing, but hurt another, like fuel economy.

Low-rolling-resistance tires

Low-rolling resistance tires - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

California has low-resistance tire laws - AutoblogGreen

 

Its funny that I just found this thread because I was about to post about this. I just took a trip from memphis to nashville and back and I could really feel some overcorrection when trying to keep it in a straight path. Its like the steering is REALLY touchy. I hated getting passed by big trucks because it felt like I was gonna lose control. I was thinking wider rims and tires may help by giving it more contact area.

BTW: car is a bout a month old with 300miles before setting out on the trip.

 

I should have said tethered. There is some movement allowed but nothing is applied to the shock.
And I don't have pictures (I'm over 70 and some of this new-fangled stuff I've not learned to do) though I can get one of our young guys to take a photo. Try to get it done this weekend but it may be too cold.