Hey All,
Been a Fit owner now since the 09 came out. People always comment on what an interesting little car it is. My wife and I love it (it's orange) but there are a few... issues we have with it and I was wondering if those could be fixed with some 3rd party products, or something like that.

When it comes to cars I am a very bright shade of green. I know next to nothing so this message is primarily asking for help in places to start looking, what I should be looking for, etc. I need to be taught how to fish when it comes to making the Fit work better for us.

Three things we'd like to fix:
1. Seat comfort
2. Road noise
3. Smoother suspension (it's not too hard to feel every crack and hole on the road right now)

Where do I start researching what fits in the Fit, best products to fulfill the above items and also finding a place that will do installs for me.

Thanks everyone!

 

Tell us what you find uncomfortable w/ the seats. Too short, too low, headrest.

Road noise= foam ear plugs, some here have dynomated their Fits but that requires removing the interior + the added weight = less mpg.

Alot here love to lower their Fit ( it is a giant among the sub-B class) but in softing the ride you probably would want a softer spring.

 

To make the seats more comfortable you could always open them up and put in some memory foam. My dad did this to his office chair and it worked perfect. For road noise just turn up the music. As Perrenoud Fit has stated you could use dynamat or something but expect to pay quite a bit and also add alot of weight. And finally for the more comfortable ride, you could get new springs but remember they may wear out your shocks quicker. I know the ride can be a little rough but after having a 95 two door tahoe, (at best 9 mpg), and a 04 honda pilot (16 mpg), i am willing to take those rough bumps for the 30+ mpg I get

 

There's not much you can really do about the seats, some people here like them while others have issues. The one thing you could do is go to the junkyard and find some seats you do like and retrofit them into your Fit. I know someone one here installed Civic Si seats into their Fit and loves them!

As far as road noise goes, well, this usually has something to do with tires and if that's the case, may I suggest what I'm running, the new Continental DWS. I have em', my buddy with a Mazdaspeed 3 has em' as well as my buddies wife with a Saab 9-5 wagon, we all love them and notice the difference right away. This a sub-compact, "B-segment" car, so its not going to be like an Acura or anything like that. The adding of dynamat would help out for sure, good call there.

Now you mentioned a smoother suspension and IMO this car rides pretty good for what it is but if you wanna a better ride, go with a taller tire, kinda ties into my 2nd point. You stated you were a little "green" with cars so here's an easy way to understand what I'm saying. Your OEM tire is 185/55/16 and it breaks down like this, the 185 means the tire is 185 mm wide and the second number, 55, is the aspect ratio which means the height of your tire's sidewall is 55% of the width and the last number is your rim diameter. So, if you went with a higher aspect ratio the sidewall of your tire would be taller and thus absorb more bumps and give you a better ride. The one thing you've gotta do here is make sure you don't go too high. An increase of 5% would probably do the trick and honestly, this will not throw your speedometer off too much. Tire Rack - Your performance experts for tires and wheels is a good place to find out more info and an actual person to help you out here.

Good luck and again, welcome aboard!

 

1. Seat comfort - you can see if you can install the current gen Civic seat on the factory rails. at least that is where i would start.

2. Road noise - dynamat trunk floor and doors.

3. Smoother suspension - check tire pressure and use 32psi cold. also check tirerack.com for other tires emphasizing comfort. most aftermarket suspension will be stiffer. EnduraTech did not release a kit for our GE, so that was kinda unfortunate . my GD with EnduraTechs feels so much softer and smoother than my stock GE.

 

Thanks for all the feedback.

I think the seats would probably be fine for a lot of people, but I've been dealing with weight loss issues (cancer) and so I'm a lot skinnier than I used to be. Memory foam sounds like a great addition... just beyond my skill-set. I should check out those civic seats though and see if they feel any better, see if I can't find some of those if they work.

So I am hearing try a different tire with road noise, otherwise suck it up? (Gold stars to Perrenoud Fit for the ear plugs suggestion)

Yesterday as my wife and I were out driving we noticed that the "bump" issues are probably stemming more from where we live at the moment than anything extra with the car. We've lived in 3 different states and 3 different cities with this car so far and I think I am going to just say that in general the roads here (Houston) pretty much suck compared to other places we have lived. (More cracks, holes, etc) - Sounds like it's not exactly an "easy" fix there anyway either.

Thanks for the help. I'll be lurking in the background trying to learn a thing or two.

 

I hope you didn't take my comments as "suck it up" with the road noise and with my suggestion of different tires. With it being a true economy car they're (Honda) not going to put the very best tires on the car, but you can though if and when the time arrives and going with the taller aspect ratio is a good start

 

Haha, the "suck it up" was more in references to turning up the music louder. No, all this information is and has been helpful.

 

"The Huston Bump" You could try lowering the air pressure in your tires to a reasonable point, would help. I use to travel to Huston alot at the turn of the century (lol) and the roads were ruff then.
And for the road noise an amp w/ a big 'ol sub...........
Mike

 

Haha I wasn't telling you to "suck it up". I should have clarified and stated this is what I do cause yes the noise can get annoying especially when you are making long trips. It was merely just a suggestion. Sorry for coming off in a rude way lol not what I intended

 

I don't take anything too seriously. Like the ear plugs and turning the music up... all VALID responses to how to reduce road noise... =)