I bought my SRT6 in Florida last Feb and loved it down there. Two things have changed, however: I'm in Michigan now, where roads are much worse, and I've developed lower back pain that makes those bad roads intolerable in the SRT6, at least for me.

So, either I need to find a way to soften the rear suspension a bit, or sell the car. Over some bumps, like patched potholes, it works fine. But uneven gaps between expanses of concrete pavement feel like a hammer against my bottom, and on parts of one Interstate here in Metro Detroit (696), I feel like I'm strapped to the tail of a jackrabbit at full gallop.

My other car is a high performance Audi, also with a firm suspension, and both effects above are much more subdued than in the SRT6. I'm guessing the Crossfire's shorter wheelbase, lighter weight and 19" wheels (vs 18" on the larger Audi) all contribute to the difference.

Obviously I can't change the wheelbase, and I can't go to smaller wheels without hurting the car's great looks. I suppose I could add weight in the trunk, but I'm not sure that would help. Besides, adding weight seems to counter the performance purpose of the car, and I'd have to secure it to the floor to keep it from bouncing around. So the question is, are there any other ways to soften things a bit? If not I'll have to sell. Actually I've listed it for sale here, at autotrader.com and in my local newspaper for about a month. With only 5K mi and a price under $29K, I have yet to receive a single call from a prospective buyer. Since I can't drive the car comfortably I'm now considering trading it in, which would be a big hit financially.

Before I take that hit, a friend suggested I post here for suspension suggestions ... if there are any???

 

~ you could always swap to a set of "standard crossfire" springs & shocks. they create a much softer overall ride.

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when the srt6 came out... many car magazines critiqued the harsh ride.

 

Yeah that should do it, I'll even buy your srt6 rear shocks and springs off you!

 

Nobody ever listens to me.

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ead.php?t=7462

 

might increase your 1/4 mile times going to the soft springs.

 

Thanks for the suggestion of switching to the base XF rear suspension; I will check with my dealer about it tomorrow & see if they have a standard XF I can drive for comparison. Hopefully they won't look at me like I'm from Mars. So far, Chrysler dealer folk have demonstrated far less product knowledge than I'm used to at my Audi dealer.

RE those car mag reviews: The two I read before buying made no mention of a harsh ride. Later I saw one that did -- too late to do me any good!

Meantime, a question: Has anyone here actually made such the switch, or maybe at least heard of someone who did?

 

~ if you do have an interest in the switch...

i have my stock springs & shocks off of my crossfire with less than 1,000 miles on them stored in my garage. i changed to eibach springs & koni shocks.
if you want to swap your srt equipment with my '04 crossfire equipment... i would be willing to do so. my lease is up next october and i would then just
re-install your srt stuff on my car come lease turn-in.

its an option for you. no biggie either way for me... just trying to keep your cost down if you go this route.

 

The switch-to-stock idea is not getting off to a great start. Local dealer said today that such a switch not only would be expensive (albeit cheaper if I got the stock components from one of you guys), such a change would void "most" of my warranty and they would not agree to do such a switch.

The stock XF suspension was not designed to handle the 330 hp, he said, and the rear suspension would not be in tune with the front. Thus a lot of things -- including rattles -- would not be covered. "The engine?" I asked. "I don't know," was the reply; "that would be up to Chrysler." In other words, I'd be gambling on the future of the warranty.

Being in Motown, I should be able to find an indy shop willing to do this. But should I? Losing warranty coverage is a serious matter and would have cost me thousands so far if it happened with my other German car.

One way I might consider that risk would be to find someone who has actually made the switch. If it has been done before and the results worked ... well, that's a lot less risky than being the first to try it.

So I'm back to my earlier question: Has anyone here tried such a switch?

Any other ideas? I have a call in to Chrysler but I am not optimistic...

 

Just don't tell the dealer that your gonna switch out rear springs, he will never know the difference so your warrantee will never become voided.

You know your problem with the rough ride may not be the springs! You should order up some stock limited shocks all you need are two. This will probably fix your problem. I would leave the springs alone until after you get wimpy shocks on there.

 

Both the spring and shock (Dampener) combination contributes to the 'harsh' ride of the SRT6.

I'm on some pretty crappy California roads here in the Bay Area and can tell you at times it really can get to you.

However, since most of the distance driving I will be doing will not be on California roads, I'll leave it as is.

I would suspect to soften your overall ride, you would need to swap out all the springs and shocks either to the Limited or get some aftermarket springs with a spring rate that is comparable to the Limited or Base model.

Keep in mind you WILL lose performance/handling by doing this, but if it's affecting your health and you really want to keep the car, soften up your ride for sure.

Hope that helps...

 

go here to see how to replace the shock absorbers; http://autorepair.about.com/library/a/1h/bl770h.htm

 

I agree... I'm looking to buy an SRT-6 and just drove one yesterday and the seats are way stiffer than my limited's. Go sit in a limited Crossfire and you'll immediately notice the difference. You can even get a pair limited seats off of ebay for around $300 which is less than a quarter of what the dealer will charge you!

But if you end up selling... what color SRT-6 do you have?

 

Smaller wheels will also help your ride. The taller side wall's will absorb some of the bumps. Not sure how small you can go and still clear the brakes.

 

Thanks to everyone for some great suggestions. Unfortunately my lower back has worsened to the point where I can't even enter the XF cockpit most days because of the "bending" required. So, I have no choice but to step up the sales effort. I'm not poor but there's no way I can justify keeping a car I can only drive once every week or two -- if that. No more sports cars for me, I guess. Thankfully I still have my RS6, a 450 hp Audi that suits my back better because it's a heavy mid-sized sedan. Even with the smoother ride and higher perch, though, I need pain killers for most driving longer than 15-20 minutes.

Reduced price of $26,900 is reflected in new ad I just placed in the Cars for Sale forum.

By the way I never meant to suggest that the SRT6 caused my back problems. I was loving the car in Florida until I bent over to pick something up in my condo; that's when the troubles began.

Getting old sucks!