I would like to improve ground clearance for my Fielder

Toyota Fielder, close-up of the headlight, bumper, wheel. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • There is a price for this of course: drive on those roads and discover discomfort like you have never experienced.

  • Knocks, bangs, vibrations and shock waves galore. Spinal Tap will be your new favourite music band.

  • But since you say you’ll be using the car mostly in the city, then there isn’t much to fear provided the changes are reasonable.

Hi Baraza,

I own a 2013 Toyota Fielder, 1.5cc,2WD. I would like to improve its ground clearance. During my small research, I learnt there’s a lot to consider, which is a bit confusing for a first-time car owner. From the options I came across, I was hesitant to consider altering the suspension, and therefore, I decided to go for slightly larger rims and tyres instead. Current measurement is 175/65R15. I would also like wider tyres. Which is the best measurements to go for and what are the advantages? Note that I will be using the car mostly in the city.

Abdul.

Hi Abdul,

Let me start by pointing out a contradiction in your beliefs: increasing the ground clearance of a vehicle involves altering the suspension, whether you like it or not, unless you put it on a hoist, in which case it can’t move, rendering it useless. The rims and tyres also form part of the vehicle suspension, just so you know. That said:

1. I don’t know how tall your vehicle is — maybe you don’t have stock suspension settings, what its current ground clearance stands at and how many more inches you need to make you happy, therefore, I cannot answer this.

2. Yes, there’re disadvantages. Fitting bigger rims and tyres than what the manufacturer set has an effect of gearing up your car, so its acceleration will flag slightly. It also increases unsprung weight, which affects the steering characteristics.

Unsprung weight is the mass of the vehicle not supported by the suspension. This means the suspension itself, its various gubbins and the wheels, which are what we’re looking at now.

This is what happens: a lot of unsprung mass is very good for absorbing road shocks (see the irony) like bumps and vibrations. Yet, due to inertia, this mass is reluctant to “follow” or track these imperfections, so there’s a lot of wheel hop and flaring of revs.

It could easily destabilise a car on an uneven road since grip keeps varying as the tyres lose and re-establish contact with the road surface constantly, but for this to happen, you’ve to be driving like you’re trying to impress George Nickolas on the type of surface the city council could claim as their own. (George Nickolas is a local hero in the amateur motorsports scene).

Performance cars tend to have low unsprung weight to allow the suspension and wheels react faster to road imperfections and thus maintain maximum contact at all times. That is what makes them performance cars: they can be driven hard everywhere.

There is a price for this of course: drive on those roads and discover discomfort like you have never experienced. Knocks, bangs, vibrations and shock waves galore. Spinal Tap will be your new favorite music band.

But since you say you’ll be using the car mostly in the city, then there isn’t much to fear provided the changes are reasonable and you’re not trying to transform your car into a donk, in which case, you may not even notice the changes. And on rough roads, try not to drive like George Nickolas is watching and you will be fine, mostly.

I expected a professional review of the Nissan Teana, but got a personal view instead…

Hello Baraza,

I hope you’re doing well. I’ve been an ardent reader of your column and have learnt a lot regarding motoring. But I’ve a concern. In your review of The Nissan Teana on January 15, I feel you were a bit personal. I was so eager to see how you’d review it because a cousin owns it. Unfortunately, after reading it several times, I could only see a personalised review. You spoke of its spacious interior and stability, but also criticised the two points. You didn’t talk about the vehicle’s pros and cons as expected. I’ve read your reviews about the Subaru and they are totally different from this one. I am writing this as a concerned reader. I hope to hear from you.

Obadiah.

Obadiah, I greatly appreciate that you appreciate my contribution to society. I get kind words all the time and they never get old. I may need to clarify a few things.

For the nth time, I’ve nothing personal against any brand or model of car. The strong points of something may also be its weakness. The Teana does have a very roomy interior, even better than a contemporary E-Klasse Mercedes-Benz, but this same interior ages like warm milk particularly with hard use and/or exposure to strong sunlight, spec this interior in beige and you will find out the hard way just how expensive frequent detailing of dashboard and upholstery can be. Are you still with me?

Stability: the front-drive platform that the Teana rides on favours packaging and bears an intrinsic tendency towards understeer, which is the default most manufacturers fall on to save unskilled and inept drivers from their own inadequacies. That means you’re unlikely to wind up in a tank slapper no matter how hard you push the Teana into turns. That is called stability. But it tends towards understeer, as already stated, perhaps a little too eagerly.

Understeer ensues long before you’d experience it in better balanced vehicles, which makes the Teana a little frustrating to drive spiritedly. Granted, not many people will drive their Teanas “spiritedly”, but this column started life with the title “Behind The Wheel”, and my paymasters at the Nation fondly refer to me as “petrolhead”, a name that has caught on in other circles.

Take a hint. The bones of this column are calcified on the whims of a dedicated enthusiast and driving everywhere at 43km/h with only 20 per cent throttle opening does not a road test make, we like to explore the outer edges of the capabilities envelope borne by a given motor vehicle, and the Teana failed to convince me that it could pass muster in the presence of its peers. Capisce?

The reasons the Teana review didn't resemble those of other cars (such as Subaru) are: one, there was a change of protocol concerning the structure and content of this column and a non-disclosure clause in my contract precludes me from divulging the details thereof, and two: some of the cars I write passionately about ignited a flame in my mind-brain that James May formerly of BBC Top Gear fame refers to as a “fizz” somewhere in his loins. I usually get this fizzy feel in my forearms.

The Teana didn’t ignite anything in me beyond a disinterested yawn, before my lawyer made my day by pulling up to my house that same sunny afternoon in a 577hp V8-powered twin-turbo white-on-black Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG convertible, grinned toothily, handed me the keys, pointed at the Southern Bypass and said: “Have at it.”

Turns out plugs were to blame for my out-jerking Honda Fit

Hi Baraza,

Wishing you good health and great wisdom as you continue educating us. Now, remember my Honda jerking story? Guess what? We finally got a solution. After the 75k drama and going again for a diagnostic and nothing being found, taking it to a different Honda guy away from Honda centre and still nothing, the car, as I had mentioned, looked like it resolved itself, then in late November last year, the drama resumed. In December, kicking and protesting, hubby took it back to Honda centre on Mombasa Road, having decided it will park there until they found a remedy. All this time I prayed that being the season of good cheer, a solution would be found. He was asked to leave the car, for which we paid Sh5,000. The Honda guy later told us that our car was in good health, only that the plugs looked dirty (coated with carbon monoxide). He suggested that we have them, changed, to which my hubby agreed. Would you know that this was what was ailing this car all through? My husband keeps these plugs in the car to remind him of all the drama the girl has taken us through. I can’t tell you the joy I feel cruising without the jerking.

Best Wishes

Alice Wambua

Alice!

It’s been a minute. I hope you’re well. The coating on the plugs is carbon, not carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas that, like a malevolent spirit, possesses neither colour nor smell, but is a source of anguish and lamentation when not contained. Carbon is essentially charcoal minus a few ingredients, hence the soot.

Well, this is embarrassing... No, not the fact that the little Fit is now fit, rather, the fact that nobody brought up the plugs. I always preach to people never to operate on assumptions, yet here I am doing the exact thing I rail against. Typically, when a petrol-powered car starts jerking, the default suspect is always the plugs. It just is, irrespective of where you are or who you are talking to, they always start with “Check the plugs”. Whoever said the best place to hide something is in plain sight was right.

My assumption (goodness, what abashment I suffer now) was this was done, dusted and absolved as a suspect before you all reached out to me. Usually after plugs, the next check is fuel delivery: be it pressure or quality or even the absence thereof, but that is easily diagnosed and dismissed. And while we are talking about fuel, may I just quietly point out that the jerking may have been cured, but the root cause hasn’t. You are not out of the woods yet, the next question is: what is causing the carbon build-up on the plugs? Let’s pick this up next week...