Steering Solutions?

[Rbha311]

Hi everyone,


I’m considering purchasing an Ineos Grenadier, but I’d like to know if anyone has tried any aftermarket products or modifications to improve its handling characteristics. Are there suspension upgrades, sway bars, or other enhancements that have made a noticeable difference?

Took one out for a test drive and it slightly terrified me. As I’ll be doing considerable distances on highways, I really want to know if anyone’s successfully invented a product that reduce the need for constant steering input and increased feel.

I’d love to hear your experiences and recommendations before I make my decision.

 

[Andrew Kilby]

I was exactly like you when i first got my vehicle in December 23. It took me the best part of 10000klm to get used to the steering but now it is not a problem highway driving is easy now. you will get used to it. be patient. As for the ride, I don't know if i am used to it or it has changed but it seems softer now than when new. I find it very comfortable. i even like the footwell hump.

 

[Tazzieman]

It's like a horse. You have to tell it where to go with the reins.
It doesn't drive like a car. Because it's not.
That said , a large proportion of owners are quite happy with its characteristics, though only a small % of owners post on forums.

 

[bemax]

There are some members that are happy with an aftermarket steering damper. It is said that the self centering improves a little bit with it.
But as others wrote you get accustomed to it after a short time. Nevertheless it will never steer as pointy as a 911.

 

[Clark Kent]

It's a yes from me. 19 months and 22,000km in and my vehicle seems to drive better each time I use it. I agree that from new with low mileage the Grenadier does feel a bit unsettling but the combination of bedding in of components and becoming more comfortable with the characteristics makes for a great drive. Expectations and personal driving history makes a difference to where you start on the journey.

I'll share a (longish) story. Maybe it will help you.

Over Christmas and NY my wife and I did a 3500km road run up the Bruce Highway to Townsville and return. 5 full days of driving. The Bruce Hwy is a goat track on a good day and has been further damaged by floods in late December. It was rough.
My wife had maybe 20 minutes of driving around town in our Grenadier before we set off on this trip. This was her first open highway driving. She is in her 50s and has plenty of driving experience but not in a heavy live axle vehicle. Her daily is an underweight B58 powered BMW M140i so is very different to the Grenadier.

Suffice to say her first few hours at the wheel were not pretty. She scared the crap out of me more than once. I sat in silence because it was a great opportunity to observe the learning and adaptation process for someone new to the Grenadier.
The thing she struggled with most was corners and curves at speed. Straight line tracking was not an issue.
Because she had no sense of how the Grenadier steered and handled she was over-controlling the vehicle around corners. Long sweeping highway corners were done as a series of bites at the wheel (the most I counted was 13). But by her third stint of driving, day two, she had it mastered. It took her about 6 hours to get comfortable with highway driving. I then had the discussion about what she found different and had made it hard for her. The takeaways were:

1. Anticipating the body roll and not backing off the steering. It's a heavy vehicle. Let the progressive spring coils load up with the initial turn in then readjust the steering to guide the vehicle around the corner. She's a senior physics teacher so could relate to this as a mass, inertia and momentum problem. She also went off on a tangent about tangents. Nerd.
2. Relax on the steering wheel. Don't immediately counter if it moves around a bit. Don't interpret a bit of body lean as the start of over- or understeer and overcompensate.
3. She went from swinging the wheel back and forth searching for balance, to starting the turn-ins earlier to load the suspension then holding the steering angle through the corner with minimal corrections. Once she had that response sorted out she (and I) relaxed and it became a normal drive for her.
4. I didn't mention the footrest and neither did she.

The other point that comes up is the steering return to centre action (Bemax posted above while I was still writing). My unmodified vehicle returns to centre about 80%. The remaining 20% or so is easy once you remember to do it. The small diameter steering wheel makes your hands busy.

 

[Catpaw4x4]

Hi everyone,


I’m considering purchasing an Ineos Grenadier, but I’d like to know if anyone has tried any aftermarket products or modifications to improve its handling characteristics. Are there suspension upgrades, sway bars, or other enhancements that have made a noticeable difference?

Took one out for a test drive and it slightly terrified me. As I’ll be doing considerable distances on highways, I really want to know if anyone’s successfully invented a product that reduce the need for constant steering input and increased feel.

I’d love to hear your experiences and recommendations before I make my decision.

If test driving scared you, I would ask what you are currently driving and for how long as your brain is accustomed to that driving experience. The "G" is not a car. Nor is it any of the "luxury" SUVs only ever meant to drive on asphalt and never see dirt. I have a '97 5 sp Discovery. The "G" drives tight compared to it. All things are relative like the saying in on the passenger side mirror ... "objects are closer than they seem".
Do you like the vehicle??

 

[Dokatd]

If you are driving 500miles or more in a day then I would suggest you look at something else. It's not a road tripping vehicle as it's currently built. Expedition vehicle maybe but not a highway machine.

 

[TJ D]

I think it gets much better with some miles on the vehicle. I've got 5k miles on mine, most of it up and down a freeway at 60-80mph, and in the beginning, I found it a bit of a chore to manage the vehicle. No longer.
I was just the other day wondering if it's me becoming accustomed to the handling, but I really don't think so-once everything breaks in a little bit things seem to have sorted themselves out. Or it's just me used to it. Hard to say for sure.

In any case, I have no issues with the steering anymore.

But, if commuting up and down I-5 was my intended purpose for a vehicle, Grenadier would rank WAY down the list.

Maybe try to get your hands on one with some miles on it and take a spin.