Americas TFL Offroad Review of the Grenadier

[Bruce]

The video was banal at best. Wasted almost an hour and a half watching it. If you already own a Grenadier then don't bother.



I'm not understanding how that can be. I've had OME dampers and they're little more than a shock absorber. Good product but there aren't any springs or self-centering gas chambers in them afaik. They're designed to provide even shock resistance regardless where the wheel is pointed. Is the Grenadier specific model something different?

It's my understanding that people are using the OME for a Toyota so it isn't even Grenadier specific and requires piecing together the proper size hardware to adapt it.

 

[nuclearbeef]

The video was banal at best. Wasted almost an hour and a half watching it. If you already own a Grenadier then don't bother.



I'm not understanding how that can be. I've had OME dampers and they're little more than a shock absorber. Good product but there aren't any springs or self-centering gas chambers in them afaik. They're designed to provide even shock resistance regardless where the wheel is pointed. Is the Grenadier specific model something different?

I'm guessing the OME has less damping force?
The Grenadier damper resists the steering's natural tendency to return to center. OME less so.

 

[MrMike]

The video was banal at best. Wasted almost an hour and a half watching it. If you already own a Grenadier then don't bother.



I'm not understanding how that can be. I've had OME dampers and they're little more than a shock absorber. Good product but there aren't any springs or self-centering gas chambers in them afaik. They're designed to provide even shock resistance regardless where the wheel is pointed. Is the Grenadier specific model something different?

I'm just going by what others have said after changing the factory damper over, have a search in the Forum

 

[DaBull]

The video was banal at best. Wasted almost an hour and a half watching it. If you already own a Grenadier then don't bother.



I'm not understanding how that can be. I've had OME dampers and they're little more than a shock absorber. Good product but there aren't any springs or self-centering gas chambers in them afaik. They're designed to provide even shock resistance regardless where the wheel is pointed. Is the Grenadier specific model something different?

Hi 255/85, Road Master makes a patented return to center exact center steering stabilizer. I spoke to them about 6 months ago and they are willing to support the Grenadier and make a specific one to fit the Grenadier. They first Grenadier owner to take their vehicle to them, will get a free one for allowing them to measure it and design one.
Here's a recent post from @RickTok giving more info and who to contact. Someone with a Grenadier in Washington is needed to volunteer up their vehicle and report back to all or us. DaBull

Americas - Grenadier owner near Vancouver, Washington State needed for steering stabilizer R&D measure.

Roadmaster is looking for someone with a Grenadier in Washington State to develop a return to center steering stabilizer. Reach out to: aservellon@roadmasterinc.com Abraham Servellon Exact Center Production Manager ROADMASTER Inc. 6110 NE 127th Ave. Vancouver, WA 98682 +1 (800) 669-9690...

www.theineosforum.com

 

[Tazzieman]

Enough of this Puritan lash terminology!
It's steering wheel play.

 

[Andiamo]

The whole steering debate is almost comical to me at this point. I really don’t notice it and driving through the multitude of interstate construction zones we have the Grenadier actually handles the changing road conditions better than my new Defender did. Much less twitchy at speed for me and the steering doesn’t dart one way or the other. I’ve stopped watching most of the car reviews out there because they’re almost all the same. It all feels like click-bait and most of the time I feel like I’ve wasted 20-30 minutes of my life. I’d much rather watch someone taking their vehicle on an adventure of some sort than trying to find something to complain about.

 

[Stu_Barnes]

Enough of this Puritan lash terminology!
It's steering wheel play.

I’m putting this down to the cultural vernacular of our shared language.

+1 for “play”

Out of interest how many miles did they have on their vehicle?

 

[holdmybeer]

I’d much rather watch someone taking their vehicle on an adventure of some sort than trying to find something to complain about.

This, so much. I think it will happen. I predict the nature of the vehicle and first year buyers will lean slightly more offroader than mallcrawler.

And just think ... if 1% of us share a story or vid or gallery ... we'll have dozens (ha!) of adventures!

 

[Jiman01]

I didn’t make it through the vid. I’ll admit I watch TFL sometimes but I can’t do 1hr of TFL…a man has to know his limitations

 

[ADVAW8S]

Hi 255/85, Road Master makes a patented return to center exact center steering stabilizer. I spoke to them about 6 months ago and they are willing to support the Grenadier and make a specific one to fit the Grenadier. They first Grenadier owner to take their vehicle to them, will get a free one for allowing them to measure it and design one.
Here's a recent post from @RickTok giving more info and who to contact. Someone with a Grenadier in Washington is needed to volunteer up their vehicle and report back to all or us. DaBull

Americas - Grenadier owner near Vancouver, Washington State needed for steering stabilizer R&D measure.

Roadmaster is looking for someone with a Grenadier in Washington State to develop a return to center steering stabilizer. Reach out to: aservellon@roadmasterinc.com Abraham Servellon Exact Center Production Manager ROADMASTER Inc. 6110 NE 127th Ave. Vancouver, WA 98682 +1 (800) 669-9690...

www.theineosforum.com

@DaBull I drive to Vancouver Wa, once a month so when my Grenadier arrives and no one has made the stop, I will.

 

[Bruce]

I could throw the steering wheel back and forth quickly and see no change in direction (like the video), but were I to move the wheel only a very few degrees, then wait for half a second; it would change direction.

Same. I played with this last night and this morning. I feel like watching the video when he was demonstrating there was a little wiggle to the car. I tried it with mine and it definitely shakes the car if I move it like he did. If I keep it within my lash/play zone that allows rapid oscillating inputs without moving the vehicle, if I stop swinging and hold even the slightest wheel turn the Grenadier goes where I want. I feel it's very point and shoot. You just have to be patient. The delay is the same feature, not a bug, that keeps the truck from ripping your thumbs off being demonstrated in a different way.

 

[Offroad]

Without getting into the whole steering debate of whether it was designed to be like that, or not, in terms of the radius and return to center, I have a dead spot (like TFL) and it constantly requires adjustment on the highway, when I'm driving to the trail, where it was apparently designed to have an abnormally large turning radius and not return to center so I don't break my thumbs when I'm doing extreme offroading or farming.

 

[Beowulf]

What was TFL's excuse for selling the Grenadier instead of doing long term comparative videos to other vehicles?

 

[holdmybeer]

What was TFL's excuse for selling the Grenadier instead of doing long term comparative videos to other vehicles?

I don't know what TFL says officially, but it's not surprising they wouldn't hold a long-term Grenadier. It's expensive and it's niche. i.e. on the expensive end for their viewers, and probably not on their viewers shortlists because ... well, mostly highway manners, dealer network, etc. Pretty valid reasons to exclude a Grenadier.

Truck purchases or leases mean one thing to TFL: an asset that depreciates quickly and must turn a profit for them. Every dollar they have into a Grenadier could be tied up in a ToyoRAMFordJeep mass-appeal product that might (probably) win them more ads/views/subscribers. IMO.

 

[ADVAW8S]

What was TFL's excuse for selling the Grenadier instead of doing long term comparative videos to other vehicles?

The reason the dad said was on road manners and the ADAS bothering him. Plus they didn't get one with tow hitch. The old man seemed miffed when they were at overland expo mountain West that their seemed to be a ton of Grenadiers showing modification. My thought was they assumed the market would be smaller and surprised that it has been embraced. They just bought another Land Rover Defender to try out. I bet they got deal from Steve Burt who owns the LR dealership near them. Steve is known for wheeling hard his 6 jeeps and 2 Defenders. I bet he is trying to combat the rise of Grenadiers in CO.

 

[CrazyOldMan]

What was TFL's excuse for selling the Grenadier instead of doing long term comparative videos to other vehicles?

First of all they had a mediocre config (didn’t seem to have done their homework), secondly they’re in the click business, and the Toyota 4Runner (overtrail and TRD pro) and Land Cruiser, as well as the Tesla CT were about to launch - I think they just didn’t want the capital tied up and knew they would get WAY more clicks with content for those platforms. I don’t think they’re just content schmucks - they actually like off-roading - but they have a business to run.

 

[MileHigh]

Good analysis, and I forgot about how many Grenadiers there were on stands at the Expo West here in DEnver. That definately surprised me, and the IG needs as much attention as it can get.