[TheBreeze]

I decided to make some changes to see if I could improve the ride and noise qualities. First up was to increase damping to 5 front and rear. To my surprise, this actually made the ride better - more controlled without being bouncy or harsh. I'm thinking that the lower settings simply don't have enough compression damping for the spring rates.

Next up, I swapped out my nearly new PSS tires (stock size) for a +1 PS4S setup. This made a very noticeable improvement in ride quality and noise. I'm quite impressed with the PS4S tire (and I've always been a big fan of the PSS as a street tire). Going over expansion joints or other rode irregularities is much improved over the PSS, tire noise has decreased markedly, and the slightly larger size does fill the wheel well better. Handling seems at least as good as the PSS, dry and wet grip are improved, especially in colder temps. I'll be tracking the car in the spring, and am interested to see how it performs as a wet track tire (I run NT01s on the track, but they are like driving on ice in the wet). On the negative side, I'm not a big fan of the round sidewalls on the PS4S, kinda looks like a donut, but hey, I'm just being really nit-picky now.

Lastly, I decided to raise the car 10mm all around, mainly to gain some ground clearance for my driveway and to add a bit more insurance against bottoming out. The car doesn't really look that much different from the pictures I posted in my original post, no obnoxious wheel gap, and I'm happy to report that I've not had any bottoming issues since the change.

Regarding the bump in tire size, I did have rubbing issues. Reducing the spacers from 17.5/15 front/rear to 15/12 front/rear got rid of the slight rear rub, but the fronts still rubbed. I ended up having to remold the plastic fender a bit using a heat gun and that got rid of almost all of it. I still get a very slight rub on the left front when making a quick hard left. I decided to stop messing with it since it's really a very minor rub, and I think it will go away on it's own as the tire wears, or it wears the fender liner in that one small spot.

All told, the ride and noise are now much improved, so much so that my wife even commented on how much better her passenger experience is, and that she may actually want to drive the car on occasion now.