Car Mods: 1st Gen Perodua Myvi Tuning Part IV - A Recap & a Rear Anti-Roll Bar Upgrade UPDATED

It has been slightly over a year since I wrote about modding the Perodua Myvi. I have been occupied with other things and I have to admit that I had stopped thinking too much about the little Myvi because of this. Anyway, as a recap, the reason I decided to tweak the Myvi was to make it a better car. Not a sporty one, as the Myvi isn't truly sporty (look at the car's overall shape and suspension setup for Godssake) but one which is slightly improved in most aspects.



Anyway, the next step after the amazing and stupendous brakes (which to this date stops on a dime, without any dead travel and one heckuva nice sound as you slow down) it's back to suspension tuning. More engine upgrades will be for later.

Now if you recall, I have kept everything stock with the exception of a front strut bar. I have still kept everything standard because firstly, the ride is already stiff enough. Any harder and things become uncomfortable. The standard shocks and springs is the best setup for ride and handling. One only needs to add something to stiffen the front end of the car so that the suspension works better and you don't suffer from scuttle shake (or that stupid dashboard crash) over large bumps. After the bar was installed, there was less scuttle shake, which meant added refinement, as well as having slightly sharper steering and a little less understeer.

So since I did that, I felt that the Myvi still understeers a fair bit. So how do you cure understeer? You work on the rear of the car to settle the front. The Myvi has a beam axle with semi-trailing arms at the rear (photo above). This is a very cost effective way of building a suspension for a car. Simple, basic and archaic. What you can do to it is add something called an Anti-Roll Bar to the equation.

What the anti-roll bar does as its namesake. It cuts the car's body roll and makes the car corner flatter. In the Myvi's case, it stiffens up the rear of the car (as it adds bracing between the left and right suspension), cuts roll at the rear making the rear of the car more responsive to direction changes, i.e the rear follows the front a little bit more instead of doing its own thing whilst the front is changing direction. The Anti-Roll bar is by local chassis bracing specialist Ultra Racing. The bar comes in two sizes - I chose the less thick one (16mm) as I was informed that the thicker (19mm) one would make the car's ride suffer and is good for those whose Myvi is equipped with coilovers, large tyres and maybe a roll cage inside. In short, the thicker one is for the track or a very very aggressive setup that isn't suitable for road use. I believe so too as I think the pink Myvi feels just nice with the thinner bar. There is still some roll whilst tackling corners, but the car feels easier to control than before. There is less twist as the car feels more connected front and rear.

Now one surprising benefit aside from making the car corner better is that the car's ride is slightly improved. I suppose this is due to the fact that the bar also acts as bracing so that the suspension (springs and shocks) can work better instead of dealing with lateral forces that twist and bend the suspension whilst on the move.

High speed stability is also improved. One thing I have learnt in car tuning over the years is that if you want a very stable car for high speed driving is a solid rear end. Sometimes this means a wider rear track or a stiffer rear that isn't affected by lateral forces. The Myvi, even with its stock 175 series tyres on 14 inch wheels is actually more stable at speeds higher than the national highway speed limit. Surprising bonus to those who add this little modification.

Now the Myvi rides better, corners better (there is still some roll but not like before) and is actually more stable at higher than usual speeds. You only need these two parts to firm up yet keep things comfortable at the same time. I have been running this setup ont he standard 14inch wheels and its fine by me. I have taken the car on trips to Johor and up north too as well as those shorter trips up to Genting Sempah with this setup. The Myvi is fairly comfortable and less fatiguing to drive over long distances. If one were to add springs or shocks to this setup I have to say that the ride will deteriorate and the Myvi will be a little more tiring to drive over longer distances. This is why I have not done  anything else. One could go one size up in wheel size using 185/55//15 or 195/50/15(and not wider or larger sized wheels which will add to some tyre roar/road noise) if there is an itch to scratch when it comes to dressing up the Myvi a little more. This is all it needs if you want it to remain fairly comfortable. This mod is also applicable to the 2gen Myvis.

Remember, it isn't a sports car. In Japan, people buy the Daihatsu Sirion or even Boon variant for old ladies to go to the market. Whilst there are the AWD Boon with a 1.0liter turbocharged engine, this is the exception. It really is the exception as firstly, we don't have All-Wheel drive, secondly we don't have Boosted engines in all our Myvis and thirdly, Daihatsu/Toyota is one company that designs cars for profit and when it comes to their superminis, they're not designed to be sporty in the real sense. So why try too hard? Save up and buy a car that is sportier.

Next comes more performance mods. Stay tuned.

Anyway, if you want to see the previous articles of the Perodua Myvi mod, click here.