Hey guys! I'm running a 18 gt limited (gt2). I've noticed that I feel every bump in the road and small micro bumps. I'm running in either eco or normal and could feel and hear the wheels. Not even sure if this is normal. I keep reading everyone having such a smooth ride but I am not. I have the summer 19s on and wheel pressure is set to standard, front 38 and 36 in the rear. Also when I go over bumps, potholes or small cracks the steering wheel sort of shifts direction and the car shifts. It's like it's not grounded or it missed a step? Kind of odd. I'm comparing my ride comfort to a 2018 camry car which is non adaptive sports tuned suspension and I feel like that is more comfortable and steers better. Not sure if I should bring it in to have it checked to see if anything wrong or if it's even normal?
Contrary to the advice you have received here, I doubt anything is wrong with your Stinger or its Adaptive suspension system. I have written before about the Stingers poorly calibrated suspension. I believe that is what you are experiencing, made conspicuously worse by the fact that you also have a smooth riding Camry SE in your household to compare it to. The Stingers ride quality is highly dependent on road surface and texture. I too compared the Stinger back to back with a 2018 Camry rental. The Camry had a smooth, silky, luxurious quality to the way it went over the road. The body stayed relatively flat over good and poor surface with a surprising lack of bounce, pitch, or float.
The Stinger in contrast allows a constant stream of road texture and grain feel to be transmitted into the cabin and to a lesser degree, to the steering wheel. Actual bumps are handled decently, but with too much up/down motion of the front and rear suspensions.
It’s just the way the Adaptive suspension is tuned in the Stinger.
The people who feel the Stinger is “super smooth” aren’t lying though. On the right surfaces, the Stinger glides smoothly down the road too. But different cities have different road qualities, explaining why some people don’t experience much of the smooth ride. In addition, everyone has different expectations of ride quality. You, having a new Camry SE, have the fortune of knowing what a well tuned suspension feels like. That Camry’s ride is exceptionally solid, flat, well damped, and isolated from ride harshness and motion.
I have driven numerous Stinger GT2 RWD and all of them feel the same.
They bounce over dips and bumps. They transmit too many small bumps/textures.
They lack coordination between the front and rear suspensions (you feel the front bouncing and rear bouncing independently, rather than the car moving flatly as a whole). On the upside, they all have good resistance to brake dive and squat. They all have relatively quick steering. They all superb levels of grip.
It’s just the nature of the Stinger.
The handling numbers and specs are top notch, but they are achieved with a lack of refinement in relation to vehicles with better sorted suspension systems.
Before you feel like your Stinger is broken, go take a test drive of at least one other at your local dealership. It will likely ride just like yours. Different people judge ride quality by different metrics. The Stinger GT2 ride quality is a mixed bag. The Stinger GT2 is both too firm and too soft. If you didn’t have the Camry to compare it to, it might be less obvious.
In the end, let’s hope Kia refines the suspension tuning further in the next generation of Stinger.
