In this article we are going to look at a issue that may prove to be dangerous. If you notice any handling or grip problems on your Toyota Matrix , it is necessary that you drive carefully and take care of it fairly quickly. Our team has written and published this article to help you fix them. First, we’ll fairly quickly check out the essential components that ensure good road handling, then we’ll check out why your Toyota Matrix doesn’t hold the road any more, and at last we’ll check out how to fix your grip problems.
What are the main components that ensure good road holding and handling on a Toyota Matrix?
We commence this article by fairly quickly detailing the most important components that will guarantee good road holding for your Toyota Matrix. It’s necessary to know that a vehicle’s grip is a science in itself. It will therefore rely upon many points, we will describe down below the most important ones that can be influenced:
- Shock absorbers: The most important components of your road handling, they permanently guarantee the contact between the wheels and the road. They absorb all shocks and holes on the road.
- Tyres: They are the ones that will guarantee the grip of your Toyota Matrix on the road, the softer they are, the more grip you have, but the faster they get damaged, the harder they are, the less grip you have, but the more resistant they are. Temperature influences their wear. Their size will as well play on grip, the wider they are the more contact with the ground will be important.
- The center of gravity: The higher your car is going to be, the more it will lean in the corners and consequently lose handling, that’s why low profile sports cars grip better than very high 4×4’s
- Wheel Alignment: This adjustment enables you to control the vertical angle of your car’s wheels, it is consequently essential for the grip of your motor vehicle and the wear of your tires. This adjustment is very particular and must be conducted by specialists.
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There are many other components to take into account such as wheelbase, ground clearance, chassis rigidity, weight and aerodynamics…
Why is my Toyota Matrix having problems with my car’s handling or grip?
We will now proceed to the component that interests you the most, why my Toyota Matrix has handling problems? As we explained above, there are a lot of components to take into account for your car to have a good grip, however there are few that can evolve with time, most of them are intrinsic to the construction of the vehicle, we will find out right away those that can disturb your handling and road, and, why:
- As we outlined above, the rubber of the tyres has a fundamental purpose in the good road holding of your motor vehicle, if your tyres are dead, you might have problems of road holding on wet road at first and when you reach the “cord” even on dry road.
- Dead shock absorbers: If your shock absorbers are dead, your motor vehicle will no longer be able to absorb the irregularities of the road effectively and it will often “float”, which will end result in a bad distribution of the masses on the vehicle and shift the centre of gravity of the vehicle. You risk slipping in the bends.
- The risk with a misalignment is that your ground contact area is reduced because of a too open or too closed wheel angle, you will have grip problems.
- A steering issue: Last but not least, the last essential part for good road handling is that all the components of your steering must be in good state. The most traditional case is that your stabilizer bar or the silent blocks of your steering triangles are dead. The result will be a delay in your changes of direction.
How do you fix the handling problems?
We now proceed to the different solutions to resolve your road holding problems on your Toyota Matrix .
- Tyres: Nothing could be less complicated, just change your tyres, make sure to check them carefully and change them when you get to the visual indicator in the grooves of your tyres. It is generally required to count between 100 and 200 euros for a pair of tires.
- Shock absorbers: Ditto, dead shock absorbers have to be changed, if you want to know when to change the shock absorbers of a Toyota Matrix, please have a check out our article on this topic. The price can vary a lot, but you will have to count at least 400€
- Wheel alignment: You will have to go to your garage area to have it corrected, it will cost you less than 100€?
- Steering: If you have problems with the handling on Toyota Matrix because of your steering, there may be several components involved, in this case you will have to make a complete check-up of these components, the best is to call a professional.
If you need more tutorials on the Toyota Matrix, go to our Toyota Matrix category.
