rear bump stops

[blacksambo]

I know this thread is pretty much dead, but for others coming in as of late, I would like to say that I disagree with you blacksambo.
Those are bump stops and they DO limit suspension travel. They may affect roll resistance but primarily that's what the sway bar does. I have removed my rear bump stops completely (not recommended unless you have a lift) it does not affect roll/sway on my VX at all, still handles like it always did, but without the harsh jarring of the bump stops.

I gotta tell ya....our two '99's handle with ease. NO jarring or anything untoward at all. These are after all sport trucks...what do people expect, 1978 Cadillacs?? The parts we are all talking about rides about one quarter of an inch above the axel plate, motionless. Once under way they are in constant contact with the axel. I think, to expect touring car ride in a fairly hi-performance, legacy SUV is expecting too much, perhaps. Let's let the original design do it's intended job. Saw if you must, but do so at your own safety peril.

[VX KAT]

I gotta tell ya....our two '99's handle with ease. NO jarring or anything untoward at all. These are after all sport trucks...what do people expect, 1978 Cadillacs?? The parts we are all talking about rides about one quarter of an inch above the axel plate, motionless. Once under way they are in constant contact with the axel. I think, to expect touring car ride in a fairly hi-performance, legacy SUV is expecting too much, perhaps. Let's let the original design do it's intended job. Saw if you must, but do so at your own safety peril.

Awe come on Sambo, you know none of us are thinking old Cadillac ride, not even close to that so don't go there. Many of us have or have had, other SUVS/trucks etc so we know how various types of trucks ride.
If your 2 VXs don't make a slamming/jarring/bang sound/jolting vibration of rather significance, when you go over larger highway seams, or on a rough dirt road, or a rough gravel road, with any type of rut or horizontal dip or rise of any kind...then.....um....um....you can't be driving a VX.

Going only 22-25mph on my rough, rutted rocky dirt road causes my dash mounted compass, on a hinge, to jump/bobble up and down about 1/2"....and the hinge is secure, not loose. That's the slamming vertical lift I get from the rut or gully.

It also causes a very significant vibration in the steering wheel, significant sensations/vibrations and movement of the steering column.
Could it be that your normal travels just don't take you on roads of this type, and therefore, you don't experience it?

Just going by sheer statistics here, if say, 80% of forum members comment on a rough jarring/slamming/ride over rough horizontal surfaces, and only 2 say "I gotta tell ya....our two '99's handle with ease. NO jarring or anything untoward at all."......ya gotta admit, that's kind of odd, statistically speaking.

All the VX owners that have commented on the jarring ride have come from different model years, different locales, different terrain, different mileage, different ages, different condition of the vehicle...and yet they all describe the very same issue, in the same set of circumstances....that would seem to make it a valid issue IMHO.

Again, my only 2 thoughts I could come up with to explain this 2 vs. many many owners, is to theorize you to don't encounter the type of terrain that the others describe. .....and secondly, you just have a different perception/feeling of this event when it occurs?

Point is....perhaps your driving just doesn't put you in such circumstances...and therefore, you don't perceive it that often, or at all.

I legitimately can't think of any other possibilities for the stark difference of opinion.....

there's my 2 cents
p.s....I am not making any commentary about the function of the bump stops...what they are called or what their official function is....just discussing the slamming/jolt in the ride.