UB is on the car! Install was a cinch, besides my one-use Walmart crescent wrench really needs a disclaimer on the side: "First bolt will bend crescent arm. Try box end" so customers don't bang knuckles on hard surfaces. Jeeze. Bolts weren't even on that tight.
My impressions kind of exceeded my expectations for this mod. That is, I feel differences that I didn't expect, and feel less planar stability than I expected. Unmet expectations first: While this really tightens up the center of the underbody, there's still some give beyond that center. I was expecting (without giving it too much thought) that pressing on one wheel would illicit more stiffness than it did. That said, this does a hell of a lot more than I thought it might in other aspects.
For one, the whole interior is quieter. Panel creaks and moves are nearly gone now, especially when one wheel is lifted more than others. They're not completely gone, but very very close. I had to make a couple passes at my driveway before picking up a sound from interior panels. The tonal experience goes far beyond those moments, though, because I swear just
going down the road is much quieter. Yes it's quieter when you hit a bump with one wheel, but it's especially quieter when you hit a bump with both, such as a ridge. You don't notice everything that is jarred when you hit bumps like that until those things are no longer jarred. It imparts a feeling of supreme refinement, especially when you know what that two-tire bump is supposed to feel like. Solid.
The down-the-road feel is also felt through the controls. The car feels much more stable going straight. I have to correct for small bumps much less than I did before, so there's less activity required from me. Again, one of the effects I didn't know the UB could have, and it's very welcome. It does impart a sense that there's more information through the wheel, but I wouldn't leave out the possibility that I just have more attention to give it now that I'm not making as many minor corrections. It has a lot to do with the front-to-rear stiffness that wasn't there before. Response to sudden acceleration (read, laying on the throttle) feels marginally tighter - there's less dive and more composure.
Through turns, stability is very much improved. I should preface this attribute by mentioning I'm on my winters (Michelin Xi2's) and they ride like marshmallows. Yet even with them, I can feel the car is less sloppy through quick transitions. It's tighter and better composed. It's more difficult to feel like I've upset the tires' load distribution. I can give it something new after I've left a corner much sooner than I could before. Around town, I felt this at every right- or left-hand turn. There was a "slop" there before that would make it a bit tricky to drive smoothly (say, when your mother in-law is riding shotgun). Now it just takes it all in stride. Mid-corner bumps through sweeping, steady turns upset the car far less than before.
All told these are a number of pretty minor improvements that are adding up to be a hell of an effective mod. It's a jack-of-all-trades - everything you need to make the car feel more refined and expensive.
Pics:
Using the incline into the garage to my advantage
UB is installed. Hard to see, but I don't feel like fiddling with the pic to demonstrate. So squint.
Close-up.
