Not too long ago, Spoon came out with a product called rigid collar that aims to minimize free-play on car’s sub-frame.

Cars like all things made out by human, tends to feel the best as when it came out from the factory, every bolts,screws and clips on your car is still tightly fitted. But after some time, you may realize that your car is not behaving the same way like you felt, these includes extra unwanted sound from the interior and the exterior, steering feeling may not be as precise as it used to be and worst of all, things prematurely failed due to uneven wear and tear.

The product that I am going to review today is more towards tightening our car’s exterior parts. Rigid Collar is made out of aluminium and acts like a washer between bolts and our car’s sub-frame. What is happening everyday when you drive the car is when your wheels go through uneven surface, external force will push the whole frame at every direction, when your car is still new, things will still feel fine but as days goes by, the external force may be too much to bear until the bolts started getting loose and dislodged from it’s original position.

Picture below for better view :

did you notice the screw is not really straight into the hole? In fact, it is slanted!

Side view of the screw misaligned from the hole

And due to the screw not properly fitted, our car’s sub-frame starts to move(free-play) whenever our wheels go through uneven roads.

Just 8 piece of tiny little aluminium washer could change things but Spoon is selling those for Suzuki Swift @ RM650(without shipping)!

Thanks to the folks from Speed Mod MotorSport, they came out with a replica of Rigid collar and name it Stiff Ring! What is even better that it cost only RM250! (without installation)

4 out of the 8 piece of Stiff Ring

Many will be skeptical about this product, that is why the review is in after a week of testing at various condition to allow Swift drivers to get and understand abit of what this can give you and should you be worried about anything.

What you need to know :

  1. This product may void your car’s warranty.
  2. Cost RM250 (without installation)
  3. 1 year manufacturer’s warranty (exclude accident)

Car’s Condition:

  • >50k KM
  • Stock Absorber
  • PS3 195/55/15 Tyres (30ps – petrol station)

Stiff Ring goes between the bolt and the hole

Feedback:

  1. Steering wheel feels much solid, control is much more sensitive.
  2. High speed on highway has much better steering feel.
  3. Going through speed bump(not those uneven bumps) feels much firm.
  4. Annoying metal sound gone when going through yellow lines approaching Tol.
  5. Cornering has been improve (due to steering feedback)

Essentially, all the pros are due to much better steering response. Overall, this little things did wonders, I just cannot imagine how it can improve so much with such small item but it did it’s job well!

Note :

  • This product will not solve your steering rack issue (if it is dead,it is dead, you need to warranty claim is or get a new one from spare part shop)
  • This product will not solve dashboard noise(its totally different area anyway).

So, should you get it?

If your warranty is over, just go ahead, for RM250 you can really feel the difference especially when your car mileage is high. For new cars, you may think to get it later but why not get it now and protect your sub-frame when it is still in place? Of course, you still have to think about your new car’s warranty first.

Currently, Speed Mod is selling this for Suzuki Swift and SX4 for RM250 per set.