Introduction

This is one area where you can do a good deed to your vehicle, no matter where you drive it.

All serious all terrain vehicles have factory installed steering dampers. Suzuki's vehicles do not, although they need it badly because they are so bumpy and twitchy. Suzuki probably skimped on that for cost reasons.

Benefits, issues and risks

If you install a steering damper, it will significantly improve the steering feel. The steering in a Jimny is generally very light. With a steering damper, it will feel heavier in a positive sense (like you are driving a proper big 4WD vehicle), but will not be hard.

Also, vehicle's "twitchy" behavior at dodgy tarmac roads will be significantly softened, and the shake while driving on gravel roads will be significantly cushioned.

Having a steering damper should not negatively affect the life expectancy of the power steering system elements, as they are designed to turn the wheels with much more resistance than this steering damper actually adds.

Beware that you might perform a vehicle recertification in some countries in order to make your modification road legal.

Solution

There are several steering dampers available around, which can be utilized on a Jimny.

If you don't want anything flashy, the ordinary steering dampers made for Land Rover Discovery 1 have been found to be quite satisfactory, and they are usually cheap to buy online. One such steering damper is Armstrong STC786.

Since Jimny has no mounts for the steering damper, there are several "bolt on" kits available to buy, but you can also weld on your own pieces of metal to make the mounts if you have that skill and do not mind to "burn" the vehicle.