I'M WONDERING

[diasafe]

Hi all

heres my problem after rebuilding my front and rear suspention shocks,springs.bushes bolts the whole kit (avo shocks with adjustable rebound),

But when giving the car some welly it gets very unstable almost changing lanes !!

at slower speeds on smoother roads its fine but on bumpy roads it tends to follow the road contours. all wheels have been balanced and front wheels tracked twice (2degs toe in ), also at low speed tight turns the tyers squeel (all new)

Does anyone have any ideas ?

regards

paul

[WayneB]

Sounds like you now have a bump steer problem.

By lowering the car, you have changed the relationship of the lower control arm and the steering tie rods (rack)

As the wheel travels, the two are now moving in a differing geometry , causing the toe of the wheels to move in and out. Excessive toe out will also cause the condition you are describing.

To fix it, you need to lower the steering rack tie rods, by changing them to rose joints and spacing them down from the steering arms to correct the geometry.

It might be just easier for you to raise the suspension a bit at a time till its minimised.

Bump Steer Explanation and diagram

Edited July 11, 2006 by WayneB

[910Esprit]

I dont know what tyres you are using, but the rear P600's on mine were awful when they were new - wandering all over the place - frightening on very high speed curves. took maybe 2-300 miles before they were bedded in - now I quite like them!

cheers Steve 84 turbo

[diasafe]

Sounds like you now have a bump steer problem.

By lowering the car, you have changed the relationship of the lower control arm and the steering tie rods (rack)

As the wheel travels, the two are now moving in a differing geometry , causing the toe  of the wheels to move in and out. Excessive toe out will also cause the condition you are describing.

To fix it, you need to lower the steering rack tie rods, by changing them to rose joints and spacing them down from the steering arms to correct the geometry.

It might be just easier for you to raise the suspension a bit at a time till its minimised.

Bump Steer Explanation and diagram

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Wayne thanks for the explanation, the parts i have changed on the front were all standard parts!! could what you describe still be the case ? how difficult in reality are these adjustments?

kind regards

paul

[hilly]

Have you had the rear tracking checked ????

You mentioned the front alignment, but not the rear.

When I got my car (which was in bits) all the spacer washers were missing off the rear radius arms and hence the tracking was way off when I rebuilt it. It had all the symtoms you describe ie very unstable at high speed over bumps especially in the wet. Putting the rear tracking right totally transformed the car.

Worth getting it checked out.

Andy

[nicksoldies]

The rear track will cause those effects. Get it checked on a laser setup. I don't know where you are based but Chemix in Halesowen, West Mids will do it free. It takes about 45 mins and they give you a report covering every suspension parameter for the complete car.

[tonyp]

Link bushes torqued correctly (not too tight ?). Echo that above re scrubbing in tyres - big improvement on mine.

[WayneB]

Whoops, I saw the word adjustable and assumed you had gone for the height adjustable jobs. Did you finally tighten the links, bushes etc. with the suspension loaded? (stands in place under the arms?)

Think the other chaps are correct, tracking and scrubbing the tyres should fix it.

..........off to get some glasses

[dazmans3]

Hi

I ve just put on Protect fully adjustables form SJ on mine. I was having some of those probs you mentioend prior to this, like sqeeling tyers on front ect. but my last front spring on one side collapsed. Basically rebuilt whole fornt end.

I had the the tracking done by a local garge that had a Laser set up. Made the world of difference as they check all 4 courners for you. much more accurate then the drive over pads, which I don't rate. My ride hight was set to about 165 mm at front when it was set.

Also make sure you take your service book with you. The computer data base only covers the 88 on Stevens, which is differnet to the tracking settings listed in the S3 book. & of course it seams average garage Mech wont know the difference between S & G cars.

Hope this helps

Daz

[diasafe]

Hi

I ve just put on Protect fully adjustables form SJ on mine.  I was having some of those probs you mentioend prior to this, like sqeeling tyers on front ect. but my last front spring on one side collapsed. Basically rebuilt whole fornt end.

I had the the tracking done by a local garge that had a Laser set up.  Made the world of difference as they check all 4 courners for you. much more accurate then the drive over pads, which I don't rate.  My ride hight was set to about 165 mm at front when it was set.

Also make sure you take your service book with you.  The computer data base only covers the 88 on Stevens, which is differnet to the tracking settings listed in the S3 book. & of course it seams average garage Mech wont know the difference between S & G cars.

Hope this helps

Daz

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Daz

i think mine was tracked as you describe, am going to have it all checked again at chemix in birmingham. i did tighten up the upper ball joint to stub axelnut at the weekend and that helped a lot !! itss still running like dream though !!

thanks for help

paul