[Storm88000]

Um....

Hopefully someone knows a litle about this. My '98 SE has developed a strange problem recently. About two weeks ago my friends and I removed my KYB AGX/Eibach springs combo and replaced them with the stock set up. Afterwards my steering has felt erratic and kind of as if it has a mind of it's own, but it's getting worse. I'm not sure if this has something to do with it or if it's juts a coincidence but I thought it would be worthwhile to mention.

Specifically, if I am driving in a straight direction at about 40mph or higher, I can jerk the wheel quickly to the left or right maybe about 1/4 of the way and the wheel will sort of compensate for this by itself and keep rocking back and forth, seriously it has done it for 10 seconds straight, left right left right left right etc....until I got scared. Also, if I am in a parking lot and turn the wheel all the way in either direction, the wheel will sort of stay like that without my help. As in, I can turn it all the way to the left and drive in a circle for an hour without touching the wheel. It takes a bit of effort to straighten it out.

Also I am getting the WORST wheelhop I've ever had in the car. I have the Energy Suspension mounts mounts set and this is worse than before with the stock mounts. I did a quick eyeball of the visible mounts in the engine bay and they appeared to be OK. Torque-steer in 1st gear is RIDICULOUS. I have trouble keeping the car on the road. And no I'm not making that much power, I only have bolt-ons and put down 146whp on the dyno.

Any ideas on WTF this is? Any help would be appreciated. It sometimes feels as if someone else is driving.

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Stormy
'98 SE w/ goodies
www.WhiteLineRacing.com

 

[Storm88000]

Preliminary diagnosis from LM's tell me I need an aligment and that my tires are severely toed out.

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Stormy
'98 SE w/ goodies
www.WhiteLineRacing.com

 

[92SE-R]

Umm...yeah, anytime you change your suspension geometry, you need an alignment. Remember when you got your suspension done initially? You got an alignment. Same thing applies when going back to stock.


Terrin
92 SE-R

 

[Jay Hass]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Storm88000:
Preliminary diagnosis from LM's tell me I need an aligment and that my tires are severely toed out.

</font>

Yep, that would be my guess as well. You can do a toe adjustment yourself. Easy peasy.

Just find a line in your tire, measure the distance from side to side front and rear of the tire.

/---\ Toe Out
\---/ Toe In
Front of vehicle

Adjust the tie rods by equal turns on either side until you get the desired toe. (Usually go in half turn increments on either side)

I set mine at 0 toe. slight toe out makes the car twitchy but turn in is crisp.


[This message has been edited by Jay Hass (edited 10-19-2001).]

 

[dougnosser]

Sounds to me like you need an alignment storm. Also could be the grooves in the road. It is most likely the alignment though

 

[MaddMatt]

You definitely need an alignent. My guess is you had somewhere in the neighborhood of -1.5 camber with the eibachs, and now it's probably closer to -.5 stock. If you think about the placement of the tie rod and what happens to the hub as you move from negative to positive camber, it will toe out.

Short version: I estimate you have about 1" total toe out, which is about 15/16" more than I'd ever run. The inside shoulders of your tires are most likes showing cord or will be very soon.

------------------
Matt
92 SE-R from Heck

"What have you DONE to that thing..." - stranger at Rockingham dragway 5/18/01
"Where's the turbo?" - stranger at the 1st autocross of 2000 where my SE-R debuted
"That thing is a goddamn rocket ship. I'm not lifting for you on the straights anymore!" -Karl Shultz, Rockingham 4/27/01
"What in the hell have you done since I drove it last?" -David Stone, Rockingham 4/27/01

 

[Storm88000]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by 92SE-R:
Umm...yeah, anytime you change your suspension geometry, you need an alignment. Remember when you got your suspension done initially? You got an alignment. Same thing applies when going back to stock.
Terrin
92 SE-R</font>

Yeah, but what is weird is that when I put the Eibachs on I did not have this problem even prior to an aligment.

 

[MaddMatt]

That's because when you put the Eibachs on, you gained negative camber and the toe went *in*. Toe in behaves exactly opposite of toe out. Toe out makes the car very skittish in a straight line and the car will turn into a corner like a F1 car. Toe in makes it very stable in a straight line and about as willing to turn as a Caprice.

------------------
Matt
92 SE-R from Heck

"What have you DONE to that thing..." - stranger at Rockingham dragway 5/18/01
"Where's the turbo?" - stranger at the 1st autocross of 2000 where my SE-R debuted
"That thing is a goddamn rocket ship. I'm not lifting for you on the straights anymore!" -Karl Shultz, Rockingham 4/27/01
"What in the hell have you done since I drove it last?" -David Stone, Rockingham 4/27/01

 

[Storm88000]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by MaddMatt:
That's because when you put the Eibachs on, you gained negative camber and the toe went *in*. Toe in behaves exactly opposite of toe out. Toe out makes the car very skittish in a straight line and the car will turn into a corner like a F1 car. Toe in makes it very stable in a straight line and about as willing to turn as a Caprice.
</font>

Ahh, you know I sort of noticed the car liked to turn more than usual. I guess that makes sense if my car has too much toe in.

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Stormy
'98 SE w/ goodies
www.WhiteLineRacing.com

 

[WhiteSER]

HAHAHHAHAHHA... Sorry. I had to bring this post back up top. I just did the same thing as storm and have the exact same problem. It's almost scary driving down the road. Ahh I'll fix it tomorrow, hopefully!?