VRTrickster 0 Posted February 22, 2006 Right now the suspension has all been replaced ,new tyres fitted and the alignment supposedly done by the fella down at ATS. I took the rado down to the fella at ATS to get the alignment done last night but Im not a 100% its been done to my standard! Ok the car definitly drives better although I do remember when I fitted the track rod ends the n/s nut would not come undone. So he comes across this whilst adjusting the toe I would of thought and couldnt get it to budge ,even applying some heat with the welder! Anyway he reckons hes done the toe with out loosing the nut.When I asked him what he had set the toe to he said "paralell" and I said "zero" he replied "yes" .I did see the camber change on the n/s as I was watching near the ramp side. I did ask when I arrived if he could set the camber to - 0.8 or as near as and he said he would try his best! Now for the test drive ,I ended up getting lost in the sussex countryside which p***ed me off a bit but gave it a good run on whindy roads. It drives better but I still feel the steering is quite fijitty/sloppy through the wheel when going over bumps. Is this normal ? I seem to be able to feel suspension movements through the wheel also ,is this just because I have stiffened up and lowered the ride? I must say this is the only car I have driven with power steering around these terrible roads here, maybe most cars feel this way ? Maybe Im seeking prefection that just isnt possible ? Could this be another rack/colomn problem? Sorry for all the qs, cheers for any help! VRT Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trig 0 Posted February 22, 2006 Did he not give you a print out of all your allignment readings? Even my local lowly tyre shop give me a print out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VRTrickster 0 Posted February 22, 2006 No ,no read out but what do you expect for a tenner!Although I wish I had a tenner on me,ended up giving him a score! Took it for a run last night and it does seem to drive straight if not sraighter but there is some play in the steering when cornering fairly fast over bumps the wheel goes loose for a second! Could this be to do with the rack mountings/bushes maybe? Any advice welcome! VRT Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Colley 0 Posted February 22, 2006 Might just be the suspension bedding in, give it a few weeks and it may be more settled? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
andy 0 Posted February 23, 2006 No ,no read out but what do you expect for a tenner! Hmm there's your problem, what do you expect for a tenner.....Tracking at best I would say. The camber needs to be right or it won't feel right. How did he measure the camber? What was "his best"? I'd pay the £40 necessary to get the job done properly somewhere else personally. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VRTrickster 0 Posted February 23, 2006 No it was done with a proper laser 4 wheel jig and Im siure he tried to get it as good as possible! Im just thinking about the nut he couldnt loosen,may be he readjusted the other side to suit ? It was done cheap as its a freind of a friend and after closing! VRT Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted February 23, 2006 Yeah those track rods are biaatch to undo when they're old and crudded up. I had mine set to -0.9 camber and +0.05 toe on Stealth's biessbarth system on Tuesday. They spend absolutely ages on it and ensure the parameters are EXACTLY the same on both wheels. Quite impressive to watch, a nifty bit of kit that. Whilst there, we wound in this infamous preload screw on the rack to the point where we physically couldn't turn the wheels, and then backed it out again and tightened it up. Worked a treat, it's absolutely perfect. Stunning turn in, no slop what so ever at any steering angle. It is very, very confidence inspiring and must have been how they were when new to receive such high praise. Mind you Mr Trickster mate, it has taken me a lot of time and money to get to this point. New rack, new ball joints, new track rods, new bushes through out, steering column slop shimmed out, new (soft) coilovers, eibach anti roll bars, front and rear braces and two geometry setups. IMO it's as good as it can get for daily usability. I put most of it down to the H&R coilovers and careful geometry. I'm wondering if Koni are shipping out bad dampers as I've never in my life seen so many dissatisfied users of them. The Koni/H&R combo used to be the best all rounders and I've used them since 1999.....but the H&Rs do up the ante some what in terms of ride quality. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted February 23, 2006 Further more I'd say stick at it Trickster, I've been through all this and I'm just as fussy, if not more so, than yourself :-) It is worth it, believe me.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VRTrickster 0 Posted February 24, 2006 I agree with you totally I am a perfectionist as well and I do agree with what my friends are saying about just driving and enjoy the car instead of analysing it every time I go out in it ,e.g whats that noise ?whats that knock?Ill have to sort that! etc etc! But I cant Help it ,and as you say it is worth it, everything has to be right or as good as it can be! Come to think of it now its not actually driving too bad ,its driving in a straight line its just I find the steering a bit twicthy over bumps and I think thats part and parcel of having stiffend suspension? I will soon tighten every nut and bolt along the colomn and rack ,fit poly rack mounts ,mk2 clamp etc to try and improve things more maybe?Oh and also that preload screw a bit of tweaking. Anway thanks for the feedfack and I hope yor fix isnt just short term! :) VRT Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted February 27, 2006 Yeah it was short term, LOL!. The steering is still tight but the clunk has returned, so it's got to be something else causing it.......could be a worn UJ that's only noticeable with load on it or worn ball joints, which only tend to show visible slop at the 30 degree position....ho hum, the battle continues. The thing I found with the konis & H&Rs is they don't like buggering about at slow speeds, they can be a little unrelenting over bumps....but at faster speeds the springs seem to gel with the dampers perfectly. The H&R coils I'm running now are probably slightly too soft actually but it's just the damping on them that impresses most. The tyres 'patter' over bumps and depressed man hole covers like modern cars, rather than thudding over them. Sorry, I really shouldn't say that after you've just splashed out on Konis etc :-) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VRTrickster 0 Posted February 27, 2006 No you shouldnt ! :lol: Took it for a spin tonight and boy did it thudder! The roads around here are really s**t though and I have the fronts on half a turn now. I totally agree ! Oh well how much where your coils anyway? Not that I would be able to afford to consider changing anyway! I think it could possibly be the UJ on mine gone ,dont know with out having a propper look though. VRT :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Bacon 5 Posted February 28, 2006 Yeah my roads are pap too. Some of the manhole covers around here drop about 4" below the road surface and I cringe every time! I found the konis were best on 1.5 front and 0.5 turns rear, otherwise the H&Rs overwhelmed them slighltly on fast B roads. Sounds bizarre stiffening the dampers to improve the ride but it worked.....plus the car as a whole feels so much tighter with more damping resistance. I got the coils s/hand with 6K's use for £450.... I wasn't going to pay the £750 retail on them! Only really got them to fine tune the ride height but the ride quality of them impressed me immensely. Give the Koni/H&R's a while to settle in and things should improve. It took 2 years for the H&Rs to settld fully on mine, by which time they'd dropped another 10mm! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VRTrickster 0 Posted February 28, 2006 Ok kev cheers for the advice Ill crank those shocks back up to 1.5 turns which I had from the start . I think Ill let them settle before I go spending more money on a new setup and spend it on my favourite! ENGINE MODS! :twisted: which I will let everyone know about in due course! VRT Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
