Car all over the road....unstable

[JoeMarano]

Noticed ever since I took the wheels off to fit my brake ducts around that time the car hasnt quite felt the same.

Just had a little play with a M135i and if I were a lesser driver I could swear the car was trying to kill me. Front felt washey and rear didnt feel right either. Snaked a little bit under braking too.

The only other thing I can think of is the engine mount which is in need of replacing (exhaust still knocks even after fitting uprated dogbone mount) could this cause the car to behave like this? It does feel like the problem is on the right side...

I've checked all the wheel nuts are tight although I dont have a torque wrench but they are standing on brace tight.

 

[JoeMarano]

Just drove the car on a straight road at 60mph and jigged the wheel left to rightt from 10 to 2 position and it feels sort of notchy and feels lighter with less feel than normal. Past those positions it seems to weight up agai

 

[alex1992]

I have had similar lately feels like front left just wants to wash out and all feels a bit dumb when going round right handers

 

[JoeMarano]

Been advised its probanly the track rod ends.

 

[DannyR]

It'll be your rear shocks I reckon.

 

[Matt W]

Rear shocks! They do all sorts of funny things when they are old/leaking.

 

[JoeMarano]

Shocks look fine by the feel of it its almost like the front wheels are wobbling sideways while cornering.

 

[JoeMarano]

No shocks look fine. By the feel of it its like the wheels are wobbling sideways when cornering. Coming to think of it I had hideous understeer on a corner I can usually take flat the other day and I've been moaning that the 172 understeers too much since I bought it so its entirely possible its been like it for some time gradually getting worse but me assuming its just how a clio handles

 

[DannyR]

Rear shocks will always look fine, they actually seize rather than leak making the car very skitty. Common problem, it's difficult to get 20k out of a set.

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

My rear shocks went soft as s**t, rather than seize. Pushing down on the back of the car and you could compress them really easy and it would then bounce away on the springs when you let go.

Once off the car, they had pretty much zero resistance against compression. Two new ones on, and you had to push down a lot harder on the back of the car to get it to drop, and it didn't bounce.

Handling improved 3485.5%

 

[JoeMarano]

Think im going to have to see if theres any play when I jiggle the front wheels and go from there. If it is the rear shocks replacing them with cup ones would be okay even though the rest of the setup is sport suspension?

 

[JoeMarano]

Took the car to my local garage and there is no play in the suspension or steering at all. Did a full laser alignment and seems to be a bit better now. They did comment that the rear beam bushes were a little worn on the left side but that it wouldnt even be noticeanle or worth changing at this point.

So its either the engine mount which I still havent replaced yet or the opened up fogs are making the car unstable at speed. Thats all I can think of as I havent really tested the car since the alignment was done

 

[DannyR]

It's still the rear shocks I bet.

Engine mount wouldn't make it unstable, and removing fog lights definitely won't.

 

[Daniel]

My track rod ends are knackered and my car can (and does!) change lanes on it's own on the motorway.

 

[JoeMarano]

Well like I say they did give it a thorough checking over and part of it could be down to the wear on the tyres as the outside edge particularly on passenger side (garage said alignment was out but I reckon it was just too many roundabouts)

Will have to get the mount done and get to snetterton asap and see if its all in my head as like I say thr car felt fine before I started playing with it.

 

[DannyR]

When the rear shocks are knackered there are no real visual signs, unless somebody is following you and then the rear wheels bounce around like nobodies business causing it to skip.

I think a track day is the worst thing you can do if you have issues with its skipping and turning on its own! Just take it up the A11 in the outside lane.

 

[Briv6]

When the rear shocks are knackered there are no real visual signs, unless somebody is following you and then the rear wheels bounce around like nobodies business causing it to skip.

I think a track day is the worst thing you can do if you have issues with its skipping and turning on its own! Just take it up the A11 in the outside lane.

Having replaced several rear shocks over the years . The tell tale sign for me is the patch of oil sitting on driveway under the rear wheel . Mines always leak . I'm amazed you saying they don't leak ! Only ever used genuine shocks when replacing too

 

[DrR]

I put 3 sets of shocks on my 2 clips when I had them, none leaked. As soon as I took them off could tell they were bugged right away.

 

[Scrooge]

For the price, change the shocks. They will 100% want changing anyway. Duck driving a car that's all over the place, that's just tiresome.

Track rods are also pennies so change them too.

 

[DannyR]

Having replaced several rear shocks over the years . The tell tale sign for me is the patch of oil sitting on driveway under the rear wheel . Mines always leak . I'm amazed you saying they don't leak ! Only ever used genuine shocks when replacing too

You can have a shock which leaks or you can have a shock that's seized.

I've had leaky shocks in the past, I was just merely pointing out that they don't need to be leaking to be knackered.

 

[Snake182]

For those who have said they checked there shocks and 'look fine', although this confirms its not leaking, it doesn't mean the damping is working if the internal seals are shot, the fluid just pushes past the internal seals and doesn't absorbs the bump and rebound of the spring.

When I purchased my Clio it handled awful, nearly cause me to crash coming off motorway on a sharp left hand bend, rear shockers looked ok but I removed them from the car anyway to check them and the piston of the shocker just collapsed inside, there was no oil in the shocker at all, the previous owner must have cleaned it off for mot or something lol. I changed the pair and it felt amazing after. Just thought id put it out there.

 

[JoeMarano]

Im pretty certain its bad wheel alignment. I've had my rainsports for what 3 months or so and I've not done any trackdays on them just road driving and I never wheel spin or anything just corner a little fast but the outside edges are pretty shot and I check my pressures weekly. Going back to the garage to get the alignment done again tomorrow as I told them I was unhappy with it.

To me it feels like theres a slight delay between steering input and actually turning. Also the steering wheel is slightly off center and after having an alignment done thats not accptable imo

 

[KitsonRis]

Is there a grumbling noise? My car is making an awful grumbling noise but that could be because my track rod ends are fubar'd, it is a job for the weekend. I wondered why it was a bit funny sometimes. Had about 5deg of play in both front wheels.
I also need to have a look at the rear shocks as I have had the car 30k miles and I havent chanegd them and someone has just said they last 20k miles! Excuse for coil overs

 

[DannyR]

It's rear shocks, I won't say it again

 

[N4TH4N]

I'm having similiar issues, WITH brand new genuine shocks... so not always the case @DannyR

 

[DannyR]

I had the same once with brand new shocks, in fairness though they were both leaking within a week of fitting and could physically see that.

The amount of issues the rear shocks causes is unbelievable because of it being such a light back end. All you need to do is look at all the comments in this thread and its 99% going to be them!

 

[Tony Hunter]

Why don't people listen ffs, it's not as if they £10000000000000 each to replace.

Ask for advice and ignore it. Done.

 

[darrenclio172]

Rear shocks, took me a while but made a huge difference once done !

 

[JoeMarano]

Had the alignment redone (free of charge) and also moved the rear wheels to the front as I've almost got through them on the road in like 3 months. The guy said that it wasnt done properly and also because the rear was stripped out it was affecting the toe slightly so he said he set it to straight ahead to compensate. Either way the front feels better now which was my main gripe in the first place. So im in a better position than I hsve been since owning the car. Will probably replace the shocks as a precaution but I think the current ones are okay. Im sure they will last till I get some pro lines and cuo dampers anyway.

 

[DannyR]

Why don't people listen ffs, it's not as if they £10000000000000 each to replace.

Ask for advice and ignore it. Done.

Come on Tony, we've both been here long enough to know that most CS users after 2010 don't listen to any kind of advice, and usually do the opposite spending even more money.

Two rear shocks are less than £70 and take all of ten minutes to fit.

 

[JoeMarano]

But but but....my symptoms have gone so I dont believe it was the rear dampers. Besides im not going to buy new sport ones and then change them to cup later on am I?

 

[Rob G]

Out of interest, would knackered rear shocks cause what feels like bump steer when changing lanes (dual carriageway near me is rutted a bit in the middle!)

 

[boomerbang2006]

Out of interest, would knackered rear shocks cause what feels like bump steer when changing lanes (dual carriageway near me is rutted a bit in the middle!)

I`d like to know this too...dont think my rear shocks have ever been replaced and the car is on 134k...

 

[DannyR]

But but but....my symptoms have gone so I dont believe it was the rear dampers. Besides im not going to buy new sport ones and then change them to cup later on am I?

Why do you need to buy new sport ones? Just buy new cup ones for £70, they're the same price, may aswell get it done now if your doing it, eliminates the problem.

Out of interest, would knackered rear shocks cause what feels like bump steer when changing lanes (dual carriageway near me is rutted a bit in the middle!)

I`d like to know this too...dont think my rear shocks have ever been replaced and the car is on 134k...

Yes, was the first issue I had 8-9 years ago.

 

[Rob G]

Why do you need to buy new sport ones? Just buy new cup ones for £70, they're the same price, may aswell get it done now if your doing it, eliminates the problem.




Yes, was the first issue I had 8-9 years ago.

Sweet! Renault Wolverhampton still cheapest for parts?

 

[boomerbang2006]

Renault wolvo do the pair for £105...seen a pair on ebay for about £65...

 

[Ills]

They're only £37.15 on the Renault parts direct website!

 

[boomerbang2006]

I`ll stick with the ebay at £65 with delivery..and they are OE stock quality too.

 

[DannyR]

OE quality isn't much to go by lol!

 

[boomerbang2006]

Ahhhh but for the price...saving myself nearly £40...from renault wolvo.