My Car Is Trying To Kill Me.

[JakeyCUK]

Hi, so as the title suggests, there is something really not right with the front end of my car... It's always felt very heavy when turning and sometimes it will knock when going over bumps, dropping off kerbs and when turning. Anyway the camber is well out (-2.5 ^ -3.0) which I will be getting rectified asap. It's just had x2 new front tires and things have gone from bad to worse... Now when I am turning the steering will all of a sudden pull into the turn more than I was expecting! I will be on a slow corner and all of a sudden without turning the wheel anymore the car just decides to turn even sharper and then just now coming home I was in a similar scenario and the car pulled pretty quickly and had in a cycle lane and almost up on the kerb. Needless to say I am not driving it until this is sorted... It's as if the wheels are in a ditch and guiding themselves:anguished:
When the car was having it's tires fitted me and the mech had a really good look around as I told him about the problems and everything looked fine!

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[JakeyCUK]

Oh I will add that if I am going in a straight line and I let go of the wheel the car does not pull to any side, it's perfectly straight.


I believe this is known as tramlining?

 

[Mr Plums]

How long has it done this for?

Have you made any other changes since its started doing it?

 

[JakeyCUK]

How long has it done this for?

Have you made any other changes since its started doing it?

The "tramlining" has all started after the new tires were fitted, nothing has was done at all. Before I bought the car it basically has the whole suspension refreshed.

This is a shot of the alignment check, I think they chose the wrong reference model but I don't think it affects the readouts, just the reference figures.

 

[botfch]

Please don't say kwik fit fitted the tires.

Are the tyres the right size?
Can you wobble the front wheels if cars off the ground?
Any play in the steering?

A

 

[Stefan.]

@LawR

 

[warwickstingray]

Something must be moving to cause a sudden change in steering angle like that.

My XR2 used to change lanes under braking because a tie rod Bush had disappeared through age.

Looked fine? Did they investigate further? A suspension component must be well worn.

My 106 diesel did a similar thing with a knackered lower arm ball joint.

If steering is stiff I'd be checking wishbone ball joints, top mounts especially the bearings as water can get up there with age and tie rod ends.

 

[warwickstingray]

If you don't have camber bolts and they measured right then lower arm bushes as well as the above maybe be worth a look as something is allowing the wheels to sit at more of an angle.

If it's as bad as you say I'd expect to be able to move the wheel by grabbing it top and bottom and giving it a good rock with the wheel off the ground.

 

[JakeyCUK]

Sorry for the late update on this. Kwik Fit only did the alignment check fortunately! My friend is a mech and works at Toyota so he did the tires for me. Tires are the same size as the ones removed. The car has Eibach camber bolts fitted. I will try jacking the car up and check for play in the wheels this coming weekend then, the steering wheel has very minimal play if none at all. I've read that worn inner tie rod ends could cause this, would this be just a visual inspection to check?

Thanks all

 

[krappy]

Maybe steering rack bushes?

 

[adamlstr]

worn inner tie rod ends

This,

Maybe steering rack bushes?

And this, and check the lower ball joints too.

Mine's done this twice to me. Once when a bottom ball joint gave up (that had no play until I removed it), and once when the rack bushes had had it.

It's an odd sensation, you turn in, the suspension loads up, and it changes the steering angle as it loads.

 

[JakeyCUK]

Yea that's exactly what happens adalis, pretty scary when it does it quite a lot! So the inner tie rods, is this purely a visual inspection on the 182 or is there anything I could do with the wheel off to prove this?

Thanks very much for help

 

[botfch]

http://www.cliosport.net/threads/182-inner-tie-rod-end-change-advice-needed.616344/

A

 

[JakeyCUK]

http://www.cliosport.net/threads/182-inner-tie-rod-end-change-advice-needed.616344/

A

Nice one just what I needed. Will take a look this weekend then and see if it's the inner tie road that want's to f**k me day up...

 

[-Jamie-]

This,

And this, and check the lower ball joints too.

Mine's done this twice to me. Once when a bottom ball joint gave up (that had no play until I removed it), and once when the rack bushes had had it.

It's an odd sensation, you turn in, the suspension loads up, and it changes the steering angle as it loads.

I was going to suggest lower ball joints as well.


My Megane's, Even though its a different set up, Had the exact same issues and my lower hub swivels/bearings where shot causing the play. Was horrible to drive, Felt like it wanted to kill you at every corner. Got them changed and its back to normal, Much better.

 

[warwickstingray]

Joints can wear in weird ways. Remember your a puny human and cars have big forces going on so give everything a good move and if safe to do so try a bit of leverage. When I check side to side movement at home I stick a foot on each side of the wheel while Sat on the floor and give it a give wiggle and boot. Good joints are completely Rock solid in my experience. Make sure the car is stable and safe before doing so.

 

[JakeyCUK]

Ok lads cheers, hopefully it's just the inner tie rods as I believe this is the only thing that wasn't changed when previous owner did a full suspension refresh! Might also explain the single knocks that it will do every so often (not CV joint repeat knocking)

 

[JakeyCUK]

Actually they were replaced, this is the entire list. Perhaps the camber could have caused them to wear rapidly? I'll update after I've taken a look

Genuine Front Cup Shocks
Genuine Rear Cup Shocks
Cooksport Springs
PureMotorsport Solid Top Mounts
Powerflex Wishbone Bushes
Powerflex Inner ARB Bushes
Powerflex Outer ARB Bushes
Lemforder Ball Joints
Genuine Track Rod Ends
Genuine Inner Tie Rods
Genuine Steering Rack Bushes

 

[JakeyCUK]

Hi all, just thought I would update this thread. I found some time today to jack her up and take a look at all of the suspension components. Everything was solid and clean, apart from the inner CV joint which seems to have sprayed out some grease (which I will get around to inspecting next weekend) but there was no play here. While it was still in the air I put the wheel back on and checked for play... bingo. Looks like the PureMotorsport solid top mount is loose at some point. I can hold the wheel at 9-3 and physically pivot the whole suspension assembly! This would explain why the car is suddenly jerking over when turning right!
Not sure exactly where on the assembly this will be loose but I will be stripping it down next weekend and rebuilding! Could also explain why I have the occasional "knock" from this side too which has been there since I owned the car.

 

[warwickstingray]

How the hell did Kwikfit miss that!?

 

[adamlstr]

Kwikfit

Nuff' said.