Reasons for Torque Steer?

[scrappydog]

Hi,

Since lowering the car on coilovers (not stupidly low though, maybe 25-35mm) I seem to get a lot more torque steer.

The alignment was done by the garage when they fitted the coilovers.

Do you think this increase in torque steer is due to negative camber?

Or would it be non-suspension related, like engine mounts, CV joints, etc?

Cheers,

Andy

PS. Car is 172 cup

 

[Steven103]

Chicken or the egg? Combination of loads of factors.

Torque steer is caused by things like unequal length drive shafts, engine mounts or the natural play in CV joints etc. Torque steer is then exaggerated by suspension geometry. However lowering a car (i.e. altering geometry) puts the suspension in "bump" thus changes the length of the drive shaft (which remember affects torque steer) and so the problem has gone full circle.

Is it proper torque steer? Or is it just the firmer suspension making the front end more twitchy thus suspectible to changes in direction due to road camber, pot holes, bumps etc?


/not-very-productive-speculation.

 

[scrappydog]

<<Is it proper torque steer? Or is it just the firmer suspension making the front end more twitchy thus suspectible to changes in direction due to road camber, pot holes, bumps etc?>>

Hmmm.....pass!

I referred to it as torque steer because it only occurs when accelerating hard, and I've not noticed any increase in front end twitchyness when driving normally. In fact, I would say the new setup is probably more planted than before when driving on un-even and bumpy country roads and I have noticed a massive increase in the amount it pulls left and/or right when under hard acceleration on uneven roads.

Do you think the negative camber at the front will exaggerate this?

I was was thinking that worn engine mounts or drive shafts might also be the culprit?

Any Clues?

 

[Soot1e]

Lowering/stiffening and adding negative camber does make the car susceptable to uneven/bumpy roads, how much neg camber is it set at? Having larger than standard wheels will add to the problem if you have them. All these tweaks do have a downside.

 

[Gt rob]

you sure its not bump steer?

 

[Tony Hunter]

Also is it toe in or toe out?

 

[scrappydog]

You are right, it may be bump steer.

I'm not too sure what the toe setting are or camber settings are.

You can see the negative camber if you look at the car on a level surface. I assume this is quite a bit, if it is visible.

I'm running the car on 15 inch wheels with 195/50 tires.

It's mainly a track car, so I guess in it's intended environment that bump or torque steer is not going to be so much of an issue. I was just out testing the other night and it seems to be running really well generally, apart from having to really fight the steering wheel when accelerating hard on bumpy and camber-changing surfaces. I've also probably spent too much time driving rear-wheel drive cars!!!

I'm off to Anglesey on Sat, so I'll report back after a day on the track.

 

[scrappydog]

You are right, it may be bump steer.

I'm not too sure what the toe setting are or camber settings are.

You can see the negative camber if you look at the car on a level surface. I assume this is quite a bit, if it is visible.

I'm running the car on 15 inch wheels with 195/50 tires.

It's mainly a track car, so I guess in it's intended environment that bump or torque steer is not going to be so much of an issue. I was just out testing the other night and it seems to be running really well generally, apart from having to really fight the steering wheel when accelerating hard on bumpy and camber-changing surfaces. I've also probably spent too much time driving rear-wheel drive cars!!!

I'm off to Anglesey on Sat, so I'll report back after a day on the track.