Wayward Steering

[Ash J]

Noticed today when I was changing lanes on the motorway a couple of times that something didn't seem quite right.

Steering seems to be all over the place at speed. Difficult to describe, but if you were to go from 'left to right to left to right' with the steering wheel fairly briskly at say 70/80, it almost feels like a delay and the car isn't connected properly. When the steering is back to centre, it feels as though it is still moving for a bit after, difficult sensation to describe but it is definitely not right. At lower speeds it is not so easy to detect.

Have checked tyre pressures and wheel bolts (new tyres were fitted today) and this is all fine.

Upon visibly looking at the car, it just appears to me that the offside front wheel is just a tad nearer to the bumper edge (i.e. further forward in the arch) than the nearside side front wheel. I will get a picture up of this later. It could just be me but it looks visibly further forward in the arch.

Any suggestions? I will be doing a suspension refresh soon and replacing everything anyway, but just intrigued as to what this could be.

Ash

 

[flebay]

new tyres were fitted today

answered your own question

 

[Symon]

Did you go to Kwik fit?

 

[Ash J]

Flebay - answered my own question? I know new tyres can take time to bed in, but I'm pretty sure it is nothing to do with this, it wouldn't have this effect.

Symon - no I didn't, wouldn't go near a Kwik Fit. Went to my local ProTyre, I know the guys down there.

Cheers

 

[car.crash]

What tyres were on before and what's on there now?
Were the old ones worn nice and even?

 

[Ash J]

Used to be 195/45/16 Uniroyal RainSport tyres. Rears weren't in great condition, but fronts had a fair amount of tread. Pretty sure there was fairly even wear, but they weren't on the car long seeing as they came with some Turini wheels which I put on only a month ago, so couldn't really say as only been on a month.

New tyres are 205/45/16 Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3s.

 

[imprezaworks]

205 tyres I find tramline a bit more than the 195, in 15's in my case.

 

[Ash J]

It's definitely not tramlining. I know 205s do tramline more than 195s anyway, but it's not this, this is actual handling problems. Appreciate all the help though guys.

I'm almost certain after having driven it a bit more the last couple of days that one of the dampers has sh*t itself. Handling is all over the place. I was doing about 70 on motorway the other night and there was a fairly fast sweeping left, I hit the brakes and if I didn't have my wits about me I could have lost it, it was all over the place.

It tracks pretty much fine in a straight line (initially though a track rod might have gone or something), but I'm almost certain a damper has gone. Coming to think of it I remember a fairly loud noise the other day not long before I first experienced these issues, and nobody in the car could work out what it was. So thinking back that probably was something that went. Just as well I'm doing a suspension refresh soon!