1990 J/spec. Replacement rear dampers. F/OS and R/NS corners replaced from donor cars. 17" rims. 235/45 on front and 265/40 on rear.

 

Why is this car not handling? My Mitsi Shogun Sport handles better than my Zed! :headvswal

 

Have been having handling probs for YEARS. JeffTT spotted damage to F/OS and R/NS steering assembly probably caused by curb hit damage after a spin. He replaced these corners from a donor car and driving it back was a dream. A couple of weeks later and I'm kinda back where I started. Slowly, the handling has worsened.

 

I am now getting 4 wheel drift on right hand bends and on left hand bends the car starts to lean into the corner, then stops leaning and the rear end begins to slide. Yet a fortnight back driving home from Tamworth the car was handling like a dream.

 

I have done nothing to the car save maintain tyre pressures. Now I'm back in the state where I don't want to drive it above 45mph. Not good with 360+ rwbhp.

 

Can anyone suggest something..please? Or is someone localish to me who can give it a spin and come up with ideas? I am almost at breaking point.

 

:headvswal

Well, replacing dampers from a donor car's not ideal given the cost of new ones, but sounds like you have alignment issues... get it up in the air and check for play in the wheels and suspension - assuming you've got original bushes stil on the car, they're gonna be totally shot.

 

The strange drifting on corners sounds like your hicas has play in it - so you'll be needing new arms and it set up properly (or bin it)...

 

Rich

Well, replacing dampers from a donor car's not ideal given the cost of new ones, but sounds like you have alignment issues... get it up in the air and check for play in the wheels and suspension - assuming you've got original bushes stil on the car, they're gonna be totally shot.

 

The strange drifting on corners sounds like your hicas has play in it - so you'll be needing new arms and it set up properly (or bin it)...

 

Rich

 

I agree, get it up in the air at your local steering centre and check for play in the hicas assembly, you might have to remove the arms to see if the outer ball joints are shot.

 

I asked Jeff to check my bushes out when I first got the car and he found only a tension arm bush leaking, I later found a nearside hicas ball joint hanging out and worn rear suspension arm bushes.

 

You should never replace old suspension parts with old unless you know where they came from and you do pairs, and then only as an intrim repair, I think this is a dangerous practice and any trader doing it needs shooting.

 

These cars are far too powerful to not do the job propperly and Jeff should have refused to do what he did, if not for your safety then for the fact as the repairer of the vehicle he could end up in prison if anything bad was to happen.

 

Get it looked at now.

I agree, get it up in the air at your local steering centre and check for play in the hicas assembly, you might have to remove the arms to see if the outer ball joints are shot.

 

I asked Jeff to check my bushes out when I first got the car and he found only a tension arm bush leaking, I later found a nearside hicas ball joint hanging out and worn rear suspension arm bushes.

 

You should never replace old suspension parts with old unless you know where they came from and you do pairs, and then only as an intrim repair, I think this is a dangerous practice and any trader doing it needs shooting.

 

These cars are far too powerful to not do the job propperly and Jeff should have refused to do what he did, if not for your safety then for the fact as the repairer of the vehicle he could end up in prison if anything bad was to happen.

 

Get it looked at now.

 

Yep I agree

 

It is very foolhardy to use second hand suspension or steering parts. Is it really worth risking you life for.

 

You mentioned that the car drove back well and progressively got worse. Thats because the wheels and suspension arms have to come off the replace them. Then (and even more so with tired pre used springs etc) they all have to settle. Which may take 50 miles.

 

Then the aliement people should record the settled settings and ajust buy the required number of minutes so as to thearetically get it correct.

 

Then it needs a good long drive and return for checking and final ajustments.

sorry but if you really want it to handle it's the only way.

You should never replace old suspension parts with old unless you know where they came from and you do pairs, and then only as an intrim repair, I think this is a dangerous practice and any trader doing it needs shooting.

 

These cars are far too powerful to not do the job propperly and Jeff should have refused to do what he did, if not for your safety then for the fact as the repairer of the vehicle he could end up in prison if anything bad was to happen.

 

Get it looked at now.

spot on. i canged both my rear dampers with new ones a while back and it made a big difference to the handling. felt a lot sharper and stable. to be fair a new pair of oem dampers does't cost very much

 

http://www.zcentre.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=21_28_58&products_id=226

 

http://www.zcentre.co.uk/shop/product_info.php?cPath=21_28_59&products_id=183

 

hth

You could have a similar problem to what Bantambunny had , his Hicas control unit behind the steering wheel was fooked , it was making the rear steer when it shouldn,t have been , making it very twichy to drive and scrubbing the rear tyres at an alarming rate !!!!!! HTH

hi my rear tyres have worn in about 2 months and in a straight line in the wet the back end is very twichy, how much to fix if i have the same prob as bantambunny.

 

cheers

Short out the plug on the hicas reservoir to stop hicas operating then see if it's the same... almost certainly worn hicas, rather than the steering sensor though!

jbsb where in Shrops are you from.

I'm near craven arms you anywhere near could help you look if you like???. Also try Short out the plug on the hicas reservoir to stop hicas operating as said above.

Okay

 

Dropped car in for alignment check today and a couple of small problems were found in the form of.....well punctures I guess in the inner walls of the NSF and OSR tyres.

 

Guy said that it looked as if the front one had been there for a while but must have worsened with the car being used more (havn't used it in over 14 months). The rear one was quite quite new but was far worse. Alignment had been knocked out of kilter as well, despite it being A1 for the MOT.

 

So, all that taken care of and so far (shhh) things seem okay. Thanks for all your help. By the way, can anyone recommend geting all bushes replaced with the urethane variety?

 

Thanks again

Glad it was an easy fix bud :dance: :dance:

Alignment isn't checked at MOT? :confused: