Rustina 510 Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 Ok. The steering issues are still present, here is what's going on. The nut on my passenger side shock won't tighten up. And my tires are in pretty bad shape, are these the cause of my issues maybe? The balljoints look good and so do the tie rod ends. Now almost every time I turn left, I'll be turning and then all the sudden the car will over turn. When I hit a bump in the road, she gets all squirly, and when I hit even a small patch of water she gets all squirly too. Please help if you can, I'm getting worried while I drive and I don't want to get in a accident and hurt anyone and my car too. Thx guys and gals Quote Link to comment
510kevin Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 Shitty tires will absolutely kill the handling on a 510. Also, are you running bump steer spacers?? Quote Link to comment
I'm BLUE Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 (edited) Your experiencing bumpsteer ! ,,, My Zcar ,,, because of the Tires (series and cut) ,,, do not like the water !!! I either have to drive aggressive ,,, drive out of the ruts ,,, or go slow ,,, to keep from slipping and sliding ,,, compound/cut of tire is extremely important ! ,,, Goons are light aren't they ? I don't own a dime ,,, check tension control rod bushings ? ,,, Adjust steering box ? ( On OLDER GM/Chevy trucks ,,, adjustment is acheived via a locknut that you loosen and adjust with a ,,, screwdriver and a wrench ,,, :) ( It goes faster with two people , but one is only needed ) sway bar bushings/mounting surfaces good ? ,,, (I like poly bushings for sway bars typically ) EDIT: 620kevin beat me too it ! Edited November 24, 2011 by DTP Quote Link to comment
Rustina 510 Posted November 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 Bump steer spacers? Lol I don't know what that is? Is that the rubber bump stops? Quote Link to comment
Rustina 510 Posted November 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 Or could it be these fucking 400lbs springs I'm running on? Plus bad tires? Plus Lose steering box? Plus bump steer spacers that I have no idea about? Quote Link to comment
Sinnful Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 the bump steer spacers help if you are running like 280ZX struts and another vote for if you have shitty tires, that could be your whole problem right there. nice tires are really good in rain Quote Link to comment
I'm BLUE Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 shitty tires ,,, yes !!! that causes lots of issues ,,, especially that one !!! ( When I bought my Z ,,, Tires near bald ,,, Drove home on highway ,,, was a sweat ,,, car wandered ALL over ,,, almost into other lanes, ,,, thought my front end was gone(shit) ,,, as I just bought the car ,,, First thing I did was get NEW tires ,,, as soon as that was done ,,, I drove the sucker home ,,, it solved the issue entirely ,,, I was expecting to jack up the car ,,, and find at the least a few bushings/tie-rods bad or something ? ,,, nope was the tires ,,,, I don't have bump-steer spacers on my z currently ,,, everytime I go over a man hole or pothole ,,, it jets to one side or the other ,,, just a bit ,,, occasionally a bit more ,,, :lol: ,,, so I need them to ! but he is experiencing oversteer to !? so tires alone ? IDK ,,, a good start though if tires are bad or close !!! Rustina ,,, The bumpsteer spacers restore/get closer the front end geometry ,,, after being lowered ,,, Quote Link to comment
Rustina 510 Posted November 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 I'm running 510 struts turned into coilovers and dropped almost as low as possible. Post a pic of these bump steer spacers please Quote Link to comment
Laecaon Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 He is on fully shortened 510 struts. Yes Bump steer spacers will help. These are also called Roll Center Adjusters (RCA). Bad tires dont help. As for the nut not tightening all the way down. I didnt experience a handling change when mine loosened, just heard a clunk on most bumps. I am now lower on my zx struts, and bumps are still manageable (never have forced me to change lanes). How low am I? my lower spring perches are about .5cm from rubbing tire (185/60/14). Quote Link to comment
Laecaon Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 They fit in between the ball joint and strut tube. Quote Link to comment
510kevin Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 I say get tires soon and bump steer spacers if needed. And I would tighten the steering box if you have a little slop in it. I loosen the nut and tighten the shaft 1 turn and test drive. If you turn the shaft in too far, I believe you can damage the internals in your steering box Quote Link to comment
BJW's FiveTen's Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 I think the 400lb springs are a little much. Also how much travel do you have before the strut bottoms. Any who the rest has been covered. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 Toe in will cause it to jump into the other lane when hitting a puddle with the left tire. Hitting a puddle with the right tire will make it veer to the right shoulder. Extremely scary. Quote Link to comment
Rustina 510 Posted November 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 I think the 400lb springs are a little much. Also how much travel do you have before the strut bottoms. Any who the rest has been covered. Yeah it's more than just stiff, and the spring is so hard that the strut has never bottomed out so far, and it's killing the life of the shock. but that's what came with the struts so... It will be a while before I can get new springs, with tires on the top of my list, and Xmas just around the bend Quote Link to comment
INDY510 Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 . CASTER .... check your T/C rods and bushings ..... . the T/C rod is the only thing keeping you on the road how loose is your steering while driving??? ... . . I'd rather have more caster and tight/stable steering at high speeds (but don't use Poly bushings!!!) Quote Link to comment
hogboy52 Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 The steering geometry is engineered in such a way that the steering axis at the ground intersects the exact center of the tire patch and slightly forward (caster). This is to assure neutral steering inputs with braking and road surface irregularities. Judging only from the small photo in your avatar the wheels are offset quite far out so that road surface drag pulls on the steering and a difference from one side to the other will pull in that direction. Adding to that there also appears to be a severe camber issue in which the inside and outside of the tire must travel a different distance and so are always scubbing and creating more drag. Bikers call this sort of thing "profiling" and simple tweeks won't likely change the problem much. Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 Toe in will cause it to jump into the other lane when hitting a puddle with the left tire. Hitting a puddle with the right tire will make it veer to the right shoulder. Extremely scary. My 620 was like this. Another thing was turning a corner in town. About half way in at the tightest point the wheel would stop resisting and actually help turn into the corner. It was bad toe in. I pointed the tires out my driveway and walked over to the other side of the street. Standing in the ditch and looking back I could see that both front tires were pointing directly at me!!! Major toe in. If adjusting the box, raise both tires so there is no resistance to steering them. Loosen the lock nut on the top of the box and turn the screw down to remove the gear lash. Now the thing with steering boxes is that all the wear is mostly in the straight ahead position, so if you adjust the slack out and then turn L or R all the way the gears will likely bind and the wheel will have difficulty returning to center. So after every adjustment spin lock to lock looking for any tight spots. When you get where you like it hold the screw from turning and tighten the lock nut. Be sure to re-test for tightness. If you cannot get it to adjust well that's it you are stuck with it and only a replacement box will cure it. Note that ALL steering components with any wear on them will add their slop together so any slop is the total of all wear. The steering box multiplies this slop by about 16 to 19 to 1 ratio so a total of only 1/4" of steering component wear will allow the steering wheel to move almost 5"! It doesn't take much so replace the worn ball joints and check that idler arm. Quote Link to comment
DISLEXICDIME Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 so I had this same problem i replaced all my steering parts replaced tc bushings ball joints shocks lca bushings helped but did not get rd of the problem. then I added coil overs camber plates t3 tc rods. again it was better but not gone. so I took my rear tires and stuck them on the front still the same. finally i ended up changing out my front tires for NON directional tires and my problems where solved. Then one day it started again (on my way to blue lake) we got to blue lake I look down and my tc rod had come loose( these where t3 tc rods) I tightened it up and the problem was gone. If I was you I would barrow a pair of tires for the front and try that. before you spend your money. another thing i have noticed a lot of places dont have alignment spec's for 68to73 dimes and will use the spec's for a 2nd gen 510 because there computer doesn't go back that far I have been wondering if the specs are the same. Quote Link to comment
paradoxx Posted November 24, 2011 Report Share Posted November 24, 2011 once I had that issue and the nut on the control arm was not tight enough, since i torqued it, problem gone! Now im experiencing the loose steering because my tires and almost done, need new tires. Quote Link to comment
Rustina 510 Posted November 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2011 Thx for the help guys, Im going to get tires tomorrow or Saturday. We will see what that does for my steering, and regardless if is solves everything, I really need tires so I'm sure it will help quite a bit. More to come Quote Link to comment
Guest kamakazi620 Posted November 25, 2011 Report Share Posted November 25, 2011 Thx for the help guys, Im going to get tires tomorrow or Saturday. We will see what that does for my steering, and regardless if is solves everything, I really need tires so I'm sure it will help quite a bit. More to come Another thing Raise the frontend till you can afford bumpsteer spacers....................Also when you lower the frontend the TC rod ends need to be shortend/modded to get proper geometry Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.