Unstable on rough pavement

[greyhound20]

Hi everyone,

I've owned my 1990 Esprit SE for almost a year and I've noticed that it feels very unstable on rough uneven pavement. My car wants to dart around a lot when I hit a rough section of road. I have had the wheels aligned and that helped but it still can be a handful. My mechanic noticed that the shocks were leaking fluid but didn't think they were too bad. Could this be causing my car to handle poorly on rough roads? If I replace the shocks will that help settle the car down? It handles great on smooth roads.

Thanks for your help.

-Stephen

[islandbloke]

Hi Stephen,

Geometry is the most obvious cause - did they use the factory settings or just an educated guess?

Shocks need doing, and check for play in the other suspension components and steering rack. Also, new bushes (if your roads are reasonably smooth I'd recommend the poly sets from specialists - if they're all rough you may prefer the OEM rubber ones for a gentler ride).

HTH

Stu (poly bushes, rough roads, loads of rattles)

[andydclements]

When the alignment was done, was it simple toe (tracking) or all 4 wheels?

Mine was really bad on uneven roads, I've since adjusted the toe and it's better but now need to do caster, camber is OK on mine.

Having said that if the shocks are warn or have lost oil that will give you dampening issues, so would be a contributing factor.

Andy

[Jonathan]

See I would say if the shocks were shagged they should hold the un-even layout of the road better becuase they are more responsve without any damping.

To be honest the car will go with the road, the GT3 dos it and so does the SE I have, constantly making adjustments which is part of the experience in my opinion. Faster you go the better it gets because of Mr Newton. Best thing to do is to get teh whole suspension an overhaul - personally if the shocks are gone I would replace them as a matter of urgency - my GT3s were shot when i got the car and it was down right dangerous, last stray was taking a mini roundabout and the back bounced over the thing and almost 180'd the car - it's not a good place to be in, esp if it is only one damper thats doing it....remember individual suspsension issues will cause MAYHEM to an otherwise correctly set up car.

[ragingfool35]

sounds like bump steer

prob car is sitting too low

[jpspeedy]

The car is eighteen years old, the shocks are bad for sure reguardless of the miles. change them. jp

[andydclements]

See I would say if the shocks were shagged they should hold the un-even layout of the road better becuase they are more responsve without any damping.

With shocks that don't damp enough you end up with the wheel initially moving to stay in contact with the road surface then returning and leaving the surface in doing so. That's why I say they would contribute, but yess Jon I agree there is an element of less dampening in the initial movement allows better road to tyre contact.

Andy

[greyhound20]

Thanks everyone for your help and advice. I'm currently looking into my options when it comes to springs and shocks. Right now I think the new Lotus Eibach/Bilstein combo is at the top of my list. But I might have to save a while to afford them.

Thanks again,

Stephen

[jpspeedy]

Thanks everyone for your help and advice. I'm currently looking into my options when it comes to springs and shocks. Right now I think the new Lotus Eibach/Bilstein combo is at the top of my list. But I might have to save a while to afford them.

Thanks again,

Stephen

Price of the shocks are high, but putting them on is not easy and time consuming. labor going to run a lot also.